What do you make?

In the mid-1980s, I started at around $225 a week. Standard practice there was a review/raise after 3 months, a review/raise after 6 months, and a review/raise after a year (then yearly after that). Was there about two years and saw my salary increase to a whopping $257.

 

Ditto on the last seven words here, which I inadvertently left out.

 

I'd tell you but then someone would tell my wife.

I think I made more delivering the Cleveland Press than some on here. What a travesty.

 

More than I ever made in journalism, and I spent more than a decade with one of the destination newspaper companies.

 

First full-time gig starting in 1973 at $120 a week ($6k a year).
When I got out in 2008, was making $66k a year.

Side question on this: Talked to a much younger former colleague who has a job that is mostly digital/video production. He's making $34k, his employer considers his $8k benefits package to be part of the "compensation package" so in the employer's mind he's making $42 k. BULLSHIT.

This is the stuff in our current world that pisses me off. Your salary is what you get paid; your benefits are what your company should provide to keep you healthy. To consider benefits part of your paycheck ain't right.

 

Yes and no.

When discussing salary, almost all of us would use the dollar figure of our actual pay.

But, when companies budget for a position, they have to account for what a person actually costs.

And, when any of us look for a new job, we certainly do take the benefits into account. We compare them, and understand that we need to make more money if the benefits package is not as generous, or we might be willing to give up a little in salary in return for a good benefits package.

 

"Compensation package" includes benefits. "Salary" does not.

In the employer's mind, he or she is right to believe the employee is costing the company $42k, because he is. It not correct to refer to that additional $8k as "salary," but it most certainly is "compensation."

Benefits are not birthrights.

 

Yep..

When you got kids - and kids with braces, glasses, medical issues - benefits are an important part of the package.

 

What's the general range for a preps reporter, a college beat writer and a pro writer?

 

It varies by market and paper size, but in general, I'd say:

Preps: $25K-$35K
College: $40K-$70K
Pro: $60K-$90K

 

But it goes far beyond health insurance.

I have $350,000+ in my 401(k) and a modest $750/month coming to me in a pension in a few years as part of my Tribune Company benefits.

 

Knock on wood.