| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | rush jobs, without rush rate.. Thread poster: Bruno Depascale
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| This happens because so many people don't mind | Jan 17, 2016 |
Bruno Depascale wrote:
... 99% of the times they don't state it is a rush job (they simply assume that translating more than 5000 words per day is normal), nor apply a rush rate, while I am 100% sure that they more than double their rate to the final client. Have you also experienced this behavior?
If a client wants a rush job, I can perfectly understand this and I am also sure he/she is willing to pay a surcharge for this. But this is rarely reflected on the translator side. Am I wrong?
Or it is a common practice? Thank you in advance for your opinions.
In earlier days, it was normal that a surcharge would apply in such cases, and everyone expected it (agency/end customer) and was ready to pay it.
Nowadays, as so many translators work a) for peanuts and b) don't apparently care if they have to work on sundays/holidays or however in unsocial hours, nobody anymore, at least agencies, is ready to pay more (end customers dealing directly with a translator are certainly quite more sensible). If you don't want to do it without a surcharge, there are dozens of people out there who will happily accept.
It's as simple as that: we owe this to those generous fellow translators and there is no way back, unfortunately! Not that I am keen on rush jobs, but I used to get, time ago, quite regularly some weekend jobs throughout a year, or a reasonable amount of text to translate within a few hours upon request, which is still a rush job, as you have to drop down everything else and start straightway. Now, it may happen not even once a year (but I always get a rush surcharge).
And, yes, you are right: agencies still DO apply a surcharge to their customers - if it is a REAL rush job and not the scenario described by Kevin and Edward. In this case, they possibly can't
| | | | Bruno Depascale 
Italy
Local time: 12:44
Member (2009)
English to Italian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | there is really no way out?! | Jan 17, 2016 |
Christel Zipfel wrote: Nowadays, as so many translators work a) for peanuts and b) don't apparently care if they have to work on sundays/holidays or however in unsocial hours, nobody anymore, at least agencies, is ready to pay more (end customers dealing directly with a translator are certainly quite more sensible). If you don't want to do it without a surcharge, there are dozens of people out there who will happily accept. And, yes, you are right: agencies still DO apply a surcharge to their customers - if it is a REAL rush job and not the scenario described by Kevin and Edward. In this case, they possibly can't
Thank you for your input Christel,
so, from your point of view there is no way out from this?
I mean, we could either refuse a job or accept to work during the weekends and overwork during the weekdays?
If there is a single thing that I don't understand about translation agencies is the fact that they are putting constant pressure on translators. And no matter how long you have worked for them, they keep putting on the translators an undue pressure. There isn't really a way to deal efficiently with this behavior, without losing clients and potential interesting jobs?
[Edited at 2016-01-17 20:07 GMT]
| | | | Bruno Depascale
Italy
Local time: 12:44
Member (2009)
English to Italian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | John the builder..a familiar story | Jan 17, 2016 |
Philippe Etienne wrote:
I don't offer my builder more money when I require him to have my bathroom renovated twice as quickly as what he anticipated. The builder will tell me that yes, he can have it done more quickly, but given that he's going to do overtime and night/weekend work, he will have to charge me more. Which I find perfectly normal. I will then decide whether I am prepared to shell out more money to have a bathroom earlier than expected.
Philippe
Thank you for your input Philippe.
I perfectly understand your point of view.
However, please try to think about the following situation and tell me if it sounds familiar to you:
You have contacted a builder named John to have your bathroom renovated. John is a self-employed worker, so he has to work for different regular clients in order to make a living. He likes his job and has acquired different regular clients over the years. However, his regular clients (and new clients too) keep asking him to be extremely fast in building houses. Let's say 50% of the offers he receive require him to to renovate a bathroom in a single day instead of the usual 3 days required. John would like to propose a more extended delivery, but he knows for experience that the client has already asked 10 more builders to perform the job that quickly.
My question is as simple as this: why do clients keep asking John to work under so much pressure? There is really no way out?!
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