Poll: Do you charge extra for weekends and public holidays? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you charge extra for weekends and public holidays?".
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A forum topic will appear each time a new poll is run. For more information, see: http://proz.com/topic/33629
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A whopping 58% never charges extra for weekends and public holidays!
I'd really like to understand the rationale of this choice...
| | | | Brandis (X)
Local time: 02:21
English to German
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| surprising size of percentile | Aug 11, 2005 |
When I have to work overnight and have a tight timeframe, I do charge for the extra work and stress I undergo about 30%on the base quoted price. It is equally normal in companies where regular employees charge extra hours at a different higher tarif. Why do 58.6% choose not to charge, I wonder really. There is a genuine reason to charge more. Especially during holiday and weekends, when one is free one could probably give a qualitatively better translation, there is all the more reason to charge... See more When I have to work overnight and have a tight timeframe, I do charge for the extra work and stress I undergo about 30%on the base quoted price. It is equally normal in companies where regular employees charge extra hours at a different higher tarif. Why do 58.6% choose not to charge, I wonder really. There is a genuine reason to charge more. Especially during holiday and weekends, when one is free one could probably give a qualitatively better translation, there is all the more reason to charge more. Afterall many outsourcers also charge some 50% on the project price for a quick turnaround, and go to sleep or celebrate! All ideas are welcomed. Best regards, Brandis
[Edited at 2005-08-11 17:59] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Agencies generally set the terms, not the translator | Aug 11, 2005 |
My experience is that with almost all agencies, they will pay a standard rate, regardless of the urgency. If you don't accept the rate, it will go to the next translator down the line.
For those translators who do more work with direct clients, I can see how there is more room to negotiate a rate. In my experience, that is not the case with agencies. I think that is why you see a large percentage (myself included) who work for the same rates, regardless of the time of day or day of ... See more My experience is that with almost all agencies, they will pay a standard rate, regardless of the urgency. If you don't accept the rate, it will go to the next translator down the line.
For those translators who do more work with direct clients, I can see how there is more room to negotiate a rate. In my experience, that is not the case with agencies. I think that is why you see a large percentage (myself included) who work for the same rates, regardless of the time of day or day of the week.
I bet there is a strong correlation between the percentage of translators who work for agencies, and the percentage who don't charge rush rates. ▲ Collapse
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| ...although I should... | Aug 11, 2005 |
This is how it goes. "We have a 50,000 word document. Could you translate part of it?" Ok, but I have another project and would like to have a weekend off - so I could take about x000 words" The file arrives - it's either more words, more difficult, the PM did not include the full and partial matches in his original wordcount or it coincides with another slightly larger document than planned and I end up working over through at lea... See more This is how it goes. "We have a 50,000 word document. Could you translate part of it?" Ok, but I have another project and would like to have a weekend off - so I could take about x000 words" The file arrives - it's either more words, more difficult, the PM did not include the full and partial matches in his original wordcount or it coincides with another slightly larger document than planned and I end up working over through at least part of the weekend. So it's not always clear it's a weekend job, it just turns out that way. I think I would charge extra for weekend jobs, but most translations are longer (legal or technical documents anyway) and the agency often (slyly) sends the documents on a Friday 'so you can have a look'. So what do I do, afraid to miss a deadline or wanting to know how quick (or slow) the document 'translates'? Yes. I start during the weekend. Another thing to be aware of! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Céline Odo 
France
Local time: 02:21
English to French
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| I don't agree about agencies | Aug 13, 2005 |
[quote]Russell Gillis wrote:
My experience is that with almost all agencies, they will pay a standard rate, regardless of the urgency. If you don't accept the rate, it will go to the next translator down the line.
quote]
I don't agree, the agencies I work with fix a standard rate for normal translation. Each time they offered me a job to be done during the week-end/bank holiday I was able to charge an extra fee and I didn't have to negociate too long for this. I've worked for two years in-house myself and I can say that agencies charge their customers for week-end work, so it's fair they pay the extra fee to the translators who are the ones that actually work during the week-end.
Now I think we must make the difference between working during week-end because the agency/customer gives you a 8 hours job on Friday evening to be delivered on monday first thing and working during the week end because you accepted two different jobs on friday for monday whose individual deadlines didn't require you work on saturday or sunday.
| | | | wonita (X)
China
Local time: 22:21
Because I only take rush or weekend jobs from regular clients, I don't charge them extra.
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