Expensas rise 40% - Clarin

[citygirl]

Lee - leaving aside the trustworthy comment (which I vehemently disagree with as 90% of the interactions I've had here have been positive ones, same as in every country) - do you not get how f'ed up that salary structure is?

9500 per month, free housing and benefits? That package is probably worth about 14K a month when you add in the housing & benes. That is more than most senior managers make. It's certainly more than the average lawyer, doctor and accountant makes.

And let's be honest - it's not a hard job. I like my porteros. There are an average of 3 working at any given moment. One sits at the desk and buzzes people in. One is "security" & sits and chats with the guy at the desk. And then there is the handyman who takes out the garbage and mops the lobby floor. It's not exactly a difficult job.

Again, it's what blows my mind here. Does it not seem crazy that a portero makes 3x as much as a doctor?

 

[jp]

just curious

But is 9500 showing their net salary, or what it costs to employ them?

The administration will have to pay 40% on top of their salary, plus healthcare, aguinaldo etc. Someone costing 9500 is still getting well paid, but their net salary is going to be closer to 5000. Does that salary cover 2 porteros - a day and a night shift?

Someone costing 5000 a month is going to receive a not so impressive net salary of 2500 a month. In my last administation they showed net salary on the expensas form, and our portero earned a little over 2k a month.

Employing people is expensive in argentina, if those costs are being passed on to all residents on top of the salary you'll have to pay all the associated taxes and benefits unions demand. Still a pretty cushy job, but figures can be misleading sometimes...

 

[Davidglen77]

I find it really hard to believe that ONE portero earns that much. Most earn around $2,800 pesos in hand, however on top of that, social security taxes A/K/A cargas sociales are close to $2,000 per month, which includes health insurance, retirement fund, union fees, etc. There is no building that is paying porteros $9,500 per month in hand, however the salary in hand may vary about 10% according to the portero's years of service (antiguedad) in the job, overtime hours, projects, etc.
If you are looking at your monthly "expensas" statement, and you see higher amounts than what I stated above, it must be for multiple employees in the building.
Some buildings have an apartment reserved for the portero. It's true that they do not pay any rent and all services, eletric, gas, cable, etc are also paid for by the building. Recently many buildings have taken the portero's apartment away and rent it out to generate income for the building. It's unfortunate for the portero because without that apartment included it's very difficult to live on that in hand salary, however many people are no longer able to pay their expensas due to so many increases and it's the only way to keep people in their homes. I've known several families that have a grandparent or other retired person who had to sell their apartment of many many years because once they retire, there income barely covers the expensas and they still have to eat, pay for medications, etc. The best thing to do if you don't have a high monthy income is to buy an apartment in a PH (multifamily house) or a small building that has cleaning services outsource to a maintenance company and does not have a building employee.

 

[sergio]

Lee, I think you are joking about porteros being trustworthy. Yes, some maybe but I would NEVER give my keys to one of my building's porteros. That's a good way of asking for trouble.

 

[Zackdotcom]

NYC door men make 10K a month on the upper west side! it's a fact! if this is the NYC of South America then... go for it....

Hell buy a building rent it and be the door man! sounds like a sound biz to me... and how come some american has not bought a recoleta building and rent the units exclusively to usa citizens...? with USA amenities?

 

[SaraSara]

Lee must be joking when he mentions "porteros" and "loyalty" in the same sentence. It's common knowledge that porteros get kickbacks from every repairman they call and steal anything that's not nailed down.

When we got married a highly-paid "portero" tried to steal our wedding presents. He was caught because a friend was surprised we did not get her gift - we asked the portero, who said he delivered all gifts as they arrived, and he had never seen the dozen whisky glasses our friend sent.

My friend become irate, went to the store, got the delivery slip, tracked her gift down, and confronted the thieving portero with his signature on the receipt. Only then did he cough up the glasses he had stolen.

The only one surprised at this story was the portero, who clearly never expected to be caught. By the way, he was not fired but kept his job and his benefits.

PHs are great - the only "expenses" are the hallway lights, and maybe paying someone to sweep it clean once a week.

 

[Davidglen77]

I lived on the Upper West Side in NYC at 320 Central Park West. In 1999 the doorman's salary was $32,000 per year and they did not get an apartment. There were 4 of them on staff. There was a live in super that made $28,000 per year that lived in the building that had a 2 bedroom apartment (for free). These guys cashed in big time during the holidays as most apartments gave $500 tip money into a pool to be divided amongst the building staff, and this is a building of 200 apartments! That super sure had a good deal!

 

[sergio]

David is right about NYC super salaries. They don't make $10,000 a month! They do get a lot of tips at Christmas.

I asked a building administrator about net / gross salaries. The list of expensas with porter salaries states NET salaries.