[j-radkemachine]

I'M SURE MOST EVERYONE OUT THERE FEELS UNDERPAID...
I HAVE BEEN WORKIN W/ & AROUND CNC MACHINES SINCE I WAS 12 YEARS OLD. ( MY FATHER OWNS A SHOP )
I AM IN CHARGE OF :
PROCESSING ORDERS ( P.O.'S )
ORDERING MAT'L / CASTINGS
ORDERING TOOLS & SUPPLIES ( SHOP , OFFICE , ALL OF IT )
SCHEDULE
SHIPPING ( OUTGOING & REC. ) - ( PAPERWORK , FORKLIFT , ETC. )
PRINTING OUT OPERATION SHEETS FOR EVERY JOB
INSPECTION - ( FLOOR , IN OFFICE , FINALS , ETC. )
& WHEN THERE'S A PROBLEM ... I JUST ADJUST OFFSETS MYSELF IF THE OPERATOR IS IGNORANT IN THAT AREA... OR WORK W/ THE OPERATOR ON LOADING PARTS INTO A FIXTURE THE CORRECT WAY..
I LOG EVERY SINGLE BIT OF INFORMATION THAT NEEDS TO BE LOGGED...
( REC. REPORTS , P.O.'S , TOOLS , ETC. ETC. )

I HELP OUT W/ SET-UPS , FIXTURING , PROGRAMMING , ETC.
I BASICALLY DO THE JOB OF ABOUT 3 or 4 EMPLOYEES...

I DON'T THINK THAT OUR SHOP IS TOO SMALL EITHER...
ABOUT 25 EMPLOYEES ... & 2 SHIFTS!!!

SO... MY QUESTION IS ...
TO ALL OF YOU EMPLOYERS OUT THERE... OR ANYONE IN MY SHOES ...
WHAT IS MY POSITION "GO TO GUY" WORTH???
BECAUSE I FEEL THAT I'M WAY UNDERPAID...

OH DID I MENTION THAT BEFORE I STARTED BACK HERE GOIN ON 2 YEARS AGO... THEY STILL DID EVERYTHING W/ PEN & SPIRAL NOTEBOOK...
SINCE THEN I HAVE DEVISED A METHOD TO KEEP TRACK OF !!EVERYTHING!! INCLUDING OUR OVER 3,000 PARTS IN OUR SYSTEM...

LASTLY .... I'M NOT TRYING TO COME ACROSS AS CONCEITED... JUST NEEDED TO EXPLAIN THAT I DO MOST OF THE DUTIES... EXCLUDING QUOTE JOBS , DO PAYROLL , PAY BILLS , & PUSH THE GREEN BUTTON... ( WHICH I DO SOMETIMES )

THANKS FOR ANY FEEDBACK,

UNDERPAID IN TEXAS

[thkoutsidthebox]

Im happy with my pay...probably overpaid , but still manage to spend all my money before getting paid again. However, Im not happy with my job, and can't wait to get out of it .....money ain't everything, its just one more thing. Sorry I can't offer any more helpful advice.

[j-radkemachine]

Yeah I Hear Ya...
I Was Hired To Do Inspection. Period .

Now I Do All This ****.... & Don't Make Any More For It...

AND I AM HAPPY W/ MY JOB DUTIES... JUST DON'T FEEL THAT I AM PAID ENOUGH FOR IT

[HuFlungDung]

Book off sick for a while and see if the place goes to hell. If it does, then ask for a raise

[j-radkemachine]

thought of that .... just don't have it in me..... YET !!!

[Runner4404spd]

heck be thankful you have a job. i'm sure we all feel underpaid for what we do, but up here in michigan people are counting the days until they need to look for another job.

[j-radkemachine]

Yea.. I Hear Ya. It Has Been A Slow Year For Us Too.
Hopefully '07 Will Be Much Better!!!
Thanx

[pp-TG]

heck be thankful you have a job. i'm sure we all feel underpaid for what we do, but up here in michigan people are counting the days until they need to look for another job.

where in mi are you from upper or lower?

[Runner4404spd]

i am in lower michigan. around the detroit area. this area was hit pretty hard when the automotives took a turn for the worse.

[Dar]

runner4404spd
im in Flint.
Dar

[pp-TG]

i am in lower michigan. around the detroit area. this area was hit pretty hard when the automotives took a turn for the worse.

i am in upper and its no better up here i think it is michigan all together(chair) .

[tmaker]

I am in Indy,have more work than I can do in 8 hours, no overtime. Took off last week for deer hunting, the place went to **** and still no raise or thanks.

[Bluesman]

I am in Indy,have more work than I can do in 8 hours, no overtime. Took off last week for deer hunting, the place went to **** and still no raise or thanks.

Wow what a bunch of whiners, You are worth excactly what you are getting paid PERIOD. When you took the job you agreed on X for pay. If you thought you were worth more you should have got it going in. There is way to much work out there. Post your resume and start looking for a new job.
I make 60 a year and I know that there are places out there that will pay me more. I turned down 68 a year just 2 months ago. (Did not want to move).
And calling in sick for a week is not the answer either that just makes you a schmuck. You are paid to do a job, You agreed on the pay you are getting. So do your job and shut up. If you think you are being treated unfair FIND A NEW JOB

Bluesman

[pkaiser]

First you need to be happy at your job to advance.
Second do you want to be a toolmaker or a purchasing agent? Don't get me wrong, I also do all the things you listed but that's after the fact that I'm a journeyman toolmaker and can make anything they throw my way...Next comes running the shop!

My raises have been better than I would have even asked for...need I say more. My advancements have come in the form of money and a title...First toolmaker, then shop foreman and now Toolroom manager.

I'm sure i can make more somewhere else but I don't look around much, I am happy here which brings me back to the top.

Hope i helped. If not happy speak up don't just sit around and grip about it. Ask "what can I do to make more money"? Hey it has worked for me.

[Bowman]

While I agree that we all accept the salary/benefits packages at the time of job offer I think what gets most people is that they made this decision based on what they were told the job entailed (duties/description).

I know all places have the caveat of "and all other duties," at the end of the descriptions but that should not end up being the main part of the jobs actual duties. When those all other duties consume the majority of your time you start to wonder what exactly it was you were hired for to begin with.

Over time I have come to realize companies will take advantage of an individuals multitude of abilities but fail to realize that when they go to far with the requests it creates issues with the employee.

While having multi talents/skills to bring to a job is considered a good thing and help you land a job it can be a double edge sword in that you end up being asked to do things above and beyond more often while others with the same job title but limited abilities are only asked to do their main job and nothing more.

In my current job I worked contract for 6 months working on upgrading the network and other misc computer IT/IS issues. When my contract was up they offered me a position in Quality as a compliance auditor since my degree qualified me for the position. We have 45-50 people at this plant with only 2 of us knowing anything about PC networking/hardware etc. So what they saw in me was the chance to fill the open position as well as get someone to help with IT/IS. I have to admit it all worked just as I had hoped leaving college in that I got into a plant via my IT experience and also my degree helped and worked my way into a position with the use of all my abilities. Yet now I am starting to feel the toll after 4 years of extra duties, I am now even involved in automation projects on the production lines. All this while I am still expected to do the actual job descriptions duties at the same time. Eventually you feel your being overworked and under appreciated, generally taken advantage of.

I can see where employers would want to get the most out of the employees they can and utilize all their abilities to help business output. Yet there comes a point where your being asked to do what amounts to several jobs at other facilities while only being paid for the one which you were hired.

Above and beyond should be taken into account more often. I think employers fail to realize over time what someone does especially if those things never come up as issues.

I have come to the conclusion that offering to do more will always be accepted and hardly ever rewarded. So its best to just lay low, be quiet and not offer up much in ideas else you end up following it through just for having the idea.

All that being said it is nice to have a job and to know that I can do many different things others here can not and I think that is valued but just not rewarded when being compared to peers. The door is always open to new prospects for employment you just have to look. As for me I am stuck here for a few more years to get my time in and then I am golden in this field as far as other jobs openings go. Until then I offer to do things others would never think of only if I want to do it for my own personal gain in knowledge. Something more I can offer the next employer so they can take advantage of that too heh. Its a catch 22 all you can do is try to limit your exposure and still be a valued employee at the same time.

[Geof]

Start your own business and then you get to do all those things and scrub out the can and probably take a cut in pay for the first few years with the chance you will lose everything you have invested if your luck turns down a bit.

[HuFlungDung]

LoL, Geof, you nailed it.

[Bowman]

Geof good point I totally forgot about as an option to working for someone to begin with. My neighbor started doing his own gig hosting websites out of his house a few years ago. He calls me corporate Dan and I rib him when holidays come around and about his boss not letting him off and making him work nights.

Funny thing is he wants me to come on part time to help out since he is overloaded as CEO and Janitor etc etc etc and he knows I know what he needs and that I could easily learn what I am lacking plus I am the only one he trusts even thinking about leaving his business with. The way his business is going I am thinking about it for the extra $$ but also as a potential future out of the corp world to doing my own thing as well. Webhost admin servers cranking in the back, CNC running in the shop might be enough to take me away from corp hell heh.

Shame you go to school and get out and get the good job with the good company and still you just want to get out and do your own thing. Many days I think to myself, I went through school and all its crap so that I could now deal with this corp crap??

Hats off to those of you that do your own thing, I hope to join your ranks soon.

[STS_John]

1st: Remember this comes from the other side, I own a machine shop.

2nd: I did not see anywhere where you stated what your pay was, so I don't know if you are under paid or not.

3rd: You seem to be complaining that you are handling more than one responsibility, and not the pay.

Opinions: I ask everyone when they start at my shop if they are happy in life. If they say yes, we try not to do anything at work to make them unhappy. If they don't know if they are happy, or say "No" I am not happy, we usally don't hire them. Becuase no matter what we we do, they won't be happy at work either. Which usally makes them a pain in the ass to deal with.

Over the years I've heard the"it's not my job" whining from quite a few individuals. If you are a work for 8 hours, what's wrong with staying busy. I actually find the day goes faster, and there seems to be more purpose to my life.

It all gets down to attitude. The guys here at my shop seem to have one thing in common. They have come to peace with the fact that they will most likely need to work for a living for most of their life (unless they hit the Lotto). So they come to work to make the best out of the day, and not to make themselves miserable.

I had a very good machinist working here some years back. I paid him top wages (in excess of 50K per year, and that's damn good money in Florida) He was running a manual lathe job with an 1 hour and 15 minute cycle time. I ask him to do some detail work on the parts that were finished. He said no, he would do that when the run was finished. I then saw him sit on a stool for an hour watching the lathe go round. I went and cut his last check and walked him out the door.

There are some months when I go without a paycheck so I don't have to lay anybody off. I keep one person in bad health on the payroll so she can get medical benefits. All the complainers here need to realize this is two way street, the company needs to make a profit also. Remember, I worked my tools for other people for 20 years. And, I worked at some goverment facilites and large corporations that I felt there were some "suits" that were making lots of money and not worth it. All I did was make myself miserable. If you have a job, try to be productive, and happy with yourself. If the place is making you miserable, find a new job. If the new job makes you miserable, maybe its you making yourself miserable.

[thkoutsidthebox]

I read the downloadable e-book called something like "Making Money the old Fashioned Way" by the owner of Sherline. Its on their site. It was very good. Its free, just ask you to make a donation to a machinists charity if you want to, or not if you dont.

Anyway, it mentions that some people are meant to be employees. Thats what they will be able to do, and if they try to be self-employed they will fail. But that some other people are meant to be self-employed and they will excel, if they don't succeed they will start again and again, until they eventually get it right, because they will simply never be happy working for someone else.

Im the second type whether I like it or not! Eventually I'll have my business up and running. Anyway....Im not exactly sure now what my point was when I started typing, but its a good book Bowman, you should read it.

Incidentally, I go to work knowing that my job is to do what Im told and not to cross any higher ups. A lot of days people end up trying to hide from the boss because there's nothing to do. Its ****. (Forgive the language). Theres nothing worse than sitting around doing nothing in work thinking about everything you could be doing elsewhere. I like to be kept busy.

Here's my only word of advice:
Dont think of your wages as being for specific tasks. Your in work for the same period of time whatever your doing, and your paid to do whatever the employer needs done. So think of your wages as per hours. If your getting enough per hour then your getting paid enough, if not then ask for a raise. What your doing each hour is irrelevant. (Unless its life threatening or you have to do it a thousand miles away!) If you really dont like what your doing its possibly time to go somewhere else.