Drowning in Debt: CA Lifeguards Make $200K Per Year

[guitfiddle0409]

Lifeguarding in OC is totally lucrative; some make over $200k - Orange Punch - The Orange County Register

Nice work if you can get it. Isn't here a guy in this forum who's a lifeguard right down the road from Newport?

[EBodious]

MakiWarbucksStar?

[KeithBMI]

Woah, Maki is rich!

[MatticusMania]

And here he is, whining about some free beer...

[stevetx19]

that seems pretty high, but let's be sure we aren't confusing our local pool's high schoolers with those who stand watch on the beach. Its a dangerous job that wouldn't get done at $10/hr.

[macaroni tony]

Originally Posted by KeithBMI

Woah, Maki is rich!

And he's a teacher. So he makes, what...220,000/year?

[Relic]

Sheeee-it, he should be sending the lot of us some free brewskis :P

[elgecko]

SPIN FILTER: Two lifeguards in Newport Beach make over 200k.

I understand how some people might find that objectionable, but do they feel the same way about police officers? Fire fighters? Soldiers?

[Gaius46]

According to the article these aren't "in the tower" life guards who actually save lives. They sound more like maintenance and clerical workers.

The article also points out that a bigger problem is that these folks can retire, with generous retirement benefits, at 50. Is it any wonder that pension liability is bankrupting municpalities.

As compared to people in the private sector it used to be that government employees got paid less but had more job security. According to the stats I saw in a recent issue of Reason magazine the typical public sector employee makes more and has more job security that his private sector counterpart. Must be nice to be able to go to the taxpayer well whenever you need more money.........

[MatticusMania]

Originally Posted by macaroni tony

And he's a teacher. So he makes, what...220,000/year?

LOL! $215,000/yr

[EricF]

"We're sorry your child drowned, Ma'am. We had to hire cheaper lifeguards this year, and it turns out you get what you pay for."

I'm very curious to hear Maki's take on this article.

EDIT: The article seems to be a piece of crap with the sole intention of causing outrage. According to the article, there were 2,190 rescues made last year (that's an average of 6 per day). That seems to me like a pretty significant amount of action for one department. The So Cal coastline can have some pretty serious waves throughout the year (not to mention places like The Wedge), and having highly-qualified and capable lifeguards is a critical public safety issue. I'd bet that there's at least 2,190 people (and their families) that feel the Newport Beach Lifeguards are worth every penny of their salaries. (IMO)

[MatticusMania]

[L-A]

If your main task makes you responsible for people's life, your salary climbs accordingly.

There's someone paid to walk in front of every street-sized snow blower in Québec; he or she makes sure it doesn't swallow a car or a child. The job is well-paid, but if someone gets munched, you're fully responsible.

[GregC]

Originally Posted by Gaius46

According to the stats I saw in a recent issue of Reason magazine the typical public sector employee makes more and has more job security that his private sector counterpart. Must be nice to be able to go to the taxpayer well whenever you need more money.........

Which says as much about the disappearance of good-paying manufacturing jobs and the race to the bottom in our now service-industry-dominated economy as it does government employees' wages...

[Thor]

It's all relative. 1500 to 2000 sq ft house near the beach is 650k to a million. A burger and fries is 15 bucks. Shop for groceries and its 200 minimum. It's just like living in Moscow.

220 is poverty level in West LA.

[EricF]

Originally Posted by Gaius46

According to the article these aren't "in the tower" life guards who actually save lives. They sound more like maintenance and clerical workers.

How did you come to that conclusion? I'm not seeing that stated anywhere in the article.

[gttim]

That is total compensation. That includes the value of all benefits, regular time and overtime. It does not say how much overtime they worked, nor why.

I lifeguarded for a few years at a pool, and coached a few swim teams. I pulled one kid out of the water in 3 years- he had stepped off the steps and could not swim, and reached down and grabbed him. Surf lifeguards are the real deal. My father was a lifeguard at Long Island. He was constantly called upon to save people. These people fought him, cursed him out in embarrassment for saving them, and almost never thanked him. He told me of one day with bad waves, and the ever present 90 foot drop off, he was pulling people out all day, until he was vomiting from exhaustion, and then he still had to make more rescues. This is the Atlantic. The Pacific is much more dangerous.

Good, well trained guards are worth a whole lot. It is a serious kill set. These guys/girls have to be in great shape. Their career, and it is one, cannot continue until they are 65. The body won't handle it. Pulling people out of a heavy ocean is not easy, it is incredibly difficult.

But to the people upset about this, the writers of the article achieved their goal. The riled you up and made you hate lifeguards. They do it with union workers. They do it the unemployed. They play you very well!

[iamlowsound]

I am sure maki earns every penny he makes and at least two more Beach lifeguards have to really great swimmers and they are putting their lives on the line every time they show up to work. Not many other jobs out there where that is true.

lowsound

[GregC]

Originally Posted by Gaius46

According to the article these aren't "in the tower" life guards who actually save lives. They sound more like maintenance and clerical workers.

Actually, if you read Maki's comments under the article, these positions are staffed by guys who first worked in the towers saving lives for 10-15 years, on average. And their pay was crap until they worked long, hard and well enough to get promoted.

[Hawaii Islander]

The waters on the Hawaii coastline can be treacherous and lifeguards here put their lives on the line to save people on a regular basis. They deserve their pay, and then some.

I wonder if the majority of complainers are from land locked States. Complainer: "Well, we do just fine without life guards where I live!" Observer: "Yeah, but you live in Arizona!"