commission advice needed

[Resqpups11]

I have been paying my groomers 55% when they bathe and finish their dogs and 50% when they have a bather bathe and dry their dogs for them. I am just curious how other grooming salons pay their groomers.

[wild4westies]

Speaking from an employee standpoint (for 20 years) , I have usually been paid 50% while washing and drying my own dogs. I was paid 60% when I managed, where I still washed and dried the dogs myself. The last shop I was at had bathers and we were paid 50%, however the bathers only washed our dogs for free. If we wanted the bathers to dry our dogs, we paid the house $5 for a small dog, $10 for a large dog. (The owner was trying to recoup her bather wages.) Most of us dried our own dogs. Maybe some owners will chime in here, but 55% while having your dogs bathed and dried for you is beyond generous. You'd better run the numbers and be sure this won't put you out financially. Many shops are switching to a salaried system. If I owned a shop this is how I would pay my staff.

[IrishSetterTom]

I pay 50 in my shop, 55 in my mobile vans. Groomer bathes, dries and finishes. If they want a bather, I will drop it to 45 or they pay X amount per dog they want bathed and dried. A non groomer owner cannot pay more than 50 or the shop will go out of business. Even 50 is leaving little profit for an owner that only manages. Only a high volume shop will allow a non groomer owner to thrive.

Remember tips. Most days the groomer leaves with more money than an owner and the owner, if legal W-2 employees, pays payroll tax, workers comp insurance, supplies, rent, lights, licensing, advertising, repairs, building insurance, credit swipe fees and other untold expenses over the year.

If you really want more than 50, buy your own shop. The math doesn't work.

[Brit]

I would NEVER pay 50% unless they do complete grooming including no bather assistance. 40% with bather assistance.

[Resqpups11]

I have 2 great groomers who have been with me for years and i don't want to lose them, but with increased expenses i cant seem to make a profit at the end of the day. so would you think it would be reasonable to keep them at 55 when they bathe and drop them to 45 when they have a bather? the way things are now it is very hard to motivate them to bathe a dog for themselvs because theere is not that much of a difference in the percentage.

[IrishSetterTom]

I would give them the option to pay for their bather. After all, a bather allows finish groomers to do more dogs thus making more commission to offset the cost of the bather. Most of the grunt work is bathing, nails, and drying.

Another option, do not give your finish groomers the bath dogs. Finish groomer ONLY does haircut dogs, bath brush dogs are done by the bather who makes X per hour. The salon keeps 100 percent of the bath brush dogs. Your finish groomer does not make 1 cent on a bath brush dog. That allows the owner to keep close to half of all grooms for themselves and pays a bather a flat rate to do them.

Example, a $75 Husky done by a bather, salon gets $75, bather gets $12 per hour. Finish groomer gets $0.00 on this dog. Plus any tip goes to the bather which adds to their hourly wage. Fair enough?

[TootsiePie]

50% is highest my employer goes and you do it all.

[TootsiePie]

Good article on two commission rates and why http://petgroomermagazine.com/jobs-w...every-groomer/

[Resqpups11]

thank you so much! great article