A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

Paid by character - GAfruitcake

Posted: Jul 13, 2012

Does anybody out there get paid by the character? Are you making a living doing it? I'm not. I'm so broke it's pitiful. Most dictations are very short and no money to be made there. Quality is out the window also. Just needed to vent. Sorry.

I don't think I understand(?) - (see message)

[ In Reply To ..]
I certainly understand about needing to vent over this kooky mess so many of us are in....you have my sympathies! I don't know what you mean by paid by the character, though. Do you get this? I can't imagine how small a figure that would be when I was paid 9 cents per 65-character line at my former MTSO. So, do you mean you get paid something like 1/65th of that amount per actual single character? I'm no math whiz....I can't even calculate what a small fraction of a cent that would be!

Or do you mean something else? As I said, you have my sympathies. Going broke after many of were used to making a really good living for a long time is really rough.

paid by character - GAfruitcake

[ In Reply To ..]
We get paid a small percentage of a cent per character. It is just crazy.

Wow, have never heard of that method! - (see message)

[ In Reply To ..]
Either way (per character or per line) it's crummy pay. I wonder if being paid per character is slightly better, so you get paid for those fractions of a line....even if it's only one word.

Now that I think of it, I really don't know if my MTSO, which paid per 65-character line, paid us anything for those less-than-full lines!

Do you do only straight typing, or do you also do voice recognition? That must be a teeny tiny fraction of a cent for VR! Do you get paid for filling in the demographic screen, if your company has that? And how about headings and abbreviation expanders?

Sorry so many questions! Since I've just never heard of companies paying per character, I'm just curious about how that all works. Do you know if there are other companies besides yours that pays this way?

I feel like I'm in the dark about MTSOs. I never even knew how ANY of them operated until my hospital was outsourced to one in 2011. I'm sorry you're not doing very well. There are a lot of us in the same boat. :-(

I was paid that way - did not stick around

[ In Reply To ..]
I was paid that way once, but I did not last at the job for very long. It was more because of the clunkiness of the platform and how slow it was than being paid by the character, though. I was actually getting comparable pay to about 9 cpl for a 65-character line with spaces. It was such a strange way to be paid - this really tiny fraction of a penny for each character. The system was awful, though.

paid by line - GAfruitcake

[ In Reply To ..]
Platform is not very good and have to enter demographics.

Do they count and pay for spaces, too? - (no message)

[ In Reply To ..]
...

(post deleted by OP) - tmt

[ In Reply To ..]
My bad.

Makes no difference - Math Whiz

[ In Reply To ..]
It makes no difference if you are being paid per character or per line. Anyone platform which counts characters -"visible black characters" or including spaces - is actually paying you by the character even if they convert it to lines.

65 char x 1/65 of the line rate = 1 65-char line

The OP's problem with not making good money is not because the pay is by the character. It is because the reports are short. When they are short, you spend more of your time in unpaid activities.

Another poster who worked on a clunky platform quit because of the clunky platform. The platform issues were unrelated to the way the pay was calculated.

Think about it this way. If apples are 10 cents each and a bag of 20 apples is $2, you pay the same no matter if you buy them separately or in a bag.

Some people will buy 20 individual apples because they believe the bag is too expensive. They look only at the price for a whole item and ignore everything else. Sellers love that kind of person because they are so easy to rip off.

Math whiz, hee hee.... - (see message)

[ In Reply To ..]
Wellll, while I said I wasn't a math whiz, I DID understand that being paid 0.00138(etc.) cents per character amounts to the same as being paid 9 cents per 65-character line. I just meant that I didn't have a calculator right next to my computer and couldn't figure out what fraction of a cent that would be in my head at the moment I was typing that. :-)

Does being paid per character turn out to actually be better for the MT because you're paid for those partial lines at the end of a paragraph, say, that might only contain a word or two (i.e., less than a full line)? And when your company pays you this tiny fraction of a cent per CHARACTER, is that strictly for visible black characters; or do they pay for the space bar stroke between words? I have heard of places that pay per line but only count actual VBCs; but then their line is considered to be a shorter, 55-character line.

Sigh....I never dreamed I would ever be calculating my compensation in terms of pennies (or fractions of pennies!).

You do have a calculator - Math Whiz

[ In Reply To ..]
There is a calculator in your computer. It will be in that little folder of handy stuff on the start button.

I do not believe any national companies pay by the gross line anyway, so whether it works out better or not doesn't have a hill of beans to do with this.

If you want to know if you are being paid for visible black characters or if spaces are included, ask the company.

It makes no difference if you calculate your compensation in fractions of a cent per character. Your computer has a calculator. To compare rates just convert to whatever you would like.

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