If you want minnimum wage go and work in Mc donalds to many instructors are willing to work for nothing (will fly for food).
The other side of the coin is would you be willing to pay extra for an instructor that has experiance other than flight training?.
Lets get real here there is no shortage of fixed wing pilots I personally know more than half a dozen pilots com/multi/ifr/instructors who arent working and we are not talking 200hour wanabees so if you want to fly! Fly and stop complaining just keep dreaming of working for west/aircan etc or go and work in wal mart LOL.
I had been a CFI a couple of times for some FTU's. I used to get a lot of resumes from newly minted Class 4's (that I didn't train myself) who said in their covering letters that they were willing to do all of the extra work for nothing. Incidentally, I never hired any of these guys because it's been my experience that working for nothing results in nothing. The seem to lose steam after working for $zip, and quit.
I myself prefered to hire smart (not just take the resume of the first guy who walks in the door), pay a base salary to keep him during the "skinny times", and compensate him for making money for the school. I would be an absolute fool to think that a Class 4 was going to be a "career instructor", but I would like to have him stay for at least a season.
I know there's no shortage of instructors, there is however a shortage of good experienced instructors who still give a shit 6 months after bouncing down the runway trying to teach "Captain Kangaroo" how to land for the zillionth time. Retention of the latter (the good instructor, not Captain Kangaroo) is done by treating him well. I know of many who would prefer a minimum base + half the hourly rate that the other school is offering, rather than a straight hourly rate. My best year as a line instructor was $42K one year (this was as a class 1, and I worked my buns off that year). I know some schools think that a base salary makes instructors "lazy". I prefer to look at it as lacking clear and good leadership; by directing their energies on non-flying tasks and reminding them that their base salary is to compensate them for these tasks, most are motivated to do it. Of course, there will always be the disgruntled ones that will demand more. This does however ensure that non-flying tasks are done, and most of the instructors would be happy. If they aren't happy, I would let them know that McDonalds and Wal-Mart are hiring. Sounds a little heartless I know, but that's the reality of things.
Before I get "flamed" by other former CFI's, current CFI's and FTU operators, I should qualify the fact that the places where I was the CFI were all more remote locations without a competitor down the road. We could afford the luxury of a base salary, compensated with slightly higher rental prices on the school's aircraft.
One of the earlier posts in this thread hit the nail right on the head. The absolute worst thing for other instructors is the resident semi-retired guy who refuses to charge his students for ground briefings or any time outside the plane. Whenever I spend time teaching a student something, be it on the ground or in the air, I make sure I charge him a fair rate. I've only had one or two people complain about it and, after explaining to them that it cost me thousands of dollars and a few years of my time to qualify as a flight instructor, they seem to have no problem with being charged for my time. Personally, I feel that if you have the right attitude and put in the effort, you can live a decent life as an instructor, and have a lot of fun doing it too. Working for a good flying school helps too, but I find that it's the instructors with the wrong attitude that sit on the ground with no students. This past summer I didn't have a single month where I cleared less than 2 grand (class 4 wage). Yes, I was working 6 day weeks and, quite often 12 hour days but who cares? I'm getting paid to fly planes. So in my opinion, it's up to the person and the one with the right attitude is the one who wins
