| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Poll: Do you grant discounts for large projects? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you grant discounts for large projects?".
This poll was originally submitted by CHAKIB ROULA. View the poll results »
| | | | Mary Worby 
United Kingdom
Local time: 03:28
German to English
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No, I don't. If anything I find large projects more inconvenient as they effectively render me unavailable to most of my customers for extended periods. I see no reason to offer discounts.
| | | | inkweaver
Germany
Local time: 04:28
French to German
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Depends on the customer. If a very good client asks me for a discount I may be willing to negotiate.
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 04:28
Spanish to English
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inkweaver wrote:
Depends on the customer. If a very good client asks me for a discount I may be willing to negotiate.
I'm usually willing to negotiate too... and sometimes even give discounts without being asked if I happen to feel generous or grateful.
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Julian Holmes
Japan
Local time: 11:28
Member (2011)
Japanese to English
| Yes but it depends | Feb 5, 2013 |
Because close to 100% of the work I do is technical translation -- manuals -- which I do in Trados and each Trados project has its own rates for different matches. I am not going to give a discount on top of varying match rates for a particular job.
However, there are exceptions to this rule. For example, if the work is regular from a particular customer and content is going to be similar from month to month, and I am the "designated hitter" then I will consider accept... See more Because close to 100% of the work I do is technical translation -- manuals -- which I do in Trados and each Trados project has its own rates for different matches. I am not going to give a discount on top of varying match rates for a particular job.
However, there are exceptions to this rule. For example, if the work is regular from a particular customer and content is going to be similar from month to month, and I am the "designated hitter" then I will consider accepting a more "competitive" rate.
The advantage of large projects is that you become familiar with content quickly and get into overdrive very fast.
You end up looking at the text, understanding it almost immediately and then "writing" the words instead of "translating" them per se. When a large project can be anywhere in the several 100's of pages, they become quite profitable.  ▲ Collapse
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No. My time has a price, and long assignments mean that no other job can be taken during the time spent on the job.
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I don't give discounts on the size of the project alone.
Now and then bottom feeders approach me with a small job, telling me that if I can give them a good discount on that one, they'll have a long series of huge jobs at full rate for me. If I ever were foolish enough to believe that, I'd be out of (the translation) business decades ago.
As a rule, I don't give discounts merely for the asking. My rates are fair and competitive. If I gave such discounts, my initial esti... See more I don't give discounts on the size of the project alone.
Now and then bottom feeders approach me with a small job, telling me that if I can give them a good discount on that one, they'll have a long series of huge jobs at full rate for me. If I ever were foolish enough to believe that, I'd be out of (the translation) business decades ago.
As a rule, I don't give discounts merely for the asking. My rates are fair and competitive. If I gave such discounts, my initial estimate would be an attempted rip-off.
However I do give discounts for large projects that will span over a few months, usually if: 1. Top priority is NOT required, i.e. if the deadline reasonably lets me take any full-rate paying jobs while this one is under way; and 2) Intermediate payments are scheduled, either in advance or immediately after partial deliveries. This is how I translate books. ▲ Collapse
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Mary Worby wrote:
No, I don't. If anything I find large projects more inconvenient as they effectively render me unavailable to most of my customers for extended periods. I see no reason to offer discounts.
+1
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The time lapse between being paid for the earlier part of a large project is far greater than that for a short project. Look at it that way and consider whether you should be giving a discount. There are plenty of other reasons not to as well.
| | | | Tim Drayton
Cyprus
Local time: 05:28
Turkish to English
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I would prefer not to, unless a lot of repetition is involved, but times are hard and I have currently managed to land two weeks' worth of work by granting a 20% volume discount. I am happy to be working rather than sitting twiddling my thumbs.
| | | | | Absolutely no | Feb 5, 2013 |
I find the big jobs just as demanding and time-consuming as any other.
I am normally fully booked with smaller jobs for regular clients, so I turn lower-paid work down.
Why give a discount if it means turning down better paid work?
A discount only makes sense if the job is taking up spare capacity, so obviously, a translator who was not normally working full time would find it better than not working at all.
Promises of more large volumes (at discou... See more I find the big jobs just as demanding and time-consuming as any other.
I am normally fully booked with smaller jobs for regular clients, so I turn lower-paid work down.
Why give a discount if it means turning down better paid work?
A discount only makes sense if the job is taking up spare capacity, so obviously, a translator who was not normally working full time would find it better than not working at all.
Promises of more large volumes (at discount rates??) make even less sense. Then the client wants smaller jobs at the 'usual' rate too, and everyone says rates for translation are abysmal...
I am in this to make a living. My normal rates don't bring in a high income compared with other professionals where I live.
So I am far more likely to give a discount on a small, easy job for a regular client if I am going to give discounts at all.
[Edited at 2013-02-05 09:14 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Generally not | Feb 5, 2013 |
I don't understand why clients seem to expect a freelancer to be prepared to work for a longer period of time at a lower rate - the larger the job, the more money you stand to lose by working at a lower rate, naturally, not to mention the work you have to turn down from other sources.
There have been occasions when I have agreed to a discount for a job of over, say, 30k words, but this was because the text was particularly easy and pretty repetitive rather than because of the volume itself... See more I don't understand why clients seem to expect a freelancer to be prepared to work for a longer period of time at a lower rate - the larger the job, the more money you stand to lose by working at a lower rate, naturally, not to mention the work you have to turn down from other sources.
There have been occasions when I have agreed to a discount for a job of over, say, 30k words, but this was because the text was particularly easy and pretty repetitive rather than because of the volume itself. ▲ Collapse
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| The cost of availability | Feb 5, 2013 |
Victoria Burns wrote:
I don't understand why clients seem to expect a freelancer to be prepared to work for a longer period of time at a lower rate - the larger the job, the more money you stand to lose by working at a lower rate, naturally, not to mention the work you have to turn down from other sources.
It's the same reason why clients actually should pay more if, say, coming out of the blue, they suddenly ask you to deliver your full capacity over a 24-hour period. They won't be paying for your 'extra' effort, as you'll be working at your rated capacity, however they'll be paying for the disruption to your schedule: you'll have to set aside any other jobs you have going (and later work more and/or faster on them); perhaps you'll have to order meals to be delivered instead of cooking them yourself; maybe you'll get a cab to take your kids to school instead of driving them there, etc.
One large job will let you allocate your time properly, perhaps working on it during a rainy weekend, so you can go to the beach, say, on a Wednesday, if you wish.
If the deadline is far away, it is possible to take fully-paying jobs in the meantime, do them, and then resume your behemoth.
However you shouldn't allow such a job to let you starve, financially. Just as smaller jobs get you faster payments, a big job should provide you with adequate cash inflow to keep going while you do it. If a large job will solidly take up all your available hours, and you'll only get paid after a complete delivery, instead of a discount, a hefty premium on rates would be more adequate.
| | | | | As a rule I do not give discounts | Feb 5, 2013 |
If asked, I might consider a discount depending on several factors, namely client, language, deadline, subject matter...
| | | | | Interesting question | Feb 5, 2013 |
I've been thinking about this quite a lot recently, and wondering whether higher basic rates with discounts for longer jobs (so long as they don't involve difficult formatting or any other time-consuming inconveniences) might be the way to go.
Obviously, I understand that many people disagree with this approach, and I fully adhere to the principle that a translator shouldn't be paid less per hour for a longer job than a shor... See more I've been thinking about this quite a lot recently, and wondering whether higher basic rates with discounts for longer jobs (so long as they don't involve difficult formatting or any other time-consuming inconveniences) might be the way to go.
Obviously, I understand that many people disagree with this approach, and I fully adhere to the principle that a translator shouldn't be paid less per hour for a longer job than a shorter one.
Personally, echoing Julian's comments, I find that I can get more done per hour (to the same quality) on a long job than a short one. Whether a word is 400 words long or 40,000 words long, I have to read around the end-client company and the subject, and I'm almost sure that I won't look up 100 times as much terminology for the long job than I will for the short one, because once I get into the subject the same ideas keep coming back.
So discounts for long jobs could make economic sense, so long as the deadlines for long jobs don't prevent me being available for shorter ones for other clients, and the initial rates are high enough that the discount doesn't make the long-job rates unreasonably low.
Edited for typo
[Edited at 2013-02-05 09:53 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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