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

been switched to VR, last 3 years making 20K less a year! Fed up! - going back to college

Posted: Jan 18, 2011

I need to vent about this and am wondering if I am the only one out there. After my initial 2 years of in-house experience, I started working for a company and was there for over 7 years and made 33K a year. The last 3-4 years since making the transition to VR, my pay has gone down to 13-14K a year. That's a 20K loss per year!!! I am not a happy camper. I haven't been in this field for 13 years for my pay to go DOWN! And what makes me the most angry is these companies are still charging the hospitals the same amount while we get screwed with half-pay line counts and I see some companies paying even less! I get 4 cpl for VR and I have seen some companies paying 3 cpl for VR. I never used to need food stamps and the last 3-4 years, I do. I can't afford to go on vacations anymore, I can't afford to do anything. I bust my butt day and night sometimes working 12 and 13-hour days JUST to pay the bills and sometimes I can't even do that anymore! I feel like my life is being wasted away these last 3-4 years. I work only to pay the bills. That is no life for anyone! I went to college and have 13 years experience.... you would think that would account for something, but apparently not! On top of our pay going down, there are NEVER any raises in this field. The entire 13 years I've been doing this, my pay has NEVER gone up. It's always been 8 cpl straight typing and 4 cpl VR. Prices of living have gone significantly up, which only adds to my frustration. I get jack for child support, so my child has only me to count on. Something must be done! I recently enrolled in a 4-year college. I love transcribing, but I just can't take working for pennies any longer! I know people who never attended a college of any kind and make more than I do! Isn't hindsight something! Oh, if I could go back knowing what I know now, I never would have entered this field! What a waste of my years! Instead of going up the ladder, I'm going down. Pretty soon, I'll be paying them to work!

You're not alone, my experience has been similar. - 35+ years experience and nothing to show for it, n

[ In Reply To ..]
.

MT is a BIG JOKE to me now, almost a "con" game... - anon

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Neither of you are alone! Aggravation, anxiety, tears, you name it. 36 years experience after college for me and I'm now back to what I was making in 1974! And back then I even had benefits! Now, after 22 years of owning my own home and supporting myself, I have to walk away from it. Can't even afford to sell it. How pathetic.

I too am making about 60% less than I made 20 years ago when we consistently got raises, Great Benefits, Vacation (!!), sick days, bonuses and medical insurance, all of which I do Not get now. HA! The good 'ole days are long gone. Now I'm happy just to clear $14K to $16K a year.

I was once very happy and proud of my work, certified for 21 years, made it into Who's Who. Now I feel nothing but a total failure working for .04/line VR and 0.8/line straight typing. Doesn't even begin to compare to what I earned less than 10 years ago. And what I've got to show for all the CRAP is a foreclosure on my home. I'm way past Disgusted and Fed Up with this so-called "profession" and what the national association feels is the best way to "professionalize" our oh-so glamorous field of cheap labor!!!

Yep, hindsight is a gift if we have it before we need it! And to think I made better money as an MT typing on a manual typewriter...

Congrats on a very positive move, GoingBack. - You do not say what you are studying, but

[ In Reply To ..]
but I imagine you've chosen something that has you all excited but is also relatively cut-proof and off-shore proof. What we're experiencing here is typical of so many changing or vanishing positions in many fields.

Please cut yourself a break over spending all these years at this. Millions of people are finding themselves in that same boat with you these days. The need to change fields several times over a lifetime has become a norm that so many don't understand and so are totally unprepared for. Living mentally in their parents' era of one job for decades, the time for big change arrives again and again as an unforeseen and devastating shock; and preparing for a good new position is, of course, hardest for those with least education. Really, you're in a much better place than many in having prior college to build on. Some HS grads go from the senior clerk position they spent a decade moving into to something like driving a forklift at Walmart--if they qualify for training.

In any case, please let us know what you decide to study and work toward. At some point we'll most of us have to make that brave new choice once again. I confess I've been lagging, hoping this work, or some transitional variation, will last at least until I can't work any more anyway. :)

4-year college for what career? Many college grads can't find jobs - Everyone is losing $ these days

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Everyone I know is losing pay, no matter what kind of education they have or what career field they are in. Our economy stinks. Will it get better? I'm not so sure it will.

I agree completely and have jumped ship - catmom

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I have found everything you said to be true and have been in the same boat. I have supported myself and my children well for the past 12 years. I had an MTSO send me a contract with a pay cut recently with an email that said, BTW, your payrate change is retroactive to the beginning of the year. So I said good bye and found a new job doing something different. Life is to short to work for such jerks!

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