Commission

[Living with the Land]

Does anyone here work strictly on commission and how does that work for you? I was offered what I consider my dream job but it is all commission with no base pay. For those of you that know I may be going through a separation and need to get back to work asap. I am just worried about whether or not this is a good decision. The company is AFLAC.

Thanks, Holly

 

[DeLaMer]

I work on commission and tips. It is a personal service job, so it's a little different.

Some questions to consider:

Do they offer a 'draw' pay while you are beginning?

Are you a 'sales' person?

 

[MoniqueU]

My husband works straight commission and has for so many years I can't remember. It works out pretty well for us as his income is more then what others we know typically make. But he puts in the hours like you wouldn't believe, doesn't ever take a day off due to illness ( what is that little perk?) rarely uses all his vacation days in a year. So in short I feel he is working a job and a half and earns his pay. I actually laugh at people who work 40 hours a week and say they don't have time to get things done. JMHO of course.

It can be scarey to live on straight commission I have gotten into the buy ahead mentality. I am always buying stuff way before we need it, just in case. We have had bad months but not for a long time but I still can't shake that mentality.

 

[luvpooh]

my boyfriend works on the commission of his entire office's sales (he's the manager) and doesn't receive a base salary. We've had some periods of time (2-3 months in a stretch) where things were very lean, and accumulated some credit card debt as a result. But then again, there have been times where we had surplus and were able to catch up/get ahead. We have a good amt in savings, but rarely tap into it, just in case of another lean span, or G-d forbid, I lose my job, which brings in the steady income.
So you may want to take into consideration if you're willing to, or able to, live in a little debt from time to time...but then again, I'm not sure how that's going to work if you're re-establishing yourself in the beginning.
Good luck to you in whatever you decide.

 

[rt2dz]

Thank goodness, we're not in that position anymore. DH worked a job (for FOUR years!) that was 100% commission. He did well, better than most in his company with that position, but it is not a good situation. If something happens, you're in a heck of a lot of trouble.

He did get vacation pay (average of what he made in the past 6 weeks), but that wasn't good. That pay covered the week he was gone, but by not earning pay that week, it affected what was to come. He couldn't be out drumming up new business, which was highly important. If he was sick, it was basically a payless day. And he had to work constantly. Sunday through Sunday. From 6 am to 11 pm. Yeah, there was some flexibility, but it was still constant work. He had to drop everything when people needed certain things--and he had bigger boundries than most his co-workers.

I really don't recommend it. He left and took a different job that was 80% commission and a small base pay. That had it's problems too. Thankfully, he completed his MBA this last semester, got a job with a generous base salary and a great commission/bonus structure to boot!