Re: Instituting rush charge for ad agency

"Jeremy Brett" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> Greetings:
>
> Can anyone here give some advice on instituting rush charges for a
> business? I work for a small advertising/public relations agency and
> we have several clients who often call us in a panic needing something
> done right away or within the next day or so. As a result we end up
> working insane hours to accommodate the requests into our already full
> schedule. One of our clients who does this the most used to work for
> an agency and actually told us she can't believe we don't charge her a
> rush charge.
>
> Is there any standard for rush charges, such as a percentage of the
> cost of the service, or a set fee?
>

Jeremy,

A lot of people ask about "standard fees". I think what is more important is
your costs in taking on such work. Do you have to pay employees overtime?
Pay additional charges to your suppliers or subcontractors for their part in
doing the rush work? Does it cost more money to run whatever equipment you
have during these extra hours? Or is it just you staying up late and getting
your work done? Do you want to encourage or discourage rush work? What if
charging additional money for rush work means that you loose one or two
clients, is that OK?

Its a good thing that you're evaluating how much or whether you should for
rush service. But I think that asking what others charge for the same
service is the wrong way to go.

Mike