| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Do you charge extra for urgent translation jobs? Thread poster: Laura Diez
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| Sure, up to 100% | Jun 12, 2007 |
I hate rush jobs and thus always charge extra. For working at night my surcharge is 100%.
Quite often when I say to the client what surcharge would be for a rush job it turns out that the job in fact isn't so urgent...
| | | | | Asking for extra money is unreasonable | Jun 13, 2007 |
Despite all best efforts I cannot really understand why we freelance translators are supposed to charge more for rush jobs on our own initiative.
We are not obliged by an hypothetical employer to do a certain job, unless we decide to charge more just to keep away certain customers we do not like to say "no" to, but at the same time we do not want to say it clearly. A freelance translator is simply willing (or not) to find the time to do a certain job.
It might be a di... See more Despite all best efforts I cannot really understand why we freelance translators are supposed to charge more for rush jobs on our own initiative.
We are not obliged by an hypothetical employer to do a certain job, unless we decide to charge more just to keep away certain customers we do not like to say "no" to, but at the same time we do not want to say it clearly. A freelance translator is simply willing (or not) to find the time to do a certain job.
It might be a different story for agencies, though, who might feel forced to pay extra money to try motivating one particular translator - or the only one left after the others have declined the offer - to work through the night or the weekend.
Mario Cerutti
http://www.aliseo.com/english/
[Edited at 2007-06-13 04:57] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Juliana Brown 
Israel
Local time: 18:05
Member (2007)
Spanish to English
+ ...
| I am so surprised | Jun 13, 2007 |
by the amount of people here who do NOT charge extra! I understand the logic however, behind saying "these are my hours and my rates, period." I happen to be a little more frenetic in both cases, generally speaking, especially since my pairs range from the fairly common (ENG-ESP) to the rather less so (ESP-HEB).
I should qualify that- I don't charge extra if it is a short document, i.e. personal papers, certificates, etc. But for anything longer, I also charge around 20%, depending on th... See more by the amount of people here who do NOT charge extra! I understand the logic however, behind saying "these are my hours and my rates, period." I happen to be a little more frenetic in both cases, generally speaking, especially since my pairs range from the fairly common (ENG-ESP) to the rather less so (ESP-HEB).
I should qualify that- I don't charge extra if it is a short document, i.e. personal papers, certificates, etc. But for anything longer, I also charge around 20%, depending on the agency calling.
I think it really depends on what you have on your plate at that moment. If you are juggling a few things (all due around the same time), and feel like adding one more, I believe there is nothing wrong with adding a small bonus (for you of course) to offset the stress. Yes- you consciously make the choice, but that does not mean you should not be paid for the extra push, effort wise. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Long-term interests | Jun 13, 2007 |
Obviously this is an individual choice and I doubt that a consensus will be reached, but there are a couple of points worth considering:
a) How many other professions accept rush jobs and evening/weekend work without charging extra? That argument in itself does not justify surcharges, but society in general is accustomed to paying extra to get someone to work what are widely considered to be unsociable hours and there is a strong market-based argument for saying that if the market i... See more Obviously this is an individual choice and I doubt that a consensus will be reached, but there are a couple of points worth considering:
a) How many other professions accept rush jobs and evening/weekend work without charging extra? That argument in itself does not justify surcharges, but society in general is accustomed to paying extra to get someone to work what are widely considered to be unsociable hours and there is a strong market-based argument for saying that if the market is willing to pay a price, then that is what we should charge. This thread reveals that, for the moment, many clients (especially end clients) are willing to pay extra, so why not charge accordingly? After all, if you prefer to work weekends and evenings, so much the better if you can earn more per hour than your colleagues who don't.
b) It's worth thinking of our own and the profession's long-term interests. For someone who is single (let's say a hypothetical translation graduate just starting out), a 9-5, 5-day week may appear ridiculously conventional and inflexible. However, let's say this graduate intends to stay in the profession for the next 40 or so years, and that they would also like to start a family at some point over that period. In this case, they may well find that the best way to combine their work with their partner's and children's timetables is precisely to adopt the 9-5, 5-day week. Under these not uncommon circumstances, evenings and weekends start to become precious and so the hypothetical translator either refuses to work them, or only does so if well paid.
So, I would argue that generating expectations among clients (both agencies and direct clients) that translators will work what society in general considers to be unsociable hours at no extra charge sets a precedent that runs contra to both our own and the profession's long-term interests.
Naturally, there will always be rush jobs, but if everyone charged extra for them, then we would all benefit. Firstly, it would make many agencies/clients think twice (it's amazing how many 'urgent' jobs can suddenly be downgraded when a surcharge is mentioned) and, secondly, those willing to take those jobs would earn more per hour.
By the way, when talking about rush jobs, I'm referring to when a client expects you to work overnight or over the weekend, not to when a client makes a reasonable request but previous commitments to other clients mean that you have to work overtime to meet all of the separate deadlines (which is were negotiation skills come into play and it may also be possible to charge extra if sufficient trust exists between you and the client).
Regards,
Andrew ▲ Collapse
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| Normally I do | Jun 14, 2007 |
It depends on a few factors, but yes, normally I charge more.
Robert
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