|
I'm a 29 year old male bartender. Work about 35 hours a week, make around $36,000 a year. I have a job offer I'm still learning more about. Working as a car dealership photographer. Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm, $40k-$50k a year. Comes with a company car + all of those expenses paid. The training flys me out for 2 weeks, all expenses paid. Not looking to make a career out of it, wanting to eventually go back to school after I crawl out of debt. Anybody have experience with this kind of job? I'm trying to weigh out my options. I do need a change in my life and I can't do this bartending thing forever (and continue to hate the customers more and more each year). One thought is that, I'm not taxed heavily on my $36k a year. So I walk with around $34k after taxes. It's looking like $50k in Arkansas actually translates more to $37k after taxes. 89 fucked around with this message at 22:18 on Sep 3, 2016 |
#
?
Sep 3, 2016 22:08
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 24, 2024 03:06 |
|
|
89 posted:One thought is that, I'm not taxed heavily on my $36k a year. So I walk with around $34k after taxes. It's looking like $50k in Arkansas actually translates more to $37k after taxes. I don't know what numbers you're working with here but this is obviously nonsense, you are not paying an average 78% tax rate on your income between 36k and 50k.
|
|
#
?
Sep 4, 2016 03:19
|
|
|
89 posted:One thought is that, I'm not taxed heavily on my $36k a year. So I walk with around $34k after taxes. It's looking like $50k in Arkansas actually translates more to $37k after taxes.
|
|
#
?
Sep 4, 2016 03:34
|
|
|
So, you're committing tax fraud, and you're concerned that you won't be able to do that in your new position, yes? That aside... I am actually shopping for a used car right now, for the first time in several years, and finally "used car photographer" is a thing. You probably get a better look at a car over the internet than you do in person. They have the same ~50 photos they take of every. single. car. Straight on. 1/4 view from front. Drivers side. 1/4 view from rear. Rear straight on. 1/4 view from other side rear... etc, etc. Then tire tread remaining. Then every gagety-gizmo. Every seat. Then from the back looking forward. From the front looking back. Every detail. As a photographer, it seems formulaic and boring. I can't see what would take two weeks to train you. If it pays $40-$50k (except for those pesky taxes... maybe you can find a different felony to commit?), and you don't have other options, I can't see why you should pass it up. I'm curious to know what you're doing when you're not shooting cars. Are you detailing hub caps, or selling cars? They will have something for you to do when you're not shooting. Find out what that is and make sure you can live with it.
|
|
#
?
Sep 4, 2016 05:26
|
|
|
Jesus Christ, I'm not trying to commit fraud, I'm just trying to make sure I'm making the most money possible between one job or the other. And I hosed up anyways, that's how much I still owe after deductions. Not total taxes.
89 fucked around with this message at 05:33 on Sep 4, 2016 |
|
#
?
Sep 4, 2016 05:27
|
|
|
gently caress there are some uptight people in this thread. Is the job with a big dealership company? I imagine if it is you could be doing photography for multiple dealerships in the area that they own. Some of these auto groups can own a 100 dealerships and two weeks of training sounds like sort of company. The job is going to be soul sucking and your coworkers will probably but at least you can get back on a normal schedule. Just be prepared to be around alpha male conservative types. I worked a GM annual meeting for one of these multinational dealership collectives and it was surreal to see these dudes getting amped up listening to navy seals give them pep talks, I was holding back laughter when a PAC leader went off on Tesla then asked for $20 of every paycheck so he could fight the good fight.
|
|
#
?
Sep 4, 2016 07:01
|
|
|
Rough, ballpark estimate of what you'll pay in taxes is 25%. You're probably paying a little less than that on your hourly rate (because you claim so little) and 0% on the part you're committing tax fraud on (the vast majority). "$40 to $50k" is a big range. At $40k you'd probably walk away with a little less (although it'd be a legitimate income, and 9-5 with little customer interaction), at $50k you'd probably walk with a little more than now.
|
|
#
?
Sep 4, 2016 07:07
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 24, 2024 03:06 |
|
|
Money aside, let's talk about the work. I'm assuming you are working as a vendor for used car dealerships, because no one needs a full time random guy to take pictures of their new cars. The manufacturer supplies them. I did this for about 3 months. It was rote, lowest-common-denominator photography. No exciting lighting setups. Just me, a DSLR, and all the used cars I cared to sit in. You drive to a location (and hope they're all near each other). You go in and get the keys to the cars you need to pull (and hope they have a good system for it). You find the car on the lot (and hope they have a good system for it). You drive the car to a spot where the sun is right and the background jumble is at a minimum (and hope they have a spot like that). Then you park the car, take 5 to 10 shots at various angles based on the dealership's contract Usually you'll get front, rear, left, right, dashboard, and passenger or other interior shots. Sometimes you'll mix it up by taking 3/4ths views where you get the front AND a side. Then you put it back, and go hunting for the next car. It's hot (or cold) work based on the season, as the cars don't have time to warm up or cool down. If the lots don't have good key management or an organized lot, it can be hard to find keys, cars, or both. There were lots where I might have five cars, but spent three hours because Sally didn't know where "that goddamned new Toyota" was. Turns out they'd sold it before I got there. The guy that sold it was part of the conversation on finding it. Job was advertised as 8am-5pm, but it was more like 8-to-whenever-you're-done-or-it-gets-dark. Driving time was not included. Pay was a base salary (reasonable, but could have been worse) with a commission based on volume. The commission was where the real money was. However, I had no control over the volume of cars that came in; I always had to do whatever the lots had in stock. Guys with seniority got the good routes with all the high volume, organized lots in close proximity to each other. Me? One of my regular stops, once a week, was two hours from anywhere else. I hated Thursdays, since I knew I wasn't getting home until at least 8pm.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2016 23:00
|
|
