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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hi Wim</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>No, I'm not comparing apples and oranges. I'm
comparing similarly skilled trades. More like comparing different
kinds of apples. Actually, it takes quite a bit longer to master (if
that is even possible) our trade than others who can go to tech school a
year or two and come out making a good bit more than colleges pay "highly
skilled" piano technicians. You can even learn on the job for some
similarly skilled trades and get paid for it. Utilities jobs, for example,
have apprentice programs that pay almost as much as colleges pay fully
skilled techs.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>But the main point of that post was that states and
universities are not the only entities that provide benefits to their
employees. My wife worked for a while as a marketing person for a 4
location big truck dealership. Her health insurance was completely paid
(for the employee), she had 401k and earned leave, just like me. She made
nearly 10K less than me and her take home was only about $200/month
different at the time. This was a relatively small company with about 400
employees overall. I worked for the state of SC with some 25K
employees. But her company's benefits were just as good.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Leave. That's an interesting subject.
It is only of value if you actually use it. Sick leave, especially, tends
to be the most unused benefit. Can't really figure it in unless you plan
to be out sick a lot, and most people save it just in case a disaster comes
along. They don't think about that you can only actually use 30 days a
year of it, even if you have 6 months saved up. Extended sick leave
is what the short-term disability plan is for. When I resigned,
I left at least a month's worth of sick leave unused, and I took two weeks of
sick leave before I resigned, just to take advantage of some of it. My
predecessor had about 6 months built up when he retired. Didn't pay him a
dang thing for it.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>And your computations are a bit
short. States which provide the full amount of insurance coverage also pay
less in salary to compensate. For example, I researched one state
(Illinois? Indiana?) where all the benefits were completely funded by the
employer but the salary bands topped out around $39K (3 or 4 years ago).
You mentioned your $800/month for you and your wife for health insurance. That's
nearly what my full family COBRA would have been. I'm looking into
less than $600 for full family now, but let's do some computing. I had to
contribute nearly $300/month for my state health insurance. So, out
of your $50K, that's $3,600 less - not $10,000 extra - though,
yes, the state also contributes, but we'll figure that later. With state
health insurance plans, you tend to have stuff added in that most
people will never need and that you wouldn't choose as a self-employed
person, and so what the state pays is actually a lot more than they could
get away with. And SC takes out 6.5% for retirement - not 3%. That's
another $3,250 less. Now, we're down to $43,150. NOW, add in the
state's contributions (with a defined benefit retirement - or pension
- plan, you only see the state's contribution when and IF you
retire). So, when you compare employees to self-employed, you have to
also add in the employee's contributions to those differences. Then,
after everything is deducted, you also have to deduct all that
transportation cost that is deductible to a self-employed tech, but not to an
employee. We chose to live 15 miles out where the schools were
good when gas was 92 cents a gallon. Round trip, that's 150 miles a
week if they don't make you come in on weekends. At only 50 cents a mile,
46 weeks a year, that's another roughly $3500 a year, but that's out of
take home pay. With self-employed, that's a tax deduction. I didn't
have to live that far out, but I did want my kids to get to learn to
read.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Now, let's compare that to what my dad did.
He took the apprentice utilities route in the mid sixties. His health
insurance was never over $30/month and was less than $10 for YEARS. His
company's pension plan was completely funded by interest -- no employee
deduction for that. After about 12 years or so, they started offering
company stock matching, which he took advantage of. After 37 years with
the company, he retired with full pension, social security kicked in this
year, and he so far hasn't had to touch his quarter of a million worth of stock
that he converted to other more lucrative investments when he retired.
Yeah, the piano tech position at the college wasn't going to
touch that.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Wife's dad is in a similar situation, but
never worked for a "company" and retired several years earlier than my
dad. He was an iron worker and could be very picky with the work he
took. They only had the pension, but he's in a heck of a lot better shape
than we would have been at his age if I'd stayed on with the
university.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Truck drivers take a 6-8 week course to get their
CDL and the only education required is a GED. Wife's uncle just retired
from the same company my dad retired from and took the CDL course. Will come out
making $40K-$50K/year the first SIX MONTHS and can make up to 6 figures.
I've told before on this list the story of the 23 year old girl I met
about 5 years ago who drove for Keyboard Carriage and BROUGHT HOME
$1100/week. Yeah, that's a bit more than my $670 at the university.
Takes a GED and a short training course.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>If we're talking apples and oranges, or piano
tuners and CPAs, then by these comparisons, we should be the
CPAs. We're college educated, or many of us are, which our parents who
earned much more didn't have to be, and piano technicians possess a skill
that, just by virtue of its rarity, should command more than what college techs
make. Then look at what music faculties expect in terms of ability and
folks, we shouldn't be licking off the bottom of the barrel.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Point is, college tech pay is what it is because
there are technicians who are willing to work for peanuts. Or, they
think they are, and then get stuck in it and can't get out. Then, all the
schools look at each other and say, "this is what the market is for a fully
trained piano technician". It is our own fault.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I resigned, in part, to help my colleagues in
this regard. Part of my resignation was with respect to my peers
and those who come after me. After I resigned, the dean was conveniently
able to get the pay band increased (this crap is backwards isn't it?).
Whoever takes this job needs to hold out for higher pay, or my resignation is in
vain.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Jeff</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Friday, June 13, 2008 8:39 PM</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [CAUT] Louisiana State SOM
Position</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><WBR>But Jeff, now you're starting to compare apples and
oranges. My son, the CPA, makes $500,000 a year. I would like to make half a
million dollars a year, too, but I'll never be able to do that as a piano
tuner. <BR><BR>
<DIV style="CLEAR: both">Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT<BR>Piano
Tuner/Technician<BR>Honolulu, HI<BR>808-349-2943<BR><A
href="http://www.bleespiano.com">www.bleespiano.com</A><BR>Author of <BR>The
Business of Piano Tuning<BR>available from Potter
Press<BR>www.pianotuning.com</DIV><BR><BR>-----Original Message-----<BR>From:
Jeff Tanner <tannertuner@bellsouth.net><BR>To: College and University
Technicians <caut@ptg.org><BR>Sent: Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:58
am<BR>Subject: Re: [CAUT] Louisiana State SOM Position<BR><BR>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>You also have to keep in mind that companies also
provide retirement, insurance, vacation time, holiday time and still pay
professional level salaries. I'm not talking about just piano technology
here. But my sister had to have her air conditioning looked at last
weekend. The guy was there an hour and the bill was about $440. He
didn't work for himself. I'm sure he has some sort of retirement, insurance,
vacation time, holiday time and probably makes a good living.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Jeff</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=scott.thile@murraystate.edu
href="mailto:scott.thile@murraystate.edu">Scott E. Thile</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=caut@ptg.org
href="mailto:caut@ptg.org">'College and University Technicians'</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, June 13, 2008 2:38
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [CAUT] Louisiana State SOM
Position</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=609134617-13062008><FONT face=Arial
size=2>...</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=609134617-13062008><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=609134617-13062008><FONT face=Arial size=2>One thing we've
got to keep in mind while looking at what appear to be low salaries when
compared to private sector work is retirement, insurance, vacation time,
holiday time etc... It took a while, but I now have 3 1/2 weeks of paid
vacation time (and it's about to be 4). One of those weeks is just about to
start--hurray! </FONT></SPAN></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><!-- end of AOLMsgPart_2_dbd6f8e0-81be-4a6c-9e90-46b8867c8db4 -->
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