Commission rates?

[Guest]

I have several questions:-)
1. Do you pay/get paid hourly or commission?
2. If commission, are the Independent or employee?
3. Do you also guarantee and hourly rate?

How do you like your set-up for pay?


Here is why I ask, I pay 45% commission provide bather, receptionist, do all taxes and match the SS and Medicare. I pay for all consumables, my groomers only provide their shears, clippers and blades. I provide all modern equipment (hydraulic/ electric tables. taxi vac's, etc). I pay weekly, guarantee an hourly minimum or you can "commission" out. Pay for 2 group outings a year (A Day at Disney, SeaWorld, Etc.) and provide a Large Holiday Party with food, gifts, etc. at a local favorite restaraunt.

My bather and receptionist are both "semi-skilled" at prep work, shave downs, but no STYLES. I pay them an hourly rate PLUS 25% commission on all of the dogs they do from start to finish.

I have 1 groomer who keeps throwing up 50% commission, but yet she refuses to bathe her own dogs, answer phones or give up any of the other things I offer. She averages $600- $800 during normal season.

My husband says, "tell her this is how you pay either like it or leave, she won't find it this good anywhere else".

I have never worked for someone else in the grooming industry, so I can only compare to what y'all share and what my other groomer friends share.

Any Thoughts? Always appreciated!

[syphol]

I am an employee, get everything provided (tools if I'd like, but I have my own). I make 55% and am booked out 2-3 weeks at a time by my employer. Most days I bathe my own dogs, but do no reception work. When I need someone to help I still get paid the same, because the owner makes it up in what extra dogs I can do by having a bather. When I worked elsewhere in town I made 50% with bather provided.

[scullysmom]

We pay our commissioned groomer her sat rate, but subtract 5.00 for every bathed and fluffed dog. If she wants 50% and it is a deal breaker, offer her that (it mathematically works out).

[SiotehCat]

I work at a corporate salon, so I get 50% commission OR hourly whichever is higher. Our bathers only get hourly. They only bathe/dry and nails. Groomers in my salon cannot do bath dogs or nail trims. And if we do than we have to put them in a bathers name and cannot get commission for them. However, if you are cat certified than you can get commissions for cat nail trims and cat baths. This is where some of us make a good part of our money, because they are so easy and my salon only has two people that are cat certified.

[gidgetcowan]

Commission Rates

I am the sole groomer at a vet clinic. I bathe all dogs, answer the phone, do everything as if it were my own business. I only get 65% commission, and I bring clients to the vet side. I am responsible for all equipment, supplies, etc. He does take out taxes and pay the phone bill, but all else is up to me. I feel that my situation would be more fairly served if I paid rent for the space each month as opposed to commission.
Having talked to a lot of people in the business, I am leaning more and more toward space rental as the proper pay structure. However, that means that we would all be responsible for a lot of the things that you are now providing.

I think the main issue that I would have with this particular employee is the unwillingness to be a team player. If you pay a higher commission, I think you will still have the "lack of team player attitude". That would be my biggest concern with your situation. I do believe that 50% should be the lowest rate paid, but you are providing more than 5% already.

Good luck, and I'm interested to hear what everyone else has to say on the pay issue...

"Put A Yorkie In Your Heart"....YTNR.com

[PAWS]

I have never worked for someone else as a groomer, or had employees for that matter. But, it sounds as though you take good care of your employees. I hope to someday have my own staff, and from that point of view, you should never let your employees walk all over you. They work for YOU and that is how it is in any profession. You set your guidelines and they take it or leave it. Unless you hired someone with the intentions of negotiation, you should not negotiate. A raise must be earned, or profit sharing, etc. If she wants to do more, only then should she get paid more. It sounds like you provide a lot. She should feel lucky to work in a shop organized well enough to even have dogs to groom every day!

[Dawn125]

I am paid 50% commission on groom dogs. I do not have a bather or receptionist. No guaranteed salary minumum but it wouldn't be necessary because I could count on one hand the number of times that there weren't enough dogs to keep me busy the entire day. Oh, and I am an employee, not IC. I provide my own sissors, clippers and blades. My boss provides everything else. I think your groomer is getting a pretty sweet deal at 45% with a bather and receptionist. On occasion when my boss takes a day off for some reason (doesn't happen very often) I do get use of her bather. In those cases the bathers wage for the day is deducted from my commission. I love those days! Even with her wage deducted I can do so many more dogs that I always make more money than a normal day. Tell your groomer that she can have 50% but she has to bathe and dry all her own dogs, and answer the phone, and check in/out dogs. She will probably realize she's not doing so bad at 45%.

[petgroomaustralia]

I am a self employed contractor mainly for vet clinics. I will only work for 70%. I use my own equipment apart from the bath and dryer and make them pay for shampoo because they have the nurses doing baths when I'm not there and some self serve and I'm not paying for the shampoo that they use and it cant be policed at all times.

Linda in Australia

[DAPER DAWG]

I wanna come work for you.

I could make up to a maximum of 45% at the first place I worked with having someone bathe and dry my dogs and I provided all my own equipment, had a ****** 30 year old table, no taxi vacs and did all my own sharpening etc. and shared tips. I loved having someone else bathe and brush but we did bath & trim dogs for $5.00 I thought that was a rip-off. $5.00 per room cleaning if you wanted to hang around & help. All in all I felt this was a fair system.

The second place was a straight 50% and we did all our own bathing and drying had all my own equipment and did all my own sharepening had a nice hydraulic table but with a non-locking swinging arm that made my groomers helper useless (bummer). We were wanted to hang around say if we had 2 dogs and our co-worker had 6 and help for free. We were asked to hang around with nothing on the schedule and no pay waiting for the phone to ring (HA HA)

Your employees got it made hourly & commission, of course that's the way it should be, fair pay for fair work, What I wouldn't give to find that again.

[Shei77]

I have grumped about this before

I get 50% supplie all my own equipment hardware and soft. My employer supplies the shampoo, space, dryers, tables, and tubs. The other groomers and I check in the dogs answer phones book appointments and wash our own dogs. (Life has been better w/o the bathers those Labs help make up for that 3 hour Shi Tzu -Oiy bad dog). However we say what days we will work and take as many breaks we need provided we get the dogs done in a timely fashion.

[DAPER DAWG]

I could make up to a maximum of 45% at the first place I worked with having someone bathe and dry my dogs and I provided all my own equipment, had a ****** 30 year old table, no taxi vacs and did all my own sharpening etc. and shared tips. I loved having someone else bathe and brush but we did bath & trim dogs for $5.00 I thought that was a rip-off. $5.00 per room cleaning if you wanted to hang around & help. All in all I felt this was a fair system.

The second place was a straight 50% and we did all our own bathing and drying had all my own equipment and did all my own sharepening had a nice hydraulic table but with a non-locking swinging arm that made my groomers helper useless (bummer). We were wanted to hang around say if we had 2 dogs and our co-worker had 6 and help for free. We were asked to hang around with nothing on the schedule and no pay waiting for the phone to ring NOT. We were asked to hang around for hours the day before Christmas and clean for free. NOT - I have life and family waiting for me. Pay me or say goodbye.

Your doing it the way it should be, fair pay for fair work, What I wouldn't give to find that again.

[Helly]

I am paid a draw plus commission. That's sort of like hourly or commission, whichever is highest, only in this case I have a daily minimum of $70 or 50% commission, whichever is highest.

I don't have a bather, don't answer phones or do check out. I also don't do laundry or heavy cleaning. I also get paid sick days and a paid vacation. I provide all hand equipment; clippers, blades, brushed, combs, rakes, etc. The kennel provides tables, dryers, and consumables.

Personally, I think you're groomer is getting a fair deal. Having a bather would be worth that 5% to me if it meant I could do more grooms in a day.

[DAPER DAWG]

I'm wanna find me a job like you Helly, until I open my own shop. Your living life the way it should be. Sounds a lot more low stress than lots. Think I'm gonna start checking out some local vets without groomers for now. I like being by myself also.

[luckydog]

You should really check out From Problems to Profits to see why commission based wages really are a thing of the past.


Stephen: Thanks for the plug, but I want to add that the industry has never seen anything like Mastering Groomer Compensation workbook coming out in April for sure. We are in the edit phase now, and yes, it comes with powerful CD-ROM for those with Excel or similar, things never thought of by anyone. In this we are not touting get off commissions, something we never used for so many reasons other than their drain of profits. By the way, whether you worked on commission or hourly/salary, you made the same, and we had the highest paid pet bathers in the entire region and yet mid range prices for pet owners, and we never owned a single cage dryer, every pet, up to 120 a day in busiest season, were hand dried. So we are training in all of the various ways, including IC, and just laying it all out so you can make a decision after seeing comparisons, and then onto Madson Team Trimming too, and those Excel spreadsheets are cutting edge. About 6 to 8 weeks max before shipments begin depending upon the printers and editors. In the end, it's your choice of system, but so many make a decision not even knowing how to work the numbers. I get so many people over 17 years as consultants and ask them for the numbers to back their OPINION, please show me, I am always willing to learn, and I usually get ZIP, just an opinion. So the neat thing is that when you work with numbers and systems that are realistic for people, the numbers tell the truth, not me or you. That's how it is done in any industry, so we just wanted to lay it all out for groomers to at least know how to properly evaluate compensation systems to judge properly.

[SoCalGroomer]

as for me.....

Hello all,
I work for a mobile company.
They pay us $100 per day no matter if we groom 1 dog or 10. They then pay 30% commission on any day over $350 in grooms, plus we get a $5 bonus on re-books. They will also pay health insurance up to $200 per month. And also other perks like vacation and sick time. Training pay, I can pretty much tell them what I need and they order it..no questions asked. I get good tips(I guess working in one of the wealthiest parts on the city helps!) Sometimes my view from the van is overlooking the mighty Pacific ocean! OK...now I'm bragging
Does anybody know how much the petsometings pay groomers? I was always curious.