Should I quit my brewing job?

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Hoppy_Chulo

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I work in a Texas brewery and I love my job. The only problem is the pay isn't that great. Should I find another job?
 
What are your chances of getting a new job right away? For the most part the job market still sucks.

BTW is that $800/week? If so I would say you are paid pretty damn good for a low skill job.
 
Yeah more details needed, what are you responablities? Also is that $800 in the hand or gross?
What could you do other than this job and what would you likely get paid? There is no point quiting if all you could get is a labouring job @ $600 / week
Would you move, have a look over on probrewer.com for other brewery oportunities.
 
only you can decide that. my decision would be based on if i had another job to go to. $400/week is better than $0 a week, though. you can look while working
 
It's tough to swallow when the person that works with you makes over double what you make and your doing the brunt of all the work.
 
I suggest getting the new job lined up, then give 2 weeks notice. If not you are likely to be working for the same or less if you are even able to find a new job. There are tons of people out there that have been on unemployment for the entire allotted time. And remember the unemployment rate has not improved much since 2007.
 
$400/wk for 40hrs/wk take-home is rough. To put in perspective, though, it is only slightly less than I made as a first year public school teacher. Mine was more like $430/wk and I worked 50+ hours plus many weekends.

Look around at other employees...is anyone making ends meet? What do you need to do to get his or her job?
 
It's tough to swallow when the person that works with you makes over double what you make and your doing the brunt of all the work.

Is that person the owner? How many people are in your "crew" and how many are at your payscale?

Brewing is a world, in my eyes at least, that will always be a low paying job unless your the owner/head brewer/marketing/sales or have a butt load of experience.

Its labor intensive but at the end of the day its the same bull**** they can teach to the next kid.

How much free beer do you go home with??:p
 
I'm thinking of going to the oil field business . I'll be away from family for awhile but at least ill get paid what I'm worth. Starting pay is from 5-6 thousand a month. Ill miss the **** outta of brewing and all my friends . I wanted to go to school for Brewing and further my career but I don't think that's going to pan out.if I can't pay bills or put food on the table .
 
It's tough to swallow when the person that works with you makes over double what you make and your doing the brunt of all the work.

i feel your pain. i'm the go-to i.t. guy in my company, but there is 1 guy who has been there 3 years (compared to my 10+ ) who is making 15% more and is WAY LESS qualified. the boss makes double and shunts everything to me. do i put up with it? yes, as it pays the bills and a little extra. do i complain? no, because it's my decision, not anyone else's

not trying to be mean or overbearing about it. just trying to give you a feel about what is needed to make the decision. best of luck in the job search. just consider the thought of having another 1 before losing the 1 you have.
 
yeah.... what are your options? Quit, and do what? Do you have other training?
But, $800 every two weeks is certainly pretty terrible money - especially if you are talking pretax. And, is it 40 hours per week? If you are working 80 hours for $800 ..... that is only $10 an hour- you can make that doing any number of things.
But, it is all perspective. If you end up working a job you hate, for $900 every two weeks...... well, what was the point. I would look for better jobs, while keeping this job. The second you find a better job/money I would go for it.
 
i feel your pain. i'm the go-to i.t. guy in my company, but there is 1 guy who has been there 3 years (compared to my 10+ ) who is making 15% more and is WAY LESS qualified. the boss makes double and shunts everything to me. do i put up with it? yes, as it pays the bills and a little extra. do i complain? no, because it's my decision, not anyone else's

not trying to be mean or overbearing about it. just trying to give you a feel about what is needed to make the decision. best of luck in the job search. just consider the thought of having another 1 before losing the 1 you have.

What? really? That makes no sense, is he the boss's family or something? Have you mentioned anything to you boss during performance reviews (not about his performance but about your worth)? Your boss might be taking you for a ride for as long as you are happy to go along with what your being given, while the other guy is vocal about getting more.
 
Thanks for all your replies and listening to me vent. Ill defiantly get 1 lined up if I decide to quit. I'm just scared of change and an uncertain future.
 
What? really? That makes no sense, is he the boss's family or something? Have you mentioned anything to you boss during performance reviews (not about his performance but about your worth)? Your boss might be taking you for a ride for as long as you are happy to go along with what your being given, while the other guy is vocal about getting more.

i've tangled with him more than you know. it's all about i started when the company was paying less, and they don't give pay raises based on merit; it's just a yearly increase. corporate bureaucratic america
 
OP - are you a good worker? does your boss think you are a good worker? how easy would it be to replace you, i.e. if you left what are the chances of getting another person that will work as hard as you?
If you/them think you are a good asset to the company they should be willing to do something to keep you around. It might be career suicide but maybe mentioning that at what you are getting paid it is becoming tough to live on, and it is making you to have to seriously consider moving on. If you are worth it they will find a way to keep you around, after all it will cost them more to train up a new guy. That is if they have any business sense.
 
I had to leave a fantastic job in consulting for a government crap job because I needed the benefits. It still stings 5 years later. At least there I was making 40k a year and had a cheap mortgage. Now I make double that but live in Chicago where everything is so expensive that the extra pay is a wash.
 
Sometimes you gotta make a significant change in your life to get a dream job that pays a fair wage for doing what you love.

Before you throw the towel in on a brewing career, look to moving to another part of the state or country and see if your skills would be more in demand elsewhere.

Best of luck!
 
My hat's off to you for considering the needs of your family over "living the dream" working as a brewer. There's lots of good advice here. Weigh options, line something up, and do what's right for you and your kin. - CG2
 
It sucks ballz everywere now. The economy is total crap. Inflation up the ying-yang. Keep your chin up no matter the decision. And piss in the bosses coffee if you do decide to leave.
 
I had a look over on www.probrewer.com forum and came out with this
Howdy all,
Sorry for the stupid delay in posting this info. I have no excuse.

I did not get a heck of a lot of feedback on what people are being paid but to those that did respond, Thank You.

Here is a breakdown:

Annual Production 500-1000 bbls: Head Brewer wage= 23k-38k
Asst. Brewer wage=19k

Annual Production 1000-2000 bbls: Head Brewer wage= 38k-60k
Asst. Brewer wage= 28k-34k

Annual Production 20000 bbls: Head Brewer wage= 42k

The average Head Brewer wage from my small data set is $43616.00 and the Asst. Brewer average is $24016.00.
I know these numbers seem kinda' all over that map and don't totally jive with production increase but this is what I found.

From an old New Brewer issue (2006), their survey found the Head Brewer's average wage was 38k (500-1000bbl), 43k (1000-2000) and Asst. Brewer's $10/hr (500-1000bbl), $12/hr (1000-2000bbl). These figures are, of course, four years old and they were for brewpubs.

I'd love to hear more current numbers.
So $400 per week for a assistant brewer in a small brewer actually looks in line with the above... sorry :(
 
My friends are head and assistant at a young brewery in Chicago. They are always griping about the pay. They both have minority ownership stakes that require payout if they leave I think though. It's not a great industry for pay unfortunately. They have offered me positions but I can't afford to work there.
 
If you have the goods, a decent paying brewery will want you. You're in Fredricksberg, right? Not too far from San Antonio and, unless I am mistaken, there are several breweries there. I would be putting out resumes
 
If the job isn't paying the bills and your bosses aren't willing to make changes to that problem, then yeah, it's time to look for a new job, especially if you have family depending on you. Awesome workplace or no.
 
Brewing is a tough industry. Your pay sounds about industry standard, unfortunately. HEAD brewers/Brewmasters are LUCKY to make about double what you make, and that's someone with years of experience running a large production brewery. The stats mattd2 quotes are just the reality of the industry.
 
$800 every 2 weeks? That's what I make and I don't have any problems. I live with my girlfriend and she makes about the same. I don't have kids, so that's a major factor. I hope your wife works, it shouldn't all be on you. How long of a drive is it to the brewery from your house? I ride a bike to work, saves A LOT of money. I wouldn't quit a job you love. Being happy is more important than money. But if you're REALLY struggling, then, yeah, I suppose you should be looking for better opportunities. But don't just go work in a sh*tty oil field for the money, that sounds like a really crappy job.
 
Brewing is a tough industry. Your pay sounds about industry standard, unfortunately. HEAD brewers/Brewmasters are LUCKY to make about double what you make, and that's someone with years of experience running a large production brewery. The stats mattd2 quotes are just the reality of the industry.

In some ways this is just weird to me. I mean owner makes all the $$ and everyone else is paid crap. Sure I get that to some extent because the labor is basically something anyone can be trained to. when a head brewer would spend 70% of his time cleaning and only 30% brewing, then everyone else is spending a lot less time brewing.

But what is weird is I heard a few years back that brewing has the largest profit margin of ANY business catagory. Insurance about 2 to 5%. Oil company? 9%.... Brewers? typically 25% *** I only heard the end statistic the 25%, and that can very easily be skewed by the 90% of the sales are made by BMC and those companies could be doing 25% profit and everyone else 1% and you'd still have clost to industry average of 25%

Still seems weird.
 
Some people don't realize the risk the owner takes on in starting a business. The reward has to be worth it. The guys who came along with you as you built it sometimes share in this, but as a rule, there will always be the low man on the totem pole.
 
I would look at this opportunity as an excellent internship. You have a great opportunity to learn all the nuts and bolts of the business from the inside while improving your own processes. Since you are the one primarily in charge of making the beer you have the freedom to study the ingredients, methods and equipment in order to really refine best practices.

That means you have a huge leg up when you get your friends together and decide to branch out on your own. Sure, you'll need to get some investment and find some reliable partners with business/marketing experience, but you're the guy with the core knowledge which makes you dude # 1.

I would make sure you're using your opportunities to meet customers, distributors and retail sites and ensure that they know who you are and that you're the guy making the beer. Do it discretely, be cool. You don't want to piss your boss off. But the fact is, consider this your residency. You don't get paid much, but you're learning really invaluable stuff.

Since you're a pro-brewer there are other things you can try to make ends meet too. put together all-grain or extract kits that you can market and sell, locally or over the internets. (Again, where's that marketing guy?) You need to start looking at that 'glass half full' thing. You're in a better position than you know (IFF you have any interest in running your own brewery one day. I guess I just assumed that. ; )
 
Not trying to sound cold, but if laws change or some other factor interrupts business and it goes south, the worst thing that will happen to you is you will be out of a job. The owner could be in debt and ruined for life. Your risk is low, his is high. Your reward is low, his reward id high.
 
This makes me sad to hear. I always knew being a brewer would not be a lucrative career, but ~$20k/yr is terrible in my eyes. My grandfather was able to raise 7 children on a brewer's salary in Germany, so I figured it couldn't be all that bad (his father was a brewer as well, but only had 4 children, not as good of a Catholic).
 
Do you have any other skills that would get you a much higher paying job right now than $20 an hour ? Not sure what the cost of living is where you are, but that isn't entry level minimum wage where I am in Fla where its $7.79 an hour.

Salary isn't so much about how much physical actual work you do, but more the value/risk of the type of work/education/experience you have to bring.

What I would call Semi Skilled laborer is a tough work area, since you aren't totally without skills(fast food/day labor) but you ARE in a job skill that doesn't warrant higher salaries. $50K +

Good luck regardless
 
I would leave my dream job in a minute if I was unable to provide for my family.

There will always be someone who makes more than you that works less.
There will always be someone who makes less than you that works more.
Get the best you can get and don't worry about what anyone else makes.
Life is not fair, never has been, never will be.

If you want to get rich brewing your best bet is to take all your money and buy lottery tickets.
Don't spend all your money on lottery tickets. You will not get rich this way.

A lot of people say if you find a job doing something you love you will never work a day in your life.
A lot of people also say if you find a job doing something you love you will learn to hate it.
 
I can't tell you what to do. I can tell you that I was offered a brewing position at $12/hr and had to turn it down. It was too much of a sacrifice for my family to take on. They come first, and always will. I'll stick to my hobby and my dream of starting my own brewery some day. That's enough for me.
 
I agree, taking care of the family comes first. I'm a newbie but I can imagine it would be wonderful brewing for a living. Even if I had years of experience I wouldn't do it, not now. I have kids to take care of. My kids are teens, though, so I'll have more flexibility in a few years.
 
It sure is an eye-opener hearing about these various wages in the USA. I was scared reading it, but then I reallized I live in Canada and most likely the circumstances are much different here.
For example, in Alberta, minimum wage is about $10/hr, for McDonalds etc.
Most basic labor jobs, as in construction pay around $15-20 for your first day
In my industry, aviation, and specifically inventory:
My current employee takes home around $1350 every 2 weeks (6 months on the job, brand new to aviation) and I take home around $1500 after taxes twice a month, with about 4 years experience. I hate my job but it pays the bills and I am good at it. Basically a glorified shipper, receiver and technical processor...

I really want to become a brewer. I have signed up for the Brewmaster course offered close to where Im living in Calgary. After that, Im not really sure what I will be making... but hopefully more than what I make up here.

Cost of living stats in Calgary
2 bed/1bath townhouse $1250 month
Gas, power, water, internet, Cell: $200 month
Food: $400 month, my share at least
Car, maint, gas,insurance: $450 month

I know the States is having troubles, and unfortunately it makes me feel slightly better about never having any extra money.
 
Family first.. you gotta do what you gotta do. You can always move back to your dream job later when you are in a better position, or who knows, you might get lucky and be able to use your experience towards your own brewery some day.
 
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