Unpopular opinion: salon owners should cap commission at 50% max

I've been doing hair for 7 years now and I keep going back and forth on this. Last month my boss at Salon Bliss in Austin bumped my commission from 45% to 55% but then raised my booth rental fee by $200 to balance it out. Three years ago I worked at a place that capped everyone at 50% but offered health insurance and paid training days. Which setup actually works better for stylists in the long run? Has anyone else had good or bad experiences with either model?

3 comments

3 Comments

jessica_robinson2321d ago

Figure out what your actual take-home pay was under both setups after you subtract booth rent, taxes, and what you spend on product. Sometimes that 55% with a higher fee leaves you with less than the 50% plus benefits, even if it looks bigger on paper.

james_campbell1221d ago

@jessica_robinson23 nailed it - count real money not percentages.

viola_ward19d ago

My cousin works in a totally different field as a graphic designer and she told me the exact same thing happens there with these fake bonuses and raises. You think you're getting ahead but then they just adjust something else to take it back. It's like when a grocery store marks up an item by a dollar and then puts it on sale for fifty cents off, you're still paying more than before. The whole system is built on making things look good on paper while the actual numbers stay the same or get worse. I've been in the salon industry long enough to see that the real trick is not just watching your commission rate but keeping track of every single cost that comes out of your pocket. At the end of the day, what you actually bring home after all the fees and taxes is the only number that matters, not what percentage they slap on your check.