| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Why should volume discounts exist? Thread poster: Bill Greendyk
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Kevin Fulton 
United States
Local time: 10:48
German to English
| Discount on your terms | Jan 22, 2003 |
Be careful about holding out for too much money! The client might find a cheaper translator.
There are a lot of advantages to having a long-term steady project. You\'ll be guaranteed a steady income flow over the next several months and you won\'t have to do any marketing. The project is quite large, and even if it\'s spread out over several translators, it will take a long time.
Literary translations tend to pay less than industrial jobs (this project c... See more Be careful about holding out for too much money! The client might find a cheaper translator.
There are a lot of advantages to having a long-term steady project. You\'ll be guaranteed a steady income flow over the next several months and you won\'t have to do any marketing. The project is quite large, and even if it\'s spread out over several translators, it will take a long time.
Literary translations tend to pay less than industrial jobs (this project counts as a literary translation: religious issues don\'t have the same urgency as financial statements), so they should have a longer deadline.
Work something out with the client. Set a realistic goal (for you) which will allow you to accommodate your better-paying clients while still permitting you to to work on this job. If you can, for example, churn out 15K words/week, tell this particular client that you can do 5K-7K words/week, which will still provide an OK income flow while still permitting time for better paying jobs. On slow weeks, you might be able to grind out 10K words on this job, which is still better than cleaning your kitchen.
Kevin ▲ Collapse
| | | | Marc P (X)
Local time: 16:48
German to English
+ ...
| Why should volume discounts exist? | Jan 22, 2003 |
I offer volume discounts. I do so for a number of reasons, some of which I don\'t think have been mentioned here.
Firstly, \"(high-)volume discount\" sounds better than \"low-volume surcharge\".
Secondly, I find it inefficient to switch between texts. An extra hour spent on the text I have been translating for the last four days will be much productive than an hour spent on a new text. Perhaps this is just my psychology.
Thirdly, re... See more I offer volume discounts. I do so for a number of reasons, some of which I don\'t think have been mentioned here.
Firstly, \"(high-)volume discount\" sounds better than \"low-volume surcharge\".
Secondly, I find it inefficient to switch between texts. An extra hour spent on the text I have been translating for the last four days will be much productive than an hour spent on a new text. Perhaps this is just my psychology.
Thirdly, research. I don\'t think this has been mentioned yet. With highly complex subject matter, research may account for as much as 50% of the time spent on an order. Even though I restrict myself as far as possible to certain fields, I still come across texts on subjects (sub-sub-topics of \"my\" specializations) with which I\'m relatively unfamiliar. I read up on these to familiarize myself with them, and the amount of time I need to do that is not proportional to the length text.
Regarding volume discounts giving an unprofessional impression: I think there is some truth in this, but I think this is inevitable given that translations are sold by volume. I don\'t think that volume discounts necessarily make it any worse. (I feel differently about discounts for translation memory matches, incidentally. I find the logic behind those to be totally skewed.)
I don\'t see any likelihood of the established charging system changing in the foreseeable future, but were it to do so, firm quotations would probably be the best solution. Each job is different and the translator could then factor all the different considerations into the price. Still, I can\'t see it becoming the norm.
The most important thing in my opinion is that translators should determine their own price structure. Discounts are acceptable for any reason if the translator thinks they are warranted.
Several years ago, a company called me wanting a translation. The first question was whether I gave discounts for larger volumes. This was before the customer had even asked me my price! At that time I didn\'t give volume discounts, and we had a not very fruitful discussion about my reasons for not doing so. The customer then told me the length of the text - 15 pages. He had deluded himself into thinking firstly that his was a large job, and secondly that he would get such a large discount that it would make my normal price irrelevant. When customers are as ignorant as this, there is no point expecting them to understand whatever pricing structure you have decided upon.
Marc ▲ Collapse
| | | | sylver
Local time: 22:48
English to French
| What are volume discounts ? | Jan 29, 2003 |
I would overall agree with Marc in accepting \"volume discounts\", but the real question, IMO, is not \"why volume discount?\", but \"What are volume discounts?\"
Should a client ask me if I offer \"volume discounts\", I promptly say \"yes sir!\"...but it just happens that I do not have fixed rates, like many of us, by the way. So a discount compared to what?
The wording \"volume discount\" in my opinion, is simply something that I use for customers who... See more I would overall agree with Marc in accepting \"volume discounts\", but the real question, IMO, is not \"why volume discount?\", but \"What are volume discounts?\"
Should a client ask me if I offer \"volume discounts\", I promptly say \"yes sir!\"...but it just happens that I do not have fixed rates, like many of us, by the way. So a discount compared to what?
The wording \"volume discount\" in my opinion, is simply something that I use for customers who do not understand the nature of translations.
There is no fixed price for translation, because every translation project is different from the next, and your situation different as well.
What I do is to evaluate each job on it\'s own, and agree upon a price that is fit for the project, considering all aspects.
If the client wants to hear about \"volume discount\", he either don\'t understand that there are no fixed prices to discount on, or it is his way to bargain the thing, which is OK. That\'s his job, as a buyer, to get the most for his employer\'s money.
I like better to talk about \"the cost of the project\". If the client wants to talk about \"volume discount\", fine. By the end of the day, either we agree on a price or we don\'t.
If a buyer insist on knowing \"how many percents discount\" he is getting (remember there is nothing really to compare it with), no problem, because, really, 0.12 euro per word is a \"50% discount\" from that job I did the other day at 0.24, isn\'t it?
Bottom line is understanding that somebody asking for a volume discount is not familiar with the actual scene in translations. If you feel safe about it, explain.
If you don\'t have the time to explain, or that it looks the guy won\'t get it, don\'t loose a client. Tell him that his project indeed deserve some consideration, being \"big\", and that it therefore deserves a volume discount of 30%, which is a rate of ... whatever is the best rate you can offer.
In my opinion, the advantages of having a large project are real, but, it all has to be evaluated in regards to the actual circumstances.
I would probably not take 8 millions words at 0.04, because, I can\'t outsource anything at that rate, and well, if I was so concerned about job stability, I would be a in house translator somewhere, wouldn\'t I? (The only reason I would take it at that rate would be the leverage that can be gained by CATs, but I would have to assess it first, pretty damm well)
My 2 cents...per word. Enjoy, that\'s a 88 Euro of free prosting on Proz 
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| | | | | This is what I tell such a client | Apr 14, 2003 |
If one purchases an industrial product, which involves a die in its manufacture, one can expect some discount for bulk orders of that piece. The same die is used for manufacturing any number of pieces and with the economy of scale one can have the piece rate reduced and a portion thereof is passed on to the consumer. But take care, the die by itself is a costly thing and expert die cutters get their weight in gold! In translation activity however each word is like one die and where is the volume... See more If one purchases an industrial product, which involves a die in its manufacture, one can expect some discount for bulk orders of that piece. The same die is used for manufacturing any number of pieces and with the economy of scale one can have the piece rate reduced and a portion thereof is passed on to the consumer. But take care, the die by itself is a costly thing and expert die cutters get their weight in gold! In translation activity however each word is like one die and where is the volume coming in here? Well this is what I tell a potential client. Being an engineer myself, I do use technical words to illustrate my points. Even if he does not agree, you gain in terms of escaping an unreasonable client who may not pay you even the agreed upon lower amount at the end of the day. ▲ Collapse
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| Translation is not wholesale! | May 1, 2003 |
First off:
Let\'s say these 8 million words would take five years to do by yourself. The equation is simple: by giving a 50% \"volume discount\" to your client, you are agreeing that you will work for two and a half years - FOR FREE dammit!
Let\'s take a closer look at the definition of \"volume discount\". Company A makes shoes. Each pair of shoes costs 6$ to make, all expenses included. Company A wants to make 40% profit on their sales. Therefore, they... See more First off:
Let\'s say these 8 million words would take five years to do by yourself. The equation is simple: by giving a 50% \"volume discount\" to your client, you are agreeing that you will work for two and a half years - FOR FREE dammit!
Let\'s take a closer look at the definition of \"volume discount\". Company A makes shoes. Each pair of shoes costs 6$ to make, all expenses included. Company A wants to make 40% profit on their sales. Therefore, they would need to sell their shoes at 10$ a pair. Company B asks company A if they can get a volume discount if they buy twice as many shoes as usual. You can already tell that company B is planning on selling the shoes on special, thereby selling more of them in less time and making more money. Let\'s say company A agrees and offers the shoes at 8$ instead of 10$, thereby losing a part of their profits which is now of 25% instead of 40%. But that\'s OK, because just like their customers, they will also make more money faster. Profit is profit, after all. There you go, everybody is happy.
Now let\'s transpose the same idea into the world of translation. If you wanted to be able to afford a volume discount of 50%, you would have to produce twice the quantity of merchandise in the same amount of time. Can you do that? I don\'t think so.
Bottom line, the bigger the volume, the more work you have to perform, the more time and effort invested. Are you really going to give that away for free??? This is your career we are talking about, this is what you totally invested yourself into for years of studying and struggling to get ends to meet. Is it really worth it?
There is no such thing in translation as profit, and therefore, there should be no such thing as \"volume discount\". Think about it this way: if you have a huge court case that will take two years and hundreds of hours of legal research to do, would your lawyer agree to give you a \"volume discount\"? To hell no! He would ask for a bonus, instead! And he will tell you right to your face that this better be good because he is losing clients over this.
One last thing before you all nod off. Who is supplying a service? It is you. Therefore, YOU are the supplier and the other party is the client. This means that it\'s YOUR terms or NO terms. Trust me, the last time I told a client that I was not going to wait two months and a half before getting my 200$, they revised their \"invoicing policies\" and paid me within 7 days from delivery. They did not shy away, they ended up getting real.
Oh, and YOUR job is not to spread the word. If they so much want to spread it themselves, THEY should be willing to pay the price - not YOU. Your concern is advancing in your career and paying your bills, not the spreading of the word.
And trust me, when you tell your client that you just cannot do the job at that price and that fast, if they do try to find someone else to do it, it will not be long before they come crawling back to you, either because they will not find someone faster/at a better price or because once they see the quality of the transltion \"on special\", they will be so traumatized they will change their mind in the wink of an eye. Don\'t worry, you have the upper hand. ▲ Collapse
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