(Fwd) Piano Technician Position

[JIMRPT@AOL.COM]

In a message dated 8/13/1999 6:31:54 AM, hoffsoco@martin.luther.edu quoted:

<<" bottom fishing on price to see if they can scare anything up.
Probably will ">>

While I kinda agree with this sentiment I don't needfully take the 'somewhat' 
negative view reflected in most posts on this thread.  It is easy to be 
cynical about such matters.... but looked at another way it will be a 
blessing for 'someone', possibly:-)

  For a tech who has been in the field a few years and has never quite gotten 
off the ground...for whatever reason,  people skills, work habits, 
established techs too numerous in area, etc............but whose skills are 
average-to better, this could be exactly what is needed at that point in 
their professional life. For those of us who have done/are doing Univ. work 
we know that if people skills or work habits are lacking in some areas they 
will/must be improved in a Univ situation "OR ELSE" :-)

  Low salary level for 3/4 time at 22.5K = 30K full time and is that really 
sooo bad?
3/4 time is.... 30 hours per week X 50 weeks =1500 hrs per year or $15 
dollars an hour.   This is without any expenses to speak of for 'anything' 
but personal tools.
  
   To this one could reasonably expect to add 3 or 4 "outside" tunings per 
week and then we come to a very livable income don't we?  At $50 per tuning 
and using 3 tunings per week X 50 weeks =7.5K
Now taking the 22.5K base and adding the 7.5% SEP tax to it gives us a figure 
of 24.187K and adding the 7.5K (extra outside tuning) would give us 31.687K 
per year without any expenses to speak of.....put another way this is the 
amount one would needfully earn AFTER EXPENSES, before taxes, in a private 
shop situation to equal the position at Binghamton U.

  Now figuring 3/4 time for the Univ. work and 2 hours per tuning for the 
outside work that would give us an average of 36 hours per week of 'work 
time'.........
36 (hours) X 50 (weeks)= 1800 hrs of work time per year.......
22.5K + 7.5K =30K/1800 = 16.67 per hour
Now this ain't living in the lap of luxury but it ain't "chump' change either 
:-)

  Also Binghamton is part of the State of NY University system and there will 
be, by State law, 'some' collateral employee benefits...just what I couldn't 
say but there will be some.  In addition as part of the faculty(?)..... 
Education/Continuing Education possibilities are there for the taking by the 
tech at a very reduced cost, if any costs at all. 

  So would this position be attractive to some of us? No, of course not...at 
least not in the position we are in now :-)   Can we 'all' honestly say that 
it would not have been 'very' attractive to us at some point early in our 
tech lives...I kinda doubt it.

Just another point of view.
Jim Bryant (FL)