Technician Wages

[kingpd@businessprints.net]

Yeah, there are other factors than money that influence how happy I am with my job.

I've liked where I am fairly well for years... problem is my company just announced they will not be replacing our service vehicles when the lease expires at least for the next year - they expect us to go back to the old half assed system that they acknowledge only reimburses 70% of the (deflated) cost of the vehicle. Then on top of that they give us this ridiculous new dispatch system that serves no purpose other than to crawl up our butt with a microscope and gather information they can use to nickle and dime us to death.

I've seen companies go this route - the people who are good enough that they can find a job elsewhere do, and the company is left with the people who need the kind of babysitting they're imposing on us. It becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

I've also started hearing bad news from my customers - things like "I just bought a new machine and I didn't even call you because my billing has stayed so screwed up for the last 2 years... It doesn't matter how good your service is at this point, I can't waste my time with your billing department."

That I find really troublesome - I don't care who signs my paycheck, my customers pay it. If the company isn't taking care of them I'm not going to have a very long career with them regardless of how well - or not - they take care of me, and if they can't keep customers its no wonder they're trying to nickle and dime the techs.

I read an article where this one dealership has each tech equipped with a gps tracking device so they know where you are at all times. The theory is that they can see which tech is the closest to a service call that comes in...I see this as only a half-truth. I wouldn't like anyone knowing where I am every second of the day.

[KMnyafayce]

By the way is 14.00 an hour good for 15 years of experience??

I have been in the business for about 4 years now and i make about 13 an hour in Chattanooga, the cheapest place on earth to live. You get paid in dirt my friend, you are in the same boat as everyone else on this board =(

[tech07]

North Carolina $ 21.00 hr...full line trained...

[Lotec]

I have to agree with verderacer. Initially unions seem to support the membership, but after a short while they become interested only in perpetuating themselves. Let's say the union gets you $25 per hour at your particular specialty. Well in return they want $5 of it for all the hard work they do. And then where are you? Back where you started, and another somebody reaching into your pocket. And when the company decides they can't support the union wages, what then? They dump the whole lot and start from scratch. This doesn't sound like anything I'm interested in. Less job security than I already have. =^..^=

You seems to have strange unions in the US... thinking Sopranos here

In Norway I make about 325 000 Nok = 53500 us dollar.
If I was joining a union I would have to pay 1,5% of my gross salary = about 780 dollars
My pay would probably increase by several thousand as my pay is considered low in Norway. But I'm not sure if it would be popular by my employer. But I'm considering it.

I have 3 years of electronics education, and could fairly easy find a job that paid close to 70 000 dollars. But they usually include travelling away a few days - and my wife don't like that.
I make about 27 - 28 dollars an hour now.

If I had worked at McDonalds I would have made about 18 dollars an hour.

I could also start working as a teacher as I have been a few years on a university. I would then make about 70 000 dollars.
But I kind of like the job, moving around. Fixing stuff. Listening to audio books in the car. Can be nice, if the work pressure is not too high.
I have nice coworkers too, and we travel once or twice a year on a company tour, to another country. Just to get liquered up and eat some good food.
We also have a nice christmas party.

I'm supposed to work 37,5 hours a week. We have 5 weeks paid vacation a year.
Right now, I work about 70 hours a week - but are only getting paid overtime for a fraction of that time.

Don't need no health insurance as the government/state pays for hospitals, medicine, doctors and stuff like that (education, and some of the kindergaten expences and so on). We are covered agains accidents at work and the company also pays for en extra pension. A regular pension is about 66% of what I have earned, and it is index regulated. With the extra pension I will get about 72-75% of my income.

Women that get pregnant will have 1 year with full pay. All medical expences for the mother and child is covered. The state pays (not the company).
We get paid about 160 dollars for every child every month until they are 18. It is to ensure that every child get their basic needs covered.
If the woman choose to stay home to take care of the child longer than the first year - the family will get about 6400 dollars for each child a year - until they are 23 month old.
The children have free dental care until they are 18 years old. From 18 to about 20 years old they have to pay 25% of the dental costs. When they are 20 - 25 years old they have to pay 50%. After that you have to pay everything yourself - unless you have been a victim of violence. Then the state will cover the expences.

Education is free, including university. Even if I want to study in the US/Australia/another European country. When you are 18 years old, and you don't live at home - or your parents don't make more than a certain amount of money, the state will give you some money when you study.
If you fail your class, you will have to pay the money back. Or you can take (and pass) the exam again, and the loan becomes a gift again.
You can also loan money from the state when you study - but after you get a job you will have to pay back the money with interest.

I have a company car - but I can not use it as my private car. I can drive to and from work. That's it. If I want to use it as my private car too - my wage will for tax purposes be considered about 12-14 000 dollars higher, and I have to pay the tax of that amount.
If I drive a lot, it will be OK for me - but if I don't use the car a lot, I will loose money on that deal.
Cars are really expensive in Norway. The taxes are heavy on cars with big engines and that weighs a lot. If you buy a very small car - the tax is lower. There are no taxes on electric cars. I liter of diesel cost me just under 2 dollars. Hence my next car will drive 30km pr liter of diesel. You will not see many cars in Norway with a V8 engine (unless it is a Scania truck ). Seems like all the V8s I see are in TransAms, Corvettes and so on from 1972-78. After that there was not sold many american cars here because of the taxes.
That's why I drive a really old, cheap car (1994) VW Caravell
VW Caravelle-eja-PSPT-04.jpg
If I want to buy a new VW Caravell the starting price is: 106 000 dollars.
That is with the smallest engine and no extras.
The version I would like to have would cost me 140 000 dollars.
And there is no way in H*** I would pay that much for a car. I'd rather use a bike before I do that. That's why I drive a really old car. You do tend to become a good mechanic if you don't make a lot of money


- END of class for today -

[Lotec]

I read an article where this one dealership has each tech equipped with a gps tracking device so they know where you are at all times. The theory is that they can see which tech is the closest to a service call that comes in...I see this as only a half-truth. I wouldn't like anyone knowing where I am every second of the day.

I worked in Spain in a tourist destination for a while. That company used a car with GPS tracking, and an automated system that gave the job to the tech that was near by. We had never more than 1 job on our worklist.
The system was automated, but I'm sure they could go in manually and pinpoint the cars location.

But they had a cool thing. A small bar code scanner pen that we could dock to a PC in the car after the job was done.
I scanned the barcode of the machine when I came to the customer. I then scanned all the parts I replaced and I scanned the machine once again when I left.
When I docked it to the USB in the laptop, the information was sent to the office. They knew exectly how much time I had used and what parts that I had changed. They knew the true service cost of all the brands/models and adjusted the machines they sold according to that info.
Also, when I parked the car at the office in the evening - the logistics guys made the car ready for the nexy day.
The next morning, the parts had been replaced, the car was washed inside and outside, it had a full tank of gas and the oil had been checked. Yeah.. the company was run by a German. Got to love the control.
It was as close to a stress free job at a tech can get. Everything was in order.
The pay was low though.. about 1000 euros a month... thats about 1300 dollars. I got a bonus every month... about 100 euros.
But it was cheap to live there, to go out and eat and drink. And the weather was nice. And I knew it was only for 6 month.
Learned a few extra words in spanish as well

[linuxxpwin]

I am presently on Vacation, in a north American Country, and I say it is important to get your resume and experience out there, I have had several job offers while I am here, and I am actually in consideration right now of which I should take.

The salaries are good, but it means moving to that country with my family, this would be good for my son as he is very young and the opportunities would be available to him.

So I am carefully considering.

[kingpd@businessprints.net]

I have seen several documentaries and Norway always ranks very high by many standards as one of the best nations in the world with regard to pay, work, education, healthcare, and quality of life.

Sadly, the "good ol' USA" does NOT rank very high on any of these lists. Gee, I wonder why...as Americans we need to get off our bullshit high horses and get over this illusion that we're so great and wonderful. It's time to start working towards getting better things for ourselves, our spouses, our children and our grandchildren.

If I offend you, I don't care. If you disagree, I still don't care. We all have to live in this world, and I want to make it better for us. That's what I care about.

[AyJayAreDii]

I read an article where this one dealership has each tech equipped with a gps tracking device so they know where you are at all times. The theory is that they can see which tech is the closest to a service call that comes in...I see this as only a half-truth. I wouldn't like anyone knowing where I am every second of the day.

I met a tech who dealership not only have GPS in there cars. but tracker in there labtop and USB sticks and sd card had to be unblocked via head office before they could be used. When on the course for a ricoh proc900 they was not able to use the Firey recovery software and usb prep tool on there laptops. Makes life so much harder!

[Milo Wilson]

If I offend you, I don't care. If you disagree, I still don't care.

And this is why we (USA) all get a bad rap from other countries

[Milo Wilson]

I worked in Spain in a tourist destination for a while. That company used a car with GPS tracking, and an automated system that gave the job to the tech that was near by. We had never more than 1 job on our worklist.
The system was automated, but I'm sure they could go in manually and pinpoint the cars location.

But they had a cool thing. A small bar code scanner pen that we could dock to a PC in the car after the job was done.
I scanned the barcode of the machine when I came to the customer. I then scanned all the parts I replaced and I scanned the machine once again when I left.
When I docked it to the USB in the laptop, the information was sent to the office. They knew exectly how much time I had used and what parts that I had changed. They knew the true service cost of all the brands/models and adjusted the machines they sold according to that info.
Also, when I parked the car at the office in the evening - the logistics guys made the car ready for the nexy day.
The next morning, the parts had been replaced, the car was washed inside and outside, it had a full tank of gas and the oil had been checked. Yeah.. the company was run by a German. Got to love the control.
It was as close to a stress free job at a tech can get. Everything was in order.
The pay was low though.. about 1000 euros a month... thats about 1300 dollars. I got a bonus every month... about 100 euros.
But it was cheap to live there, to go out and eat and drink. And the weather was nice. And I knew it was only for 6 month.
Learned a few extra words in spanish as well

Now this company sounds like they had it together...Wish I could work there..LOL

[kingpd@businessprints.net]

And this is why we (USA) all get a bad rap from other countries

How typical of you sir. If you are going to quote me, then you need to quote the remainder of my statement that went with the portion you quoted, as it completely changes the meaning and context.

[canonclc]

[verderacer]

If anything this looks to be a good lesson on socialism and what it costs...

[fixthecopier]

If anything this looks to be a good lesson on socialism and what it costs...

I am not sure I understand your point. The guy from Norway has a great package and from what I have read, the guys from down under are not doing too bad.

[Lotec]

Yeah.. what you make does only depend on where you will spend the money.. more or less. How much you pay for a house/appartment/car/food/school/medicine and things like that is more important then what you make.

With my pay (and due to very high prices) I can only go out for dinner with my family a few times a year. Even McD is expensive lol.
An OK restaurant, steak, 1 bottle of wine and some onion rings for my wife and me will set me back about 200 dollar. I can almost buy an Xbox 360 for that amount.

I can travel from Norway to the Canary Islands (or Mallorca, or Greece, or Egypt.. and so on) for the same amount, including 1 week at an appartment hotel. And there I can eat the same meal for two people for 60 dollars or less and have an extra bottle of wine included..
In Egypt I ate my cheapest meal ever btw. 1/2 chicken, fries, salad and a coke for less than 2 dollars.

So I save my money, and spend them where I get more bang for the bucks.

But I don't complain. I just adjust my life to where I live. And I can travel more, and meet a lot of people.

In Norway we know that everything that is not good for you (alcohol, tobacco etc) will have very high taxes. So in my family we don't smoke and we don't drink that much.
If something is bad for the environment it has high taxes. So a lot of people drive small cars.. but if you live in a country with winter, 4x4 is nice. A bigger car is safer then a smaller car.
Sometimes it is very irritating, and lacks logic. I could buy two Mercedes C class cars, and it would be cheaper then one VW Caravell which has no luxury feeling, it has no extras and it does not handle all that well. Still the weight = high taxes. Now what is better for the environment: We drive one car or two
I can even buy 4-5 small Daewoos..
Not that I can afford a new car anyway.. except for the Tata Nano.. if they sold it here.. with no taxes

I have family in the US and Canada - and when I'm there I can go and eat at a restaurant or diner for a low price. My familiy (in the US) go out 3-4 days a week. If I was supposed to do that in Norway, I would have to make twice of what I do now.

But with the system we have now - I see that I am lucky. I have recieved much more from the system then I have paid for.. so far.
I'm not sure I will ever reach a point where I pay more then I recieve..
I have been going to school for free for 21 years. Even when I was drafted in the Navy I got classes worth a lot of money - that was not just focused on the military needs. I got a licence to drive just about everything with wheels. Classes in fiberoptics, networks, computer software, welding (MIG/MAG/TIG). And I learned to blow a lot of shit up
I have 3 children that will get free school, doctor, dentist and so on.
I just don't make enough money to pay more then I get.
If I don't start to drink and smoke a lot, and drive a Hummer.. and so on

I think that with a system like we have - there is no people that is left without a home, and there is no people that have to make money quick to pay for medical bills or food. So it should be a fairly safe place. You will always have drug users that have to get money one way or another - but they are usually not violent.

On the other hand you get a society where slackers can live a good life without ever working. And people that pretend they can't work - and just want to life of the money they get from the state. That makes me pissed.
It may also leed to less competition, where people don't give a 100%. But some studies show that a regular worker can do a lot of work in a day when they can focus on their job - and not worrying about how they're going to pay a medical bill or stuff like that.

Some may not like that the state choose what a certain amount of their money is spent for. They want to pay for what they use, and spend the moeny the way they like.
I pay about 30% tax by the way. I think it's fair. I don't like to pay the tax, but it's still fair.
But as with all systems there are advantages and disadvantages.