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Is anyone able to make a decent living at Landmark doing VR? - Old hands

Posted: May 21, 2014

Over the past few months, the account that I am on has gone from being at least half straight typing to almost all VR, with only a very small handful of dictators that are still on straight transcription. I am having a really hard time making a living since this has happened and my paychecks keep getting smaller and smaller. I am wondering if anyone else is in the same situation, or if it's just me. My account is a pretty busy one, but most of these VR reports are a complete mess and need to be typed from scratch for half the pay, not to mention a lot of the reports are less than a minute long and are only a few short sentences, making it almost impossible to build up any lines. It's very hard to stay motivated to even try anymore because of this. :( Thanks for letting me vent.

Nope, I make $30 in 5 hours, so that's $8/hr with them. - just me in ID

[ In Reply To ..]
Seriously, it's terrible. I only get 3 CPL and it's very heavy ESL, so it's not at all easy to get a good line count. I'm just too tired to look for another job at the moment.

LOL, I meant $40 in 5 hours. - Me in ID

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Ugh.

Same here - it's awful - Old hands

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I bust my butt for hours and hours only to make about $40 or $45 a day. I think I'm going to have to start looking. I could just cry when I look at my paychecks and compare them to what they used to be. I'm beginning to feel like a slave.

Definitely not me - Me

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It's like torture logging on to work each day knowing how little money I'll be making. It actually sounds like we may be on the same account.

I hear ya - Same Boat

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I'm lucky if I average $10 an hour on most days. I'm pretty sure I could make more delivering pizzas. I feel like a hamster on a wheel, going fast, but getting nowhere. It's a complete slap the face as I've been doing this for almost 20 years and I used to always make well over $20 an hour.

voice wreck - me too

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I have been an MT 40 years in Sept and made more in 1989 than I do now and well over $20 not that many years ago.

When I was a member of AAMT (never again), we heard about voice recognition coming and we never thought it would be in our life time. Wrong!! It is here and here to stay. Less than half than if typed from scratch and twice the work. I think I average $7/hr take home pay. Can't live on that.

I am also in my 60s, no McDonald's around to work for, or Walmart, so maybe the gas station.

And they also have a minimum line count per day, I wonder who is making that?

I used to love my job, but no more.

Same here - making $7 to $8/hour - Depressed

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and almost ALL the reports are now VR. If I was younger, I'd go work at McDonalds, lol.

Correct me if I'm wrong - mtinnm

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But from what I recall seeing everyone working at Landmark is IC. If that is indeed the case, unfortunately, you are all making even less than you are calculating because you are paying all of SS and Medicare taxes. This VR junk is what everybody has been complaining about for the last 4-5 years, all the VR, how bad it is. Anybody who says they make good money on VR editing is working on an account that has been on VR for 2-3 years, has decent dictation, and that the editing has been extremely consistent throughout, meaning that everybody is doing the editing exactly the same. Even with all of those things being true, it only gets just so good and then you feel like you are training the speech engine again. It is pure junk. I know this depressed feeling, which is why I have just this week started a minimum wage job as a cashier/clerk at a local store. This way, any time I am required to be at work to perform functions for work, I am going to at least get paid for it. In addition to the crummy MT line rate now, the horrid dictators, accounts, etc., seems like the majority of MTSOs find ways to have us work for nothing, like training on new accounts and platforms. Refuse to pay for the training time that they profit from. Most only pay for lines. I have found this to be true even with employee status. I have worked both as an employee and as IC, it doesn't seem to matter much.

The straight typing is already just about completely gone for most of us and has been for some time now. I would estimate maybe as little as 5% ST and 95% VR.

When VR first came in, we were given the first 3 months to get up to speed on VR and then we had our line rates cut in half across the board. I currently have 3 jobs, none of them with steady work, so I never know how much I will make. MT is just not worth it so that I can stay at home.

Something else you probably need to figure in there somewhere is your electricity, your internet, your computer, your software, etc. I know that these are a tax write-off, but it is just the idea that most MTSOs don't even pay their own overhead, we pay it for them.

I'm not an IC - GM

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I am employee status and so is everyone else I know who works here. I don't even know if they have ICs at Landmark. I'm about ready to get out myself. I can't pay the bills with this ridiculous VR. :(

I work at Landmark as an IC - sm

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and I'm averaging about $12 an hour, but there is not enough work for me to make more than 80-100 bucks a day.

I'll correct you; you are wrong - CJ

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Not everyone at Landmark is an IC.

I'm still doing straight typing for Landmark... - so far...

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and I'm not making such a great living either. Motivation is my main problem, and it's tough to keep it up there and keep on pounding away!

Gerbil wheel - Beach Glass Lover

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I started with them 18 months ago on an ER account that, at that time, was 95% straight typing at 8 cpl and 5% VR at 4 cpl. Today, it is completely opposite. Yesterday I averaged a whopping 4.8 cpl for all my efforts. Takes an awful lot of running on that gerbil wheel to make $100 a day, especially as an IC. But, this was the choice I made - and for all its down side, to me it still beats getting dressed up and commuting anywhere :)

You are working for the wrong company - VR my first hour today I made

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$28.00 and usually wind up for the day making between $150 and $175. You have a lousy VR system if you constantly have errors.

You must be one of the few - lucky ones

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that has a decent VR. Most VR are lousy but no one cares no matter how much info is given on how bad it is or how long it takes, paid by the line so time does not matter to them.

Agree - Jam

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Over the past 2-3 years, I have worked on several VR accounts and NONE of them have been anywhere near efficient. I have yet to see a decently produced document by VR that didn't require at least a moderate amount of editing. Most of what I have seen produced by VR is pure junk, from missing and incorrect punctuation, completely incorrect and misspelled words, to missing paragraphs. VR is the biggest scam I have ever seen. Sure, it's great for the MTSOs who get to take money away from the MT to put in their own pockets while they're charging the clients either the same or not much less than they were for straight transcription. Companies don't pay nearly enough for VR. In my opinion, MTs should be paid no less than 6 cpl for VR. Half the normal line rate is an absolute slap in the face to any decent MT. We are the ones with the education and knowledge in our brains that we've acquired over the years, not some stupid speech engine that can't even spell penis. When I'm looking for jobs, I only apply for the ones that I know for sure are straight transcription. I absolutely refuse to do VR at this point. If and when the time comes when that is no longer possible, it will be time for me to hang up my headphones and retire.

I think we're on the same account - Old hands

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I'm pretty certain that we're on the same account. I've been on this ER account for about the same amount of time as you and it used to be at least half straight typing with much less VR, but, like you said, it's now the exact opposite and it's about 98% VR. I now only get maybe 5 or 6 straight typing reports a day, but they are usually very, very short and yield very little lines. I also make 8/4. When I first started on this account, I could easily make at least $140 to $150 a day, but now I struggle just to make $100. I agree that it definitely beats having to actually leave the house and commute to go to work, but it sure is hard to stay motivated since our pay has been cut essentially in half.

I would rather leave the house & commute. - nm

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Nm

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