How did you count lines before the PC, or were you paid hourly then? nm
Posted By: Octo-MT on 2009-03-25
In Reply to: I think it was when PC's entered the scene. Then we were at the mercy of the programmers.NM) - MT1
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When paid hourly, we still had a minimum daily line count
;lkj
then you should be paid hourly somewhere and leave the lines to those
who take it more seriously. I used to do it in 6 hours...six straight. you can call that two 2 hour breaks daily - I called it done for the day early. and I did not do it sitting in diapers with a straw from my mouth to the frig, I stretched the legs as often as necessary.
Guess what? Every day I pushed myself, when I relaxed back to my normal 'comfortable pace' again, I found my line counts had increased! That much more just got easy and I just gave myself a raise.
normals? of course. shortcuts? a ton.
What to you think mass production is? Keeps the QA soores high, too. If you knew your stuff outside of terminology, you would know it is a waxing/waning speed the whole time, and you would know how to utilize the software and platforms to max. Those little games pay off to your advantage come payday. Sit and type? Not by your standards or definition. They really need to cover this in the schools.
If you do not want to work on yourself, then you need to be hourly somewhere because you won't be able to handle it. In production, it is your type of woe-is-me I'm just the messenger stance that tends to get get in our way when turnaround slips.
And that, my friend, is why overhiring was created. The same ones that would or could not pull their weight - would or could not pitch in extra to keep the darn account in contract.
I wouldn't knock those to think of it as more than a second income but a living, and regard themselves as more than a secretary but a professional. Oh, and what makes you think we DON'T have lives? We manage quite well - ALL OF IT.
Paid hourly, req'd 1000 lines, anything over 1101 was 0.04 cents a line
//
Word count: 824 lines. DocuCount count: 897 lines.
I just counted the same file in Word and then in DocuCount, and DocuCount was higher than Word.
Just as an aside.
You don't get paid an hourly rate you get paid by line - sm
so because of how you are paid (not an hourly rate) you don't get OT, especially if you are an IC.
it does not count gross lines...I count 37 and it counts 67.
x
If you could get paid hourly...sm
If you could get paid hourly, no incentive, just straight pay, what would you want to get paid? We are in transition right now where I work and we are trying to come up with a new pay scale and one of the possibilities is no incentive, just straight hourly pay. What do you think would be a reasonable hourly rate to suggest? Thanks!
If you are paid hourly, you obviously are not an IC. sm
As a regular employee, you may have to keep strict hours. This is just part of the package. Sometimes you can find a company that will allow you to flex your schedule as an employee, but most will not.
Only working as an independent contractor can you have true flexibility. In my experience, an employer can ask you to set the hours you will be working, but if you have to work other hours instead, the company has no control over this. All they can do is not give you any more work. That is the limit of their control. There are companies that try to enforce hours on their ICs, but this is not legal.
You should look for a job as an IC, if you want true flexibility. However, be aware that there will usually be no benefits such as insurance, vacation, etc.
If someone else has a different experience as an IC, hopefully they will let us know. Good luck to you.
I think most QA are paid hourly. nm
.
Anyone paid hourly?
I've been doing transcription for about a year and a half. I do radiology work and love it. The company I work for will only pay hourly for radiology. The only way to get paid production is to do clinic work (not my favorite). My pay is terribly low - only $8.50! I was wondering what others are paid when paid hourly. Also, if you can suggest any good companies to do radiology work for I would appreciate that.
Since you are paid hourly,
I'm not so sure a raise would be in order. If you are working OT, you should be getting OT wages and fairly compensated.
Setting up templates and such is a good skill, but lots of regular secretaries can do that who can't do transcription, so maybe you are actually being overpaid if you are getting a transcriptionist's hourly wage for secretarial work.
It is good that you are willing to be flexible and take on a different project, but I'm not sure if you should get a raise for that. Maybe a bonus, but not a raise.
paid hourly isn't much better
I've been at my current editing job for 3 years and I've always been paid hourly, but I only get paid for the hours spent actually editing. I don't get paid to download any of the voice files that I must have in order to do my job. If my boss needs me to look up an old file and send it to her, I don't get paid for that. If she wants me to give feedback on how a Transcriptionist is doing - that's on my own time as well.
On my invoices, I have to break each day's time down by how much was spent on which doctor's editing -- I can't include anything else.
Paid production/hourly
To those of you who are paid production (other than MQ) - are you limited to working 39 hours a week? I don't understand being paid by the line, yet being treated as an hourly worker. Just curious as to whether this is the norm at other places.
are you paid by production or hourly?
nm
Are there any hourly paid jobs as an MT?
I was wondering if anyone knew of a company that paid hourly pay. I am kind of getting tired of grinding my fingers to the bone to make a living  . Thanks for your help. sm
Are you paid hourly? If so, I'm surprised they allow you to work with such little ones.
r
I get paid hourly $18.00. The hospital I work at don't believe sm
in production because of the error rate, blanks, etc. just to make money. I am sooooooooooooooooooooooo happy.
That's harsh. Hardly anybody is paid hourly in this field
It's all production pay. It's not theft to get your line quota in and knock off for the day. Why should the fast ones be penalized for being good? Why should they have to do more work than the others? You can't fire somebody for meeting their contracted production in a timely manner.
Working at Home/Getting Paid Hourly
I sent in this info to an MT head hunter:
I am looking for a work-at-home MT position that is employee-based, not independent contractor, paying hourly instead of per line or per page, where I could work Tuesday through Friday, 32 hours a week, no weekends, no nights or holidays.
I was told this was a "TALL ORDER," and that I would never be able to find it. I don't think that I am asking for too much, and that there has to be an MT company out there that is willing to pay highly skilled and experienced MTs what they are worth. I know there are plenty of MTs out there who say, "Oh, if you work hard enough, you can make just as much per line as by hour,"  but it's been my experience, having worked three MT jobs from home, that that would entail cranking out btetween 1,500-2,000 lines per day...provided there is work available and provided you are getting paid more than 0.12 per line I've been working 12 YEARS as an MT, but most companies still want to pay me between 0.05-0.12 cents per line. FIVE CENTS A LINE FOR AN MT WITH 12 YEARS IN THE BUSINESS. What is wrong with this picture???????? 
If there is a company willing to pay an experienced MT at least $16+ per hour to work at home, please e-mail me!
Re: Working At Home/Getting Paid Hourly
Perhaps. Don't get me wrong, I like where I work and how much I'm making, and this company acdtually has two MTs working at home; however, they are not offering this option to any other MTs at this time, if ever. The at-home MTs from this company are getting paid per hour and have full benefits, but that's only because they've been working in-house at the company for many years. *Sigh*....
Working at Home/Getting Paid Hourly
Sounds like nice work if ya can get it. :) I wouldn't mind picking up tapes, provided that the pick up/drop-off site wasn't too far.
Working at Home/Getting Paid Hourly
THAT SUCKS. You should be making FAR more than 9 cents a line. UGH. And there are still companies offering experienced MTs 5 cents a line.
Depends on whether you are paid hourly or on production.
If you are paid on production, then I wouldn't even spend five minutes researching a physicians name because it's the MTSOs responsibility to make sure have up to date physician lists available to you. Nothing irks me more than starting a new job with an MTSO who expects you to hit the ground running, but gives you very little to start with!
If you are paid hourly, then I would spend up to 10 minutes trying to figure something out.
I get paid hourly and I work at home
They expect me to work 7-1/2 hours a day and I do, but they do let me spread it out over the course of the day. I work four hours in the morning, two in the afternoon and the other one and a half in the evening. I can leave and go to an appointment and make that time up in the evenings also. But then again, when I don't have any work I still get paid.
Before you get too excited, most hourly QA jobs have a line count quota too.
so if you had trouble getting quota as an MT, it could be that you might not make it as a QA either.
Hospital job is "work-at-home" paid hourly
Thank you for well wishes.
Nope. We get paid production too. Unfortunately, hourly QA is out the door.
They are fewer and farther between than you could imagine. AND, for those of us who have been fortunate enough to be paid production (I'm one of the unfortunate CBay editors who was fired just before Christmas.)
I like what I have...Hourly PLUS incentive after a very easy to reach minimum line count.
x
QA, $3000/mo hourly so get some overtime too, bennies paid, no complaints. nm
x
We paid hourly with incentive for high production. So she's making money when she's just
sitting there. I don't know if it is a habit or not because this is the first time I've really had to work with her for any length of time. I usually only work a couple of hours a day with her when our shifts overlap. I think I'm definitely going to ask the girl I'm filling in for what she thinks about her.
You're expected quota depends on whether you are paid hourly or per line. SM
I'm paid hourly and I was told the requirement was 50 or more reports per day. I've never worked QA per line, but I'm sure their line quota is pretty high, at least 2000 or better per day, as you get credit for every line in every report you QA.
Hope this was the answer you were looking for.
I count my own lines and would not think of doing otherwise SM
Yes, you may have to spend money on a counting program, but isn't it important to have everyone on the same page, so to speak?
I'm so old that I don't know how to count by lines...(SM)
No, that's not a "I'm so old joke" - wish it were! I've only worked for myself in the past and now I'm helping someone else out. I agreed at a fairly low page rate (certainly lower than I used to charge) but I now think I'm cheating myself! When you count a 65 character line is that 65 spaces from left margin to right? Is that a gross line? What is the standard? I've been counting my characters (including spaces) in each line and they're at least 75 to 80. So, each page is like 1-1/2! My margins are one inch all around and the font size is 11. Am I wrong in thinking that a 65 character line means 65 spaces across the page? And, if so, is 9 cents per line out of the norm? Thanks for "teaching an old 'dinosaur' a new trick"!!
How do you count your lines? m
When you're not using a program like BayScribe that does it for you. For example, if you transcribe letters or reports in Word, how do you calculate the lines you bill to your client? Any help is appreciated!
ES does count lines.
It is one of the most user-friendly platforms I have worked on. I have 2 accounts that the speech rec is very good on and 1 account with lousy dictators that require more editing, but it is often entertaining. The sound quality is very good, and there is little to no distortion when you speed up the audio file.
Yes. They count the lines as set up
in the contract with the client. Each account can be different.
How can you count your lines in Word, I used
to use the word count in Word and then divide it by something to get a standard line count for that report. Has anyone done this before? I forgot the way to calculate when working in Word.
You can count your lines and characters yourself sm
even if you have no counting program. You can copy and paste into a word document or clipboard and count the characters in Word. At least you will have some idea of what you are being paid for. I have done this many times and if it doesn't add up to what the company's count has, I was right on the horn and sometimes even quit because of it. I will not be cheated in any way by any one.
Count lines in courier 12 - nm
XX
and I count gross lines
I do not cheat, I count gross lines and from top to bottom but I make sure that it is fair so my price per line is lower and it all equals out in the end. On chart notes, it is the total amount of lines which includes 2 spaces between patients which then helps to pay for the cutting apart, sticky paper and delivery. But my accounts are aware of this and again it shows in my per line charge.
The way MTSOs count lines
Does anyone know if some MTSOs calculate lines on various accounts differently? One of my accounts is very difficult to get a decent line count. While it is more tedious and does not have "normals," it just seems like often I have a shift full of fairly long reports (and a fair number of them), and by feel seems like my line count should be higher. - I can't help but wonder if lines are calculated differently for this account.
Does anyone know of MTSOs doing that? Sadly, I am afraid to ask my employer. 
Learn what you speak of. Paid line count
x
Need to count gross lines only w/o spaces, sm
Used Sylcount free download but it expired. Any alternatives. Did not like Practicount. Need to count gross lines only. How do I do that using MS Word?
Count several lines both ways and see the difference
??
yes, but get paid lines for doing it. nm
`
Yea but are we getting paid for all those lines in SH
My job is easier using ShortHand and I do over 50% but my paycheck is not any larger and my line count is the same. 
Are any of you actually making more money and producing more lines even though you keep adding to your shorthand macros and your percentage rates are going up? Just would be curious to know.
Check your line count and what you are getting paid for. Don't trust what they SAY you are gettin
:P
yes, daily, but get paid lines for it. nm
nm
My bad. Would get paid for lines discarded if I
x
They DEDUCTED MORE lines than they paid (sm)
In other words, I typed 100 new words on one job, and because it goes on a "template" format, the company deducted 250 words for the old/not used template that I deleted because the doctor did not use that template.
So, I just spent 5 minutes, and was paid 100 words less 250 words, which is a net DECREASE of 150 words per job. The doctor has ten of those jobs. So I spent 45 or 50 minutes with a net decrease of 150 words per job times 10 jobs, which is a total NET DECREASE of 1,500 words for the 10 jobs for 45 minutes of work.
After 45 minutes of typing and 10 jobs, they REDUCED my pay. Hope I explained it more clearly that time. If it was so correct of the company to do that, then I will gladly transfer that net decrease in pay for those 10 jobs to YOUR paycheck so that you can share it with me. :)
As an IC you invoice the company, count your own lines, and receive a paycheck.
First Choice, JLG, QT Medical, Metro in Atlanta, just to name a few.
Most use SylCount or something similar. I used Abacus - free line counting software.
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