alive around here in North Georgia, a cutter with at lest three years in makes between 11.00 to 15.00 depending on company, market manager can make 15.00 to 18.00

A man can drive about 75 miles  from here and make 18.00 to 20 as a cutter and 24.00 as a manager.

$23 sounds pretty good, how much is a gallon of milk and loaf of bread where a meatcutter earns this wage? Here in Mi it can be anywhere from a pathetic 12-14 pr hr. to union scale 16 to 18 and then there's Cosco in their own world probably around $22 or $23 by now. (cutter) Around here managers don't make much more than cutters in many if not most places! For all the crap they take don't seem worth it to me that's why I'm not manager! Show me the money baby I'm not into prestige!

I think I need to move.....eh!  Are these union contract wages? Are many meat and grocery stores union there? you have public health care there, do they deduct that from your check like here?

As the department manager, I make almost 41,000 a year NZD ( about 31,400 USD) for 40 hours a week .We dont have any meat cutters in our store anymore. The cutting is done at our plant..... As for the price of bread and milk, loaf of bread is between 1.89 to 4.00 nzd (1.44 to 3.00 USD) and 2 litre of milk (1/2 gallon) is between 3.40 to 5.00 nzd (2.60 to 3.80 usd). FYI...NZD is for New Zealand Dollar.

No union where I work at. Cutter makes about $9.00 and myself, a manager. about $12 to 13. Started out in the grocery business as a stockboy earning $1.00 hr cash. That was about 39 yrs ago.

Most meat managers get above union wage,as most of them are not in the union.

mimeatguy wrote:

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It seems logical that the managers shouldn't be in the union but... all three union jobs I've had (UFCW) the meat managers were in the union.

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 I think you may have a point. There was big proof in the old MSN meatcuttersclub board. A manager or two there were talking about how they keep labor cost down by using clerks instead of journeymen, cutting OT, etc.

I sort of took offense to it and said so. It's a double edge sword and not good for us and our future brothers and sisters.

 

If I recall, when I left the business in 1995 I was making about $18.75/hr as a meat manager, or chief journeyman which was the technical name.  It was a union shop (Pathmark) in the Philadelphia market. The medical benefits were good, and fully paid, I thought the pay was good too until I changed careers. My department grossed $80,000 to $100,000 per week in fresh meat sales then.

I started 10 years ago as a wrapper making 10$ an hour.For two weeks...lol

My boss says to me..."how would you like to learn cutting?"

I said "Does it pay more?"

He says "OH YEAH!"

I said "Well show me the knife!"

I haven't looked back. I now make 21$ an hour in a 2 man shop. The manager that taught me was getting 29$ an hour back then. The manager that just retired in my shop was around 30$ an hour. I have checked out other shops and at the moment cutters are around 15$ and managers around 18$. Depends on who you work for. I will say here in BC it seems to depend on how rural you are as to what wage you can command coupled with how Good you are. I believe you should get paid your worth. I also travel almost 40 minutes one way to get to that shop. Gas is at 126.9 a litre as of last night :(

Oh and a loaf of bread in my store(the cheapest) is almost 3$.A 2L(half gallon) of milk is around 3.50 ish for 2%

When I was a meat manager/Chief Journeyman, I made just $1 an hour more than a journeyman.

Current Costco wages are $24.00 per hour with up to $8000.00 in bonuses based on years of service. $38.50 per hour is what I am currently at as a manager. no bonus for meat managers.

Chad wrote:

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Current Costco wages are $24.00 per hour with up to $8000.00 in bonuses based on years of service. $38.50 per hour is what I am currently at as a manager. no bonus for meat managers.

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 Chad,

      Good for you.  Where do you work?  You are the only one who has posted here who is making a decent wage.  It is sad what has been done to the trade.  I left the field to change careers in 1994 because I was making only about $46,000 back then.  I felt I was under-paid then but now I know it.  I only wish I had made the change 10 years earlier.