What do you make?

[Riptide]

And I LOVE my job right now. Don't lose sight of that.

I was treated like crap where I was before. Now, I am appreciated and my talents are being utilized. I can see the good I'm doing, and I am being thanked for my work. No price tag for that.

Money isn't everything. I have never had this amount of job satisfaction.

That's awesome. And encouraging. Good for you!

 

[2underpar]

On paper, I make decent money for where I live.
Given the number of hours I work, the daily headaches and dealing with upper management, I don't even want to know what it would come out to on an hourly basis. My problem is two-fold: I don't know how to do anything else; I still occasionally love what I do.

 

[gridiron]

Against my better judgment, I'll bite... I'm an NFL beat writer for one of the nation's larger papers. I make about $69K. I have about 15 years of experience. It's been a long road to get here, and I often hate the hours and unreasonable expectations of the job, but I realize I'm really fortunate.

 

[e_bowker]

Forgive the tangent, but what does everyone get paid for mileage?
Our paper was sold recently and the new owners whacked the mileage rate from a respectable 45 cents per mile, to 21 cents. Even by newspaper standards it feels low. We were getting 25 cents back in the early 2000s and that was low then.
They claim they use AAA data to come up with the number, but I think they're using the number from 1968. The most recent AAA number is almost 60 cents per mile.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Forgive the tangent, but what does everyone get paid for mileage?
Our paper was sold recently and the new owners whacked the mileage rate from a respectable 45 cents per mile, to 21 cents. Even by newspaper standards it feels low. We were getting 25 cents back in the early 2000s and that was low then.
They claim they use AAA data to come up with the number, but I think they're using the number from 1968. The most recent AAA number is almost 60 cents per mile.

Get all your co-workers together, each of you find the 60 cents a mile thing, print them out and send them multiple copies.

21 cents a mile is an insult. You're losing money going out to cover things.

 

[Here me roar]

If you file long form tax returns, you can deduct the difference between what your employer pays and what the federal government allows for mileage.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

If you file long form tax returns, you can deduct the difference between what your employer pays and what the federal government allows for mileage.

But can you do that if you take the standard deduction and don't itemize?

 

[SnarkShark]

I get 45 cents a mile

 

[MidwestSportsGuy]

Against my better judgment, I'll bite... I'm an NFL beat writer for one of the nation's larger papers. I make about $69K. I have about 15 years of experience. It's been a long road to get here, and I often hate the hours and unreasonable expectations of the job, but I realize I'm really fortunate.

For no reason whatsoever, I would have thought this would be higher. Still a really nice salary, but I would have assumed at least $80K, especially w/ the experience factor and the large paper factor.

 

[Bamadog]

If you file long form tax returns, you can deduct the difference between what your employer pays and what the federal government allows for mileage.

But can you do that if you take the standard deduction and don't itemize?

Negative. They're banking on that when they throw that low-ball number. As a friend of mine in the community said when I told him about our poverty mileage rate.
"I couldn't fuel my lawnmower for that."
My mileage rate at a paper in 2003 was 5 cents better.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

If you file long form tax returns, you can deduct the difference between what your employer pays and what the federal government allows for mileage.

But can you do that if you take the standard deduction and don't itemize?

Negative. They're banking on that when they throw that low-ball number. As a friend of mine in the community said when I told him about our poverty mileage rate.
"I couldn't fuel my lawnmower for that."
My mileage rate at a paper in 2003 was 5 cents better.

Then the reporters need to get together and tell the editors they're not going to go out and cover anything because they would be losing money instead of making money. They'll just report by phone.

Ridiculous? Of course. So is 21 cents a mile. Put it this way. Say you have to go cover something 10 miles out of town. 20 miles roundtrip. That's $4.20. That, depending on where you are and the time of year, may be one gallon of gas. Say you get 20 miles per gallon. All that reimbursement does is cover the gas. Doesn't cover maintainance, or, if necessary, tolls, or anything else.

 

[Captain Obvious]

There are always a few who would pay the newspaper for the chance to cover sports.

 

[BTExpress]

Ridiculous? Of course. So is 21 cents a mile. Put it this way. Say you have to go cover something 10 miles out of town. 20 miles roundtrip. That's $4.20.

That's still $4.20 more than the desker who drives 20 miles roundtrip to and from work receives.

Sure, you go a few dozen miles for an assignment, you ought to be reimbursed for the wear and tear on your vehicle.

But IMO, anything inside your county is just "going to work." At least it is for most workers. Over 26 years, I drove more than 300,000 miles to and from work at my former shop. They owe me a new car! But I'll just settle for the $63,000 at $0.21 a mile. What? I don't get that either?

Just something to think about.

 

[Rhody31]

I was getting .32 per mile.
Making it worse was driving 35 miles to the office. To make up for it, I'd cover a game closer to me. We'd take round trip mileage, so I'd be able to pay for my drive. Many championship and playoff games are a seven minute drive from my house. I'd take the 70-something roundtrip miles.
Downside was when I had to cover a Friday nigth football game near the office; I'd drive 70 miles round trip and get paid for four.

 

[pressboxer]

If you file long form tax returns, you can deduct the difference between what your employer pays and what the federal government allows for mileage.

But can you do that if you take the standard deduction and don't itemize?

Negative. They're banking on that when they throw that low-ball number. As a friend of mine in the community said when I told him about our poverty mileage rate.
"I couldn't fuel my lawnmower for that."
My mileage rate at a paper in 2003 was 5 cents better.

Then the reporters need to get together and tell the editors they're not going to go out and cover anything because they would be losing money instead of making money. They'll just report by phone.
Ridiculous? Of course. So is 21 cents a mile. Put it this way. Say you have to go cover something 10 miles out of town. 20 miles roundtrip. That's $4.20. That, depending on where you are and the time of year, may be one gallon of gas. Say you get 20 miles per gallon. All that reimbursement does is cover the gas. Doesn't cover maintainance, or, if necessary, tolls, or anything else.

I've worked at more than one place that would have preferred it be done that way. One ME never understood why I'd drive two or three miles over to a school to conduct interviews in person rather than doing it all over the phone. He couldn't get his head around the fact that I could interview a coach and several players in one trip and do so in much less time than if I sat around the office waiting for calls to be returned. Which costs less, the mileage or the overtime?

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Ridiculous? Of course. So is 21 cents a mile. Put it this way. Say you have to go cover something 10 miles out of town. 20 miles roundtrip. That's $4.20.

That's still $4.20 more than the desker who drives 20 miles roundtrip to and from work receives.

Sure, you go a few dozen miles for an assignment, you ought to be reimbursed for the wear and tear on your vehicle.

But IMO, anything inside your county is just "going to work." At least it is for most workers. Over 26 years, I drove more than 300,000 miles to and from work at my former shop. They owe me a new car! But I'll just settle for the $63,000 at $0.21 a mile. What? I don't get that either?

Just something to think about.

Not if they're going to the office first, then the assignment, such as reporters who go in, work on a story, then go cover a board meeting 20 miles away, write the board meeting story on the laptop, then go back the 20 miles past the office another 10 miles to their home.

Just something to think about.

 

[Captain Obvious]

Ridiculous? Of course. So is 21 cents a mile. Put it this way. Say you have to go cover something 10 miles out of town. 20 miles roundtrip. That's $4.20.

That's still $4.20 more than the desker who drives 20 miles roundtrip to and from work receives.

Sure, you go a few dozen miles for an assignment, you ought to be reimbursed for the wear and tear on your vehicle.

But IMO, anything inside your county is just "going to work." At least it is for most workers. Over 26 years, I drove more than 300,000 miles to and from work at my former shop. They owe me a new car! But I'll just settle for the $63,000 at $0.21 a mile. What? I don't get that either?

Just something to think about.

Apples and oranges.

 

[Bamadog]

Ridiculous? Of course. So is 21 cents a mile. Put it this way. Say you have to go cover something 10 miles out of town. 20 miles roundtrip. That's $4.20.

That's still $4.20 more than the desker who drives 20 miles roundtrip to and from work receives.

Sure, you go a few dozen miles for an assignment, you ought to be reimbursed for the wear and tear on your vehicle.

But IMO, anything inside your county is just "going to work." At least it is for most workers. Over 26 years, I drove more than 300,000 miles to and from work at my former shop. They owe me a new car! But I'll just settle for the $63,000 at $0.21 a mile. What? I don't get that either?

Just something to think about.

I used to be a desker at my last stop before my present job. Drove an hour each way. And like the guy said before, apples and oranges. Mileage is only applicable when you're having to use your car to do company business. Either that, or they provide you with a car.

 

[User 1019]

Started in 97 making $7.50 an hour. When I left the business in 2005 I was making about $35K at a 35,000 daily.

Just a few dollars shy of $100K now.

 

[WriteThinking]

Started in 97 making $7.50 an hour. When I left the business in 2005 I was making about $35K at a 35,000 daily.

Just a few dollars shy of $100K now.

That's a really nice salary. But you're probably underpaid. :)