For those of a clerical bent of mind, who live within commuting distance of Waterville, Maine. The pay's not great, but there is group health insurance. All info here
If the pay isn't great it sounds to me that they are demanding a highly qualified person with many skills and offering said person the chance to work exhaustively for a remuneration rate that's effectively minimum wage. Or less. I know jobs with benefits are getting harder to come by but slave labor is still slave labor. Good luck to them in their candidate searches because it will, I suspect, be brought home to them very quickly in the process how much they are losing when you walk out the door for the last time. And how glad I am that you CAN walk out the door. Yay, BAEN, the savviest publisher in the business!
Well, now, not quite "minimum wage"! I think. Let's do arithmetic!
For 40 weeks out of the year, this job is 40 hours. My hiring wage was $12.50/hr (I managed to claw my way up to $14.25 in just under five years). So, $12.50 * 40 = $500 (before taxes, health insurance and, eventually, retirement). We'll just take taxes out. $500 * .33 = $165. $500 (165) = $335 takehome. $335 * 40 weeks = $13,400 takehome ($20,000 gross).
For 12 weeks out of the year, you get 15 hours/wk. 15 * $12.50 = $187.50 less $61.87 = $125.63 * 12 weeks = $1,507.56 takehome ($2,250 gross).
So, altogether that's...$22,250 gross or $14,907.56 takehome. More or less. Or! An average of $343.75/week gross; $230.31 net. Not bad for a girl whose husband works.
Appalling! Again I say, all honor to BAEN and its emancipation of the wage slave. And I hope you hum, perhaps not quite under your breath, that old beloved and evocative Johnny Paycheck classic "Take This Job And Shove It" as you stride out the door! I know Necessity Existed to make you have to put up with the day-job for so long, but how wonderful that Necessity has changed. To quote again, "Free at last, free at last..."
Mmmm. Not exactly. $8.59 minus $7.50 is $1.09...ah, I see the correction just came in. That's why personally I do my checkbook in pencil and use all my fingers and toes. *g* It's also why I never envisioned myself on a career path leading to astronaut. I pilot vicariously, the most enjoyable way for me to go when I'm touring the Liaden Universe.
Publishers, as a general class, believe in higher math and creative accounting...for them. My old royalty statements from Dell and Bantam were real head scratchers, as in how did they get THAT for a total of royalties due and what 'n the hell are they using as a basis for their nasty little reserve against remainders and returns.
Royalty statements have actually gotten more transparent and informative. You needed a native guide and a philosopher to understand our old (1980's) Del Rey statements. The late 20th and early 21st century statements we've gotten from Meisha Merlin, Baen, and Ace have been logical and easy to parse.
I am so glad to hear royalty statements are better now. In the 80s your recourse to the suspicion that you were being, in a word, cheated, was to hire a lawyer and demand a reconciliation to print. That was an expensive proposition indeed to prybar out of the publisher and usually the lawyer's fees for the exercise came out far ahead of any royalties regained. Only the mega-seller authors bothered or had the resources, just to try and keep the publisher at least minimally honest to contract, although their efforts did, I believe, help start the trend toward more transparent and informative contracts.
That salary....makes purchasing a "transportable" carousel (like the one for sale here: http://www.fanelliamusements.com/equipment/chance%20merry%20go%20round.htm ) look like a more viable employment option.
At least when you sell carousel rides, you're making people happy for a while, instead of trying to meet impossible demands....
(I know, nowhere near as large or nice as Kate's carousel. But looks nice given the "load on a transport trailer" rule.)
The very first thing Kit Jimenez (my second self in second life) did, upon achieving ownership of SL "land," was install a public carousel. In SL, you can live on air. In RL, not so much...
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The pay's not great?
(Anonymous) 2011-06-23 11:30 pm (UTC)(link)Anne in Virginia
Re: The pay's not great?
For 40 weeks out of the year, this job is 40 hours. My hiring wage was $12.50/hr (I managed to claw my way up to $14.25 in just under five years). So, $12.50 * 40 = $500 (before taxes, health insurance and, eventually, retirement). We'll just take taxes out. $500 * .33 = $165. $500 (165) = $335 takehome. $335 * 40 weeks = $13,400 takehome ($20,000 gross).
For 12 weeks out of the year, you get 15 hours/wk. 15 * $12.50 = $187.50 less $61.87 = $125.63 * 12 weeks = $1,507.56 takehome ($2,250 gross).
So, altogether that's...$22,250 gross or $14,907.56 takehome. More or less. Or! An average of $343.75/week gross; $230.31 net. Not bad for a girl whose husband works.
Um. Did I use the outloud voice?
Re: The pay's not great?
(Anonymous) 2011-06-24 01:17 am (UTC)(link)Anne in Virginia
Re: The pay's not great?
Therefore! Using the Magic of Averaging, we find that the average hourly wage is! $8.59
Maine's minimum wage is $7.50.
So, you're a buck-
eightyoh-nine to the good.Re: The pay's not great?
(Anonymous) 2011-06-24 01:34 am (UTC)(link)Anne in Virginia
Re: The pay's not great?
Re: The pay's not great?
(Anonymous) 2011-06-24 02:12 am (UTC)(link)Anne in Virginia
Re: The pay's not great?
Re: The pay's not great?
(Anonymous) 2011-06-24 10:51 am (UTC)(link)Anne in Virginia
Re: The pay's not great?
At least when you sell carousel rides, you're making people happy for a while, instead of trying to meet impossible demands....
(I know, nowhere near as large or nice as Kate's carousel. But looks nice given the "load on a transport trailer" rule.)
Re: The pay's not great?