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You will have more lines with spaces counted.

Posted By: rt on 2008-04-08
In Reply to: Difference in line counts with/without spaces - MTMAMA

Can you run a line count comparing a report with spaces and without spaces? That would give you an idea.


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thx to prev post re viewing how DQS spaces being counted
i finally see now what i had heard rumored -- how we can check a previously transcribed report and see what QA filled-in the blanks.  So instead of waiting for feedback, i can just go back and check myself now, voila!!  In dQmanage, just choose your date, detail, click on job #, and instead of taking that payroll option, take the user option, and there's the finished QA'd report. Dang, wish i'd have known this before.
visible black character (VBC) spaces not counted SM

I just ran across this as bit long article but it is worth saving to your PC and reading a bit at a time.  I recall posting that Probity used this, I posted this meant NO SPACES and somebody came back and said they do pay for them. Boy they are really really making extensive calculation, guess always have and we did not know it.


Last year, KLAS reported that the industry appeared to be moving towards a standard


pricing model based on visual black characters (VBC), especially given the joint announcement from AHIMA and MTIA endorsing the adoption of VBC. The vision was for the VBC to be used to develop service level agreements, benchmark internal


transcription performance, foster better business relationships with the MTSOs, and improve the tools for evaluating and selecting MTSO partners. However, based on this body of research, adoption of this standard has been slow and billing per line is still the predominant approach.


 http://www.californiahia.org/Content/ul/8694//Kivi_Dale_Transcriptions_New_Standards.pdf


 


What is MDI-MD's line rate? Spaces counted? weekends? benefits? Thanks. Have EXTENSIVE MT ex
x
How are the lines counted?
x
I also received a check from them for lines not counted, but this was
7 or 8 years ago and mine just was not set right. It was not any big deal, my supervisor (who was a good friend) told me that it was not on purpose, just I was running an old program.
Agreed!!. They know exactly how they want those lines counted. That is why you hear people saying
that they averaged 200 lph at one company and switched and now get over 300 lph. It is all in how the counts are set up. Sounds like Transtech people are getting a bum deal. There has to be something to it because A LOT of people have complained. If it were randomly a person here or there I could understand but there are way too complaints not to be valid to some extent.
You know, I never actually counted my lines myself, I just always figured my company's line count
Boy was I wrong!  I just went through and totaled all of my lines, then compared them to the line counter, and guess what!  It's wrong!  Can you guess who I work for?  SOFTSCRIPT!!! 
Sometimes a gross line can equate to more than 65 counted character lines
I know one company whose lines are in very tiny font with very wide margins. The line length for those gross lines is 104-120 characters. This is almost double a 65 counted character line.

You can make a comparison of which is better by making a copy of your report (use cut/paste or lift into an expander, then copy into blank document) and run it thru a line count program set at 65.

Your definition of gross line is correct, but your equating it to pay is only good if the line length for gross lines is maximum 65 characters. MTSOs are learning how to make this gross line sound wonderful but in reality are robbing you blind.
All compaines count lines different--with spaces, without spaces, headers or no headers, 65 characte
a line, 75 characters, etc. I would ask each of them how they count their lines. Sometimes the way lines are counted does not make a company worth working for.
Lines w/o spaces
I think the 11 cpl would be very good.  I did some quick figuring on a file (definitely not very scientific) and at 8 cpl with spaces, it equated to approximately .095 cpl without spaces.  Hope this helps.
65 character lines with spaces
I don't think so. You're going to do a lot of typing to get all those lines. They don't pay spaces, no way!
I went through this. It is a big difference. I lost about 30 to 40% of my lines w/no spaces.
Plus make sure your Expanders and normals (personal ones too) are included in the line count. I spent a couple of years realizing that I could not get over 1K lines a day and I always did around 2K. Thought I was losing my mind until I found out it was the no space thing. For me, it is better morale to see the bigger number, that is with spaces. LOL.
Northeast Transcription says that FT is 32 hrs/1000 lpd, but 70-char.lines with all spaces and
s
Spaces are not taken into account with gross lines....a line is a line...sm

if there seven words on a line.


or two


one


or a full line of typing...all of the companies that I have worked for define a gross line as 1 inch margins, 12 pt courier font....does not matter what we type in margins or font.....we convert all reports to the 1 inch margins and courier 12 font and then count the lines.  not the blank spaces between the lines.


Hope this helps.


I know they could tell if they counted
keystrokes instead of characters, but if it is a true character count, I don't know how they would know.
Is everything getting counted the same way? Many places don't
s
If every keystroke is counted, how could it not
x
If every keystroke is counted, how could it not
x
does this mean no double spacing counted either? -
offered 51 cpl VBC but not sure if that would be good or not?
Clinton ignored bombings on US by terrorists. BTW, revenues were counted twice, SM
SS was counted twice, put in the general fund. It all looks good on paper. I dont want to debate this with you, I am bored with this and tired of repeating myself. Clinton pulled troops out Somalia, which Bin Laden himself said is why he knew America was weak. To say things in sound bites does not do history justice, and leads to untruths.

You obviously want to blame Bush for everything, even outsourcing. No history lesson will change your mind.
Phoenix MedCom shows you every report and every line counted,
with Word verification. They use 2 programs,internet for the newer programs, and a word-based program for those on Lanier and Dictaphone. But their programs show the verification of the job and line count no matter which platform you transcribe on. They have two rates...the internet platform pays for spaces, and the other is not with spaces but line rate is higher.
I think most places pay for spaces. I work for TransTech and they pay for both spaces
as well as punctuation. I would never work for an MTSO that doesn't.
If you read in their FAQ section, fixed headers and footers are NOT counted as well as bolding, un-
s
I just counted my specialties list. There are 37 that roll in at any time in no order:) Nice huh?
..
65 with spaces versus 65 without spaces; how to calculate?

Can someone tell me if you are getting 9 cents per 65-character line with spaces how much you would need to be paid per line to make the same amount per line if you are offered a ''65-character line without spaces?''  Thank you very much


So, if not spaces paid, what cpl would be comparable to at least 9 cpl w/spaces, do you know??
Thanks.
Do you think all the headers and footers aren't getting counted? Lots of places aren't giving
s
54 without spaces = 65 with spaces if you do the math nm
nm
1800 lines is easily achieved. I average 300-340 lines per hour. nm
x
10 lines per minute = 1500 lines for 150 minutes - average. nm
x
I average 1200-1400 lines per day with a national, and am only getting around 600-800 lines per day.
It's been this way since the day before Thanksgiving. I've been doing this for almost 30 years now, and more often than from Thanksgiving until the new year is the slowest time of the year. I have some months where I am swamped with up to 2000 lines per day. I stash that little extra money, and take advantage of a handful of extremely slow days this time of the year to actually cook dinner, decorate for Christmas, or do Christmas shopping. I actually anticipate this slow time every year and have grown to enjoy the breathing time. Any time I have attempted to pick up extra work with another company to supplement these slow times, the minute I get adjusted to the new accounts, etc. I have no time to finish all of my work because my full time job with national gets slammed again. Hang in there if you can, and hopefully your work will pick up significantly around New Years.
They work with you to make sure you get the lines required or the amount of lines you want...
I have never had a problem getting more work
Minimum lines for FT used to be 60,000 keystrokes a day, about 925 lines. Pay was good. Just not a
s
Yes it is possible to double your lines. I cant type 460 lines an hour but I can get those with VR
x
Regular lines, not weighted lines
was what I got paid for....
12K lines payperiod is 6K lines a week.
nm
0.8 x 1000 lines = $80.00 - 0.8 x 1500 lines = $120.

It's not 1600 lines -- it's 16,000 lines...and
I've got my contract right here and have already gotten 2 checks and YES, I am getting 9.5 cpl base rate.

I don't know what other people are getting. Don't really care. I work for MY paycheck. Gosh.
Why would they "fix" lines? The more lines you
transcribe, the more you make, the more you make, the more you make. It wouldn't profit any company to put a lid on line counts.
$.08 w/spaces vs. $.09-.10 w/o spaces
Would you make about the same, i.e., $.08 with spaces versus $09-10 without spaces?  Just wondering.  Thanks.
They do not MTs for spaces. nm
x
They do not pay for spaces. nm.
nm.
spaces
I asked them about this specifically and they said that wasn't the case. I'm half tempted to have THEM sign a contracted stating everything they are telling me is true.....Lisa
Spaces!
SoftScript just announced that they are paying for spaced again as of today!
but, did they tell you when the took the spaces away
before.  Nice to give them back and admit they took them.   Believe it when you see it.
spaces
Do most companies pay for spaces? Are spaces included in the standard 65 character count? Thanks
I know they pay for spaces,
I assumed they were paying  the headers and footers, but  I never specifically asked, so I can't say for sure. 
They don't pay for spaces though
nm
They pay .07 without spaces....
I applied when they first posted the job on MT Jobs.  I received an email stating they only paid .07 cpl without spaces.  They probably got a lot of resumes but once people found out the low pay, nobody was interested, which is probably why they are hiring again.
No spaces
If you negotiate a better line rate, along with their excellent platform, being paid for headers, and not running out of work, then I just don't get what the big deal is with spaces versus without. With spaces for less money doesn't cut it either. The bottom line is whether you are able to make a fair wage or not and I have found Cymed to be very fair.
Looks like they DO pay for spaces
CTech prefers to us the Net Line (defined below), however we will also price per visual black character and per report. For more information please see our Billing section.
I copied this from the site:
Price per NET/ASCII Line CTech defines a NET/ASCII Line as 65 printable alpha/numeric characters and spaces (no more than two consecutive spaces). ASCII table codes 13 (hard carriage return, only when needed) and 32-125 only. No fixed headers or footers are counted. The pitch and font style are defined by the client and do not impact the price per line. Attributes such as bolded letters, italics, and underlined characters are not charged. The total number of characters divided by 65 is the line count for the document.