your first ever wage packet - How much was it?

[Butch]

Just a bit of a random topic really.

Mine was at the age of 14 when I snagged a Summer holiday job labouring for a roofer.

£15 per day in cash, which was a fortune to me as most of my mates were either doing £26 a week YOPS placements (Youth opportunity scheme).

That was in 1985.

It was hard work, and bless her, my Mum didn't ask for any upkeep, she just let me keep all of it.

[Derek Dangleberries]

Difficult for me to define "work" really ..

- Under 11 years old we got a few shillings in a brown envelope as choir boys which we spent on beer round the back of the village pub. The same pub gave us a block of ice cream to share for sorting out the bottles from the skip into crates.. About 2 hours work for 3 of us.Twas the first time I drank Barley Wine and bloody loved it..

- Over 11 years old it was 25p an hour for farm work..Spud picking, baling etc ..

- When I left school and waiting to join the Army I got a tenner a week for working in a local shop ...

[Stillearly]

During school holidays , I used to work for my Dad as a plumbers mate , can't remember what he used to pay me , but did that from age 14-18 ...but a couple of times a year he would get me to sort out the scrap ( old pipes, fixing and leadwork ) into copper , lead and brass and I would get half the value from the scrapyard ..

Before that , my Mum used to help out on two of her Uncles farms , and I could do a bit as well , standing potatoes into boxes , separating them into mids and toppers ... you got paid 10pence a box , my Mum was so much faster than me m she would have completed two or three boxes to my one 555

My first office job in 1986 , my annual salary was £3,800 , I got to keep my first months wages , but after that had to pay rent to my parents , again I can't recall how much , but my parents weren't too hard on me 

[maipenrai]

In the summer of 1972 I was 16 years old and having a fun time hanging around town with no job, until my Mother suggested that I go fire fighting; in those days they'd grab anybody who was hanging around and could not show proof of employment, usually from the pubs  - if you refused to go, they could actually send you to jail. I was dumb enough to volunteer, and it was quite an adventure - out in the middle of nowhere, no bath or shower for two weeks, and pay of $1.75 CDN an hour. I ended up working 197 hours in the two weeks and brought home my first paycheque ever for the grand sum of $272 after taxes.  

[Nightcrawler]

For Brits here. When thinking back to your first wage packet, I found this site which gives you an idea of what that wage was worth in today's money

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator

I am sure there will be other country equivalent websites. 

[Bazle]

My first full-time job paid the princely sum of £4 per week. That was in 1968, and out of which I had to pay for my own training courses. 

Edited March 10, 2024 by Bazle

[forqalso]

My first job was bagging groceries for $2.60 an hour after school. With my hours limited, I brought home about $60 a week. I was promised a nickel an hour raise every thousand hours, which coincided with a similar raise in minimum wage, so after two thousand hours, I was still at minimum wage. After I mentioned that to my boss; who shrugged his shoulders, I gave him two weeks notice and started at a competitor for a dollar more. I stayed there until I graduated high school and enlisted in the Marine Corps, which paid about $600 a month, plus food and a bed. 

[Derek Dangleberries]

1 hour ago, Nightcrawler said:

For Brits here. When thinking back to your first wage packet, I found this site which gives you an idea of what that wage was worth in today's money

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator

I am sure there will be other country equivalent websites. 

WOW ...112 quid a week nowadays ...

[Freee!!]

My first job (in about 1980) was weeding for a tulip (and other bulbs) farmer. I got paid about three Dutch Guilders per hour. Transport costs were zero (after the first time) as we just rode there on our bikes (about 15 km, about 30 minutes).

[Krapow]

Picking spuds when about 13.

f**k it was backbreaking work. 

Think it was £2.50 for filling up a huge crate! Though obviously this was years ago, when £2.50 would would get you 2 bottles of cider and paralytic drunk when aged 13!

Good Times 🤣

[galenkia]

38 minutes ago, Krapow said:

Picking spuds when about 13.

f**k it was backbreaking work. 

Think it was £2.50 for filling up a huge crate! Though obviously this was years ago, when £2.50 would would get you 2 bottles of cider and paralytic drunk when aged 13!

Good Times 🤣

Back then I was into glue sniffing.

[richy65]

 

£25 a week for me on the YTS training scheme. Used to pay Mom a fiver for my  keep which left enough for drinking and following the Albion all over the country at the weekend

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 10, 2024 by richy65
spelling error

[KWA]

Many jobs while still at school without an official wage packet but always had money in my pocket.  Delivering papers and milk, picking potatoes, petrol station attendant, super-trooper spotlight operator in the Carnegie Hall (UK version not USA), berry picking, car parking steward at local events, maybe more.

I kept up the theatre lighting for several years after starting work full time as it was a real money spinner for not much work.  Also bar work including father in law's bar and a couple of town centre bars near me.

[Nickrock]

Don't recall my first job but I remember when I started my apprenticeship I started on $13 a week (260 bt) back in 1973

[Krapow]

3 hours ago, galenkia said:

Back then I was into glue sniffing.

Aye, £2.50 would've got you a litre tin of Evo and 20 Regal ordinary in them days as well!

Steal the bags from the woolworths picknmix 

[Nightcrawler]

My first job as a student was a night shift  Fudge Packer for Paynes sweet factory about £7 a week as I recall. 

[galenkia]

11 minutes ago, Nightcrawler said:

  Fudge Packer 

You are just asking for shit from @Butch

😂

[Yesitisdakid]

$81 a week bus boy in a Hofbrau in San Francisco first full-time job

[galenkia]

My first job was unpaid salary wise.

Shoplifting, good pay day.

Edited March 10, 2024 by galenkia

[Lantern]

5 pound. Working at Turnbull and Stockdale in Stubbins. Just down the road from the Hollands Pie factory.

[Aqualung]

1 hour ago, Lantern said:

5 pound. Working at Turnbull and Stockdale in Stubbins. Just down the road from the Hollands Pie factory.

So you must know Rossendale well then. Holland pies are still up in Baxenden. 

[Aqualung]

Same as @richy65 £23.50 per week on a YTS scheme in a local footwear factory. I can't remember how much my mother wanted for board money but it wasn't much.

33p for a pint in my local about that time! 

[Binlid]

1971, £6 a week working as a commis chef for House of Fraser department store in Liverpool city centre,£2 of that went to me mam.

[Lantern]

9 minutes ago, Aqualung said:

So you must know Rossendale well then. Holland pies are still up in Baxenden. 

I do. I lived in Ramsbottom and went past Hollands everyday going to and from school. BRGS.

I contacted Hollands about twenty years ago asking if they imported anything to Australia. (loved their steak & kidney puds and the cheese and onion pies) The exec I corresponded with told me he had been in Byron Bay (about 70klms from me now) a few months before on holiday.

[Aqualung]

42 minutes ago, Lantern said:

I do. I lived in Ramsbottom and went past Hollands everyday going to and from school. BRGS.

I contacted Hollands about twenty years ago asking if they imported anything to Australia. (loved their steak & kidney puds and the cheese and onion pies) The exec I corresponded with told me he had been in Byron Bay (about 70klms from me now) a few months before on holiday.

Small world mate. 

I lived a stones throw away from BRGS, firstly Newchurch then in 77 we moved up to Cowpe village in Waterfoot. 

Played cricket at Ramsbottom in my teens representing Rawtenstall CC. 

As for Hollands pies, they aren't as good as they used to be I'm afraid. 

Best regards.