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If I take a contract job which pays $X / deliverable then I may end up doing some "free" work as well if something comes up that I hadn't accounted for. Same g

by EpicEng 12y ago

If I take a contract job which pays $X / deliverable then I may end up doing some "free" work as well if something comes up that I hadn't accounted for. Same goes for my day job when I work past 6 (exempt, of course). Not all jobs are hourly. Why should this change for truckers and no one else? Are you proposing that all jobs should pay for every minute of work? I'm not saying you're wrong necessarily, but I'm interested in your reasoning.

6d0debc071 12y ago
In contracting the company or person hiring you generally knows very little about programming and even less about yourself. You have the information advantage, you usually price the job, and you know how hard you're going to work and how long these sorts of jobs usually take you. It makes sense in that context for you to carry the risk if you choose to be paid by deliverable. Whereas, if you're a trucker, you don't know any more than the company does about whether the gods of traffic are going to take a dump on you that day - and there's not a whole bunch you can do about it. In that context it doesn't seem to me to make much sense to pay on that sort of basis. The point of paying with a target is - at least when you're not trying to screw people out of money - to tie reward to the risks that they can control. If they can't control the risk, it becomes little more than a way of concealing from people what the take-home is going to be.
the_ancient 12y ago
First and fore most I am not talking about "contract jobs" these are not 1099 contractors, these are W2 employees, and they should not be classified as exempt for over time, or be allowed to paid per mile IMO. These are Blue Collar jobs and should be treated like a Fork Truck Driver, or a Factory worker, not as a Laywer or even in SysAdmin or Developer. True Contract Jobs, i.e owner operators, should be paid based on however they draw up their contracts, that is one business employing another business and it outside the conversation of employment law

by EpicEng 12y ago

6d0debc071 12y ago

In contracting the company or person hiring you generally knows very little about programming and even less about yourself. You have the information advantage, you usually price the job, and you know how hard you're going to work and how long these sorts of jobs usually take you. It makes sense in that context for you to carry the risk if you choose to be paid by deliverable. Whereas, if you're a trucker, you don't know any more than the company does about whether the gods of traffic are going to take a dump on you that day - and there's not a whole bunch you can do about it. In that context it doesn't seem to me to make much sense to pay on that sort of basis. The point of paying with a target is - at least when you're not trying to screw people out of money - to tie reward to the risks that they can control. If they can't control the risk, it becomes little more than a way of concealing from people what the take-home is going to be.

the_ancient 12y ago

First and fore most I am not talking about "contract jobs" these are not 1099 contractors, these are W2 employees, and they should not be classified as exempt for over time, or be allowed to paid per mile IMO. These are Blue Collar jobs and should be treated like a Fork Truck Driver, or a Factory worker, not as a Laywer or even in SysAdmin or Developer. True Contract Jobs, i.e owner operators, should be paid based on however they draw up their contracts, that is one business employing another business and it outside the conversation of employment law