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Wow! This must be the only line of work where the wages

Posted By: keep decreasing. Tragic to say the least. on 2009-02-11
In Reply to: open question to all, regarding line rate - Snow Bunny




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6 cents a line is not competitive imo. More like slave wages.
x
Then DON'T work for "newbie" wages
If you were better, you'd be making more. Bottom line.

Slow people do not make money.

Bad attitude people get less work/jobs.

Good MTSOs do not hire poor MTs.

Why are you griping. It's your own doing. Life is what you make of it. If you deserved more, you'd be making more.

Type faster, make more.

Start your own business, make more.

Qualify for a good MTSO, make more.

If you're not earning it, the reason lies with YOU.
The illegals also can work at these low wages because
they live 5 or 6 families to a house. Every time you hire illegals (and if a job is bid at half what an American can do it, they ARE illegal) you are contributing to the destruction of America. Have you ever read any reports of what its like to live in a neighborhood with illegals? It rapidly declines into garbage and filth. This is the only way these people know to live. They do not care to assimilate into our society. They would rather we degrade down to their level. Enjoy that money you save. May you also enjoy a few of these families coming to YOUR neighborhood.

Oh, and don't think they just live in low income areas any more. Nah, they are spreading into the McMansion neighborhoods. 7 or 8 families per house can afford to live there, and Bank of American is oh so happy to loan them the money. Ain't American great?
Can you afford to work for India wages (sm)

Don't even listen to people trying to sell you a class, study for something with a future.


I did formal training and MT was pretty good for a while, but now I wouldn't recommend this career to my worst enemy!


Will all the big nationals running us out of work and lower our wages what suggestion does anyone

have. This situation is getting extremely serious for people that need to make a living. What a shame.


Lets try this again. With all the big nationals running us out or work and lowering our wages what
do you suggest.
can you stand on your feet all day, be abused by better than thou customers, work for slave wages?

Have a hospital I work for and they consistently change work types and do line counts. (sm)
Management just doesn't understand in order to crank out the work you need to be proficient by typing the same accounts. Go figure, they just don't get it ??
Usually work "live" on a Cphone, while connected. There are ways to record & work off line, bu
s
I don't make 0.08/line.. I work for no less than .13/line. nm
.
The bottom line is doesnt matter what they pay if there is no work you make no money. Bottom line.
:
I have NEVER seen another line of work like this!!! sm
I'm not a spring chicken, and I'm not naive, and I've been in this business for "only" a mere 12-13 years. I'm sure there are plenty of MTs out there who will tell me I don't know what I'm talking about, for this reason.

However, I've been in business for myself in other lines of work. I can honestly say I have never seen such a negative, oppressive, self-denigrating line of work as this.

I don't know a single other profession where it is NOT acceptable to find coverage for yourself (yes, at the risk of losing your client) so that you can get the rest that every human deserves.

Again, this individual TRIED TO GET COVERAGE and the client will not LET her. You are preaching to the choir!!!

Unreal. Just unreal.

As for rates, for most industries, if you know where to look, you can find them. The Internet is a big place.
You might want to look into another line of work.
 
I won't work per line. $15-19/hr

Are you going into another line of work?

DSL does work through the phone line
I have mine through SBC. They sent filters to put on each phone line. Does not interfere with phone usage.

Since the modem is plugged into an electrical outlet as well, you will lose your connectivity if the electricity goes out.

You seem overly worried about no electricity. lol ???
I don't work for Heartland, but the line
about the average age of a US transcriptionist being 59 years old is a BUNCH OF CRAP for having to send work overseas.  What a crock!!!
ICs - how much do you make per line and do you work for ...sm
a large company, small company or have your own contracts?
I think you need to find a different line of work.

I think it's better to work by the hour than the line.
By-the-line SOUNDS good, but there's no control over what accounts you'll get, or how accurate the line-counting software they have is, etc. You may start out on an easy account, but as you pick up speed on it and start to make money, they'll switch you to a harder one. And when you pick up speed on that one, you'll get another harder one. And so on and so on. Benefits probably won't be as good at home, either. The only thing that's better about home is not having to deal face-to-face with management. But at least you have the security of knowing your paycheck is going to be the same each time, and won't dwindle down to less-than-nothing if you have a bad day, or a bunch of bad dictators, or no work. And you mentioned a RAISE. That's something most of at-home people will never see in our careers with any company. The only way we seem to be able increase the cpl is if we change companies. But then you still end up on that treadmill of being given work that you may do well, but you can't make money doing. They get ya coming and going.
I work for NTL and make .12 line
nm
I work two accounts. One is by the report and one is by the line.
Keystrokes has both, and it depends on the type of account. Some have a lot of normal exams and plain xray, the one by the line has mostly MRIs and CTs. I think it is fair and I make great money.
If they want to pay me 20 cents a line to work weekends.. I'm
and no I'm not making it up or exaggerating.. with 26 years experience you really CAN make excellent money in this business.
I would let her know she hired you for MT work at a certain line rate (sm)
and things have changed gradually and you need to discuss another rate for editing.... I would charge her either an hourly rate for editing - whatever you feel comfortable with - or a flat line rate - and I would not do anything else until you come to some kind of an agreement.... she definitely knows you know your stuff and is taking advantage of you.. good luck!!
I'd force her hand while you line up other work.
I would continue doing the work and returning it as soon as it's done. Once you've transribed/printed it's their responsbility from there. I've seen so many docs think they can't afford to pay a measley paycheck but can well afford big houses, cars, vacations. Let's face it, they really don't know what 'tight' is. She seems fishy, very odd. What doc wants you to postpone getting work done? That's just plain bad business. I'm very sorry for you. I think you should keep doing the work, line up something else, and let her squirm and have to face you. If she phases you out by trying to avoid you, nicely get in her face, and make her be accountable for how she's treating you. I'm also very sorry about your husband. You'll be in my prayers.
all clinic work companies pay 6.5-8/line.
NM
Good luck, what line are work are you in now? nm
x
MTSO I work for, get paid by the line.
x
I work for 3 docs and am paid by the line
One doc will do 30 lines in 1 1/2 mins. and another will do 30 lines in 7 mins. Quite frankly I hate working for that particular doc. He ummms and ahhhhs and shuffles papers constantly. I definitely feel cheated when I type his charts.
The bottom line is if the work runs dry, then

It's not rocket science.


$25.00 per hour is more like it. I work now at per report and 14.5 cents per line
and average $30-42.00 per hour
If you're so brilliant then, why aren't you in a better line of work?
1. Surgeon.

2. Attorney.

3. College professor.

oh, and yes, my brilliant one - what year exactly did you graduate with your Ph.D. from Harvard?

LMBO
I get 12 cents line/pull work off their VPN, transcribe in --sm
Word and send back via their encrypted e-mail.
does anyone else work for a service where you have to get your line counts from a website?(sm)

I presently work for two services.  For service A our line counts post to the company password-protected website.  However, that isn't a problem as the program we use shows us our line counts as we go along.  Also, the line counts are available to us, from the program, within five minutes at the most after finishing the job.  It also posts to the website within that time frame.


However, for service B we have to completely RELY on the website for our line counts.  I'm not sure how the site works or how the jobs/counts get posted to that site but there are ALWAYS times where this site is down (usually around the end of the payperiod so we can't tell how much we've typed at any giving moment.)  Also, we cannot verify whether those counts are right because we do not have access to what is considered a line (other than the standard "65-character-including spaces").  Does anyone else work for a service where you have to get your line counts this way?  What do you all think. 


How many hours a day do you work? Are you still paid per gross line?

Not saying I don't believe you.  One has to consider too that you have 20 years of experience, that makes a BIG difference in production.  I'm about four times faster now than I was when I first started out.  Newbies need to consider this too when contemplating MT as a career.


A gross line is anything on a line is a line. A line set at 65 characters means it sm
has 1-inch margins on each side. The maximum number of characters on that line would be 65 and that includes spaces. If there is 1 character on that line it is a line.

A standard 65-character line usually consists of 65 characters with spaces unless, of course, the employer does not pay for spaces and then it would be 65-characters without spaces.
It means one MTSO offering to pay you 3, 4 or 5 cents/line less for the same work you do at another!
 
ExTest users - what about not being able to see line count except on website - does this work out ok
nm
Your company will dictate whether working off line via recorded work is even
s
It probably means you're not Indian and won't work for 2 cents a line.
``
what? I used to make .02/line off my subcontractors work and felt guilty.SM
The MTSO is making .07 line off your work? I know you did not say how much you make, but the MTSO must be charging the client a high rate. Like I said, I had several subcontractors helping me as an IC for local clients in the past, and made .02/line on their work (I am the one who printed and returned the work). You deserve better and are selling yourself much too short! P.S. - Unfortunately this is what is happening to this industry, and it's called greed.
$25/hr. = Low Wages?
I think at $25 per hr. I'm making a bit more than the manager of the French Fry Department at Mickey D's...
QA wages
Anyone out there have an idea of what a QA person should be paid per hour if working at home?
wages
If you keep abreast with current events/news pertaining to the economy you will find that ours is not the only profession whose wages have not increased from levels in the 1990s. It is a lot of people as well who have to leave their homes to go to work for maybe the same that we make every day.
wages
I am not putting you down but if you have been in this business for 20 years and have been reading this board  --give me a break you should be able to project what you will be earning especially if you have had your own accounts.  Especially if you have seen your wages go up and down, cannot believe you are asking this if -- like I said -- you have been in this business 20 years. 
Wages
I don't know about anyone else but I make the same amount of money if not more doing VR than I used to doing transcription, at least when there's work.  Lately the middle to end of the week I have nothing to do!  I personally am only doing this while I finished my bachelor's that I needed to apply to grad school which I start this fall when I'll quit.  I don't think that VR will ever replace MTs entirely because it just is too important to have perfect medical records and VR just isn't perfect especially since doctors do dumb things like talk to other people, correct themselves, mumble, etc.
wages
Just know from my experiences in the last 25 years that doctors are notoriously CHEAP... Do the best you can and if you can't get as much or more money than you are making now, I'd stay where you are. Just my humble opinion. Been there, done that many times.
wages
Wages also depend on where you are located. In house jobs and small independents are going to pay less in rural and struggling areas because they can. In rural areas jobs also depend on who you know. They would rather pay a untrained local rather than a trained outsider. Speaking from the voice of experience.
the wages were no more than they sm
are now when I started, the books were just as expensive. you buy one at a time and build from there. A good reference library is a MUST in this business. If you can get by with the internet search I guess that's ok, but I see people who are not searching at all.

I think 90% of the questions would be answered if folks would invest at least in a Medical Phrase Index. Sorry but its part of the job.
wages
What no one says is that MT wages are considerably lower in rural areas and small cities. Do not be specific but it would help if geographic locations, were mentioned by posters if making more.
Lets hope it is not geared line count per hour the way we run out of work and are in so many
other accounts all the time. Boy that would be bad.