Just wondered if someone could give me an idea of salaries for a registered optician.
I know it all depends on individuals and experience etc but just a ball park figure in $'s
Here in the UK the average Dispensing Opticians probably earns from £18k to £24k.
Was curious how this compared to the USA.
Thanks from a nosey British optician
18k to 24k pounds = about 27k to 36k US dollars. I know opticians here making twice that. I'm surprised wiith all the training it takes to be an optician in the UK your salaries are so low.
Some places pay by what one does, not what one supposedly sat in class and paid attention to learn.
Odd we get these salary questions. Wonder why anyone is interested in what someone else makes?
The only salary that should matter to you is yours!
Chip
Why would you make such a big deal out of a simple question? You are a troll and i wish we could get you banned again for being a nasty man!Originally Posted by chip anderson
Take your happy pills after you put in your hard contacts.
This has all to do with the standard of living in a country or its region. In some places you can live better with 20k than in another one with 45k.
Best way to find out how the area does is checking the prices for cup of coffe at the local airports. In Zurich it would at least $ 5.00 while in London about half.
And that was uncalled for. Rudeness in a professional forum will not be tolerated.
I was just courious why one would want to know. Do people think that they can move somewhere and automaticly land a job that pays the average there. Do they think they can go to thier employer and and say they get this amount there, I want a raise to that amount?
And as far as rudeness isn't one of the more forbidden social questions: "How much do you make?"
I just don't understand peoples couriousity about other people's or other areas income. I remember my son (an IT geek) looking into a job in Los Angeles and finding out that to live on a the same scale he could live on at $35K in Mississippi he would have to make $110K in LA. So do such questions really have any relevance?
Chip
I was curious about what people were making a few years back. I checked locally and I was near the top, thats good right?. Found out that if I moved 4 hours away I would make about 15k per year. Cost of living in TX is a bit more per year, but with the amount of pay raise I got it was totally worth moving here. It was a drastic improvement in my quality of life.
Wow! What a response. I gather from the rather vague and elusive information that as the USA is such a vast country with various micro economies reaching across each state that the salary is dependant on location combined with experience. I wonder if you could have simply said that and not worry why I asked, but simply said I live in Mississippi and the salary ranges from x to y. As a matter of fact, the reason I asked was indeed to gauge whether or not a move would be viable. I have worked abroad before and quite aware how the salary scales, supply and demand etc contribute but your representation of the why's and what for's is terribly dissapointing.
I'm not fixated on what you earn or anyone else earns. Perhaps you should just wind your neck in a little. Thank you.
Kinda makes you sorry you ask any questions around here...
OK Ccampb: In Mississippi salaries (and/or) commissions range from $25,000.00 yr. to around $120,000 yr. But there are so many variables it's really hard so say. In some cases opticians refract (as in an OMD's office) in some days they just take spectacle measurements, hand over the product and collect for the glasses. In some cases the optician doubles as a surgical assistant.
So one just has to determine the nature of the position, is before seeing what the compensation would be.
Chip
Thank you chip that was incredibly helpful and exactly what I was looking for. Even more so the refracting part as currently in the UK Dispensing Opticians do not refract.
Previously I have been asked about the salary difference and now some light is being shed. Your Opticians look like they preform many tasks beyond the scope of a british DO.
Thank you for your reply I appreciate the response.
I would say this range of wages applies throughout the country. The more urban your area the higher the wage as cost of living is higher. Here in greater Boston our COL is easily twice that of much of the rest of the country.
I dare say our European counterparts have much, much more formal education than the average Yank. I've always felt this was due to the guilds across the pond maintaining until recently a stronger grip on the policy and politics of licensing but that's just an opinion. The refracting or surgical assisting optician here is a small minority.
I live just west of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. Salaries for straight optician work range from 8$/hr in chains to 35K a year in private practice. More if certified, more if managing. Health insurance is rarely available in private practice jobs here.
Perfect example of regional differences. Dallas opticians make far less than Houston ones. Same state, simular costs of living. Dallas has a glut of opticians because of all the mega-labs there. (Many start in a lab and move to retail..) That's why I moved from there 30 years ago.
Yup. No way I could make ends meet working for someone else.
ccampb63- you also have to factor in the different states' licensing requirements. Some states have minimal to no requirements, so opticians there working for chains typically bring home a small paycheck. It doesn't matter how good they are. I'm lucky to be in a state that has strong licensing laws. Chains here can't sell without a licensed optician, and there are only around 2000 licenses in the whole state (actually fewer than 2000 since many have retired or let their licenses lapse for some reason or other) , so the chains are forced to pay very well AND to pay medical benefits and other perks just to keep their shops open. Optometrists and ophthalmologists are not required to have a licensed optician on the premises, so they typically do not pay well. They just keep reminding you how great it is that they give you weekends off. In a chain, Saturday and Sundays are the busiest days so the opticians rarely get a weekend day off.
Having your weekend free is worth a lot.
Two weekdays free is just as fine with me. Better, in fact. Places you need to go are less crowded, cuz everyone else has the standard 9-5 schedule.
+1. I trade a half day Saturday for off all day Monday.
Shoot, I'd take that trade if I got the Saturday end. There are different pressures on Mondays- lots of verifications due to no deliveries on the sacred weekends.
I could totally see why someone would want that information before making a lot of decisions, its not a personal question.
Why would be torture someone for just a question?
cccapmb63, welcome to Optiboard.
Here in Washington State we are very fortunate, and we just did a salary survey.
We are a licensed state, but licensing is offered and NOT required unless you want to open your own practice or write CL Rx's (LDO's in Washington can write CL Rx's based on a Drs refraction).
We also have a shortage of qualfied Opticians, I know 5 spots that are open and difficult to fill. Also, most of OD's and OMD's and have great respect of Licensed Opticians because they know LDO's can improve their sales and reduce their stress.
The Opticians Association of Washington just did a wage survey and the numbers were encouraging:
Average wage: $25 an hour; Max $45; Min $13
Yearly Avg: $50,000 Max: $93,000 Min: $28,000
That is up over the last wage survey a few years ago.
If you come to Washington, let me know. There are a lot of Brits here too, our climates are similar I suppose.
Thanks Sharpstick777. I'm delighted to hear from fellow professionals across the pond, it instills a great sense of pride that opticians can be candid and honest when discussing the finer points of there own profession. I have found all the replies very interesting but I think there is a lot of differences between UK and USA which explains the disparity our salaries and also across each of the states in the US. Regulated against non regulated and it appears your job descriptoins vary quite a bit too.
As far as a job oportunity, well, my wife says she watched a TV show called the KILLING and she said the weather in Seattle appeared to involve alot of rain.
We live in the Highlands of Scotland and we love the rain, but a move to Arizona would be a better change.
Thanks for your information, altogether it is painting a picture that although mirrors the optical business here in the UK and has raised more questions that I will need to investigate.
The USA is a vast country in comparison to Scotland. We have a population of 6 million. Regulating, CET and salaries are pretty much aligned. I think I will need to focus on Phoenix, Mesa, Scottsdale etc and see if I can get some information from there. Afterall, from the home of golf I want all year round courses to play in shorts and not carry an umbrella as my 13th club!
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