Posted by Wade on December 15, 2003 at 22:00:03:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Photo Test posted by Gus Pratt on December 15, 2003 at 21:03:36:
Certain jobs are charged out at a predetermined, fixed rate, while others are based strictly on time. Also, each tech has a schedule of hourly rates that is based on what "level" of work is being done, seniority, and proficiency.
House work (turning around rental horns for re-rental or trade-ins for re-sale) gets paid the lowest hourly rate. It is the most involved, as the instrument needs to be as close to new-looking as possible. So we just take our time on house horns. However long it us takes to prep them is however long it takes. The rate is lower for us, but we can slow down on a house horn for a little while and still make some money.
Customer work gets better rates for us, but is more confined by the clock.
Estimated customer work gets the highest rate, but we MUST adhere to the estimate (or at least within a few dollars). If we do an estimate and (as happens sometimes) the horn disintegrates when we start to fix it, we lose money by exceeding the allotted time. It takes a number of years of working full time before you are allowed to make estimates for customers, as you can not miss anything or you lose money.
We do not work on a draw system for our commission. Rather, we are paid after the fact. We only get 45% of the labor charge (instead of the customary 50%) but can never end up owing the store if a repair goes way over on the estimated time. So, while our checks are very different each week, by being paid after instead of on a draw, there is no way for us to end up having to give any money back to the store. This happens a lot at some stores around here and in Texas.
This happens at many stores that maintain a large staff full time. As I said, many stores pay commission using a draw system (which are estimates on what you will do based on what is waiting in the warehouse) that can have a technician owing the store if he goes overtime too often, or if it is a slack period with no work.
We also get a guaranteed minimum hourly wage just for being present. If I show up and do nothing (like during a period when there are no horns on the shelves), I will get $8 per hour. In slack periods, we sometimes end up arguing over who gets what work if any comes in.
When things are busy and moving quickly, I make as much as $30 per hour with commission.
It is good to be fast and efficient, as you make far more money and your customers are happier with the slightly lower prices and faster turn-around times.
The Dent Eraser would make me more money much faster and with less use of the torch. I only go in to this store when it is busy. With shorter ticket times netting the highest rates, the faster I move, the more money is in my commission check.
If we get done early, the estimated price stands, just as if we were to have gone over time. So time-saving devices are very popular around here, as I can literally jack-up my hourly commission by being fast.
If this does not make a lot of sense, you can see why so many good repair techs end up running their own shops. Working for someone else according to their bottom-line-based standards of what is an adequate repair can be very frustrating. But it is also rewarding work and good extra money for me.
All of this nonsense helps to ensure that none of the five techs are sloughing-off while on the clock. We get detailed time/labor Shop Reports on our bench with our hourly check each Friday. Our commission check comes around the 1st of each month.
It sounds weird, and you will never get rich, but we have stock shares, insurance, two annual bonus checks based on a percentage of our total production, and five monthly paychecks; so the boss' keeping an eye on every minute of our time is fine by me.
I can do fast work, too. That bell flare took me about an hour of sweaty work. The rest of the work took a bit longer, however.
Wade "Are we all confused now?" Rackley