Capping the attendance rate

[Linda Mullen]

Had a request to cap the attendance at X amount per day from a national firm.  I don't want to use numbers, but let's just say it wouldn't cover a full day. I said I wouldn't take the job if the attendance was capped.  Wondering if this is happening with anyone else? 

[Carol A.]

Wow, Margie!  So you can go to a job and not have it ordered?  I couldn't imagine that.  Now I feel bad for complaining, LOL.  You're absolutely right, the job is hard and instead of rates going up, they're going down or staying the same, and it's sad.  We all work so hard to make a perfect record, and we don't get paid enough, that's for sure!  By the way, I read your blog, and I love it!

[Margie Kruse]

Yeah, Carol, that's exactly right.  Growing up in the Chicago industry and having nothing to compare it with, I didn't know it was different until I started meeting other reporters from other states at National conventions.  So we can do all the travel and pay parking downtown and pay for daycare and end up with a loss for the day. 

I'm so glad to hear you say that rates are going down to reporters.  99.9 percent of the private emails I get after a blog post are from reporters who say that their rates are, indeed, going down.  99.9 percent of the posts I see on forums support it.  But there's this .01 percent out there that argues vehemently that the national companies are great. 

My next blog speaks to the issue of pimping.  The pimps are getting an increasingly larger share of our back-breaking efforts.  I'm an owner and I still report.  So I have, I hope, credibility on both sides of the issue.  And at the end of the day, I side with reporters.  I'm a reporter's reporter.  I market my business for the benefit of reporters and clients -- it's a balancing act.

I hope we're all here to still blog, e-chat, post to forums in years to come because we are a dying breed of highly specialized, highly skilled artisans who are keepers of the record.  We all possess this skill that is amazingly difficult to attain, and yet nonskilled folks are pimping us. 

I can assure that I feel reporters are never paid enough for all the sacrifices we make and the incredible stress the exacting standards of the record place squarely on our shoulders!

[Carol A.]

I work for a small agency, and we are losing work daily from the big national companies!  I love my agency, and I told her I am going down with the ship.  She's a wonderful owner, she pays me every week, and I love her clients.  I don't want to work for a big national agency since I heard stories of having to take a rate cut, no appearance fees, some even have no copies.  I will admit these are stories I heard, not sure if they are all true.  Some attorneys are upset they can't use our agency because we are not on their list.  They hate it because they love my work.  I can't wait to read the PIMP blog!!!  By the way, my agency owner is a reporter, too, and sides with us all the time, I love that!

[Margie Kruse]

Well, you tell your owner, Carol, that I love her and I'm proud of her dedication to our industry.  I don't think one should be allowed to own a court reporting agency who is not licensed to report and has had years of experience.     

[Margie Kruse]

Linda:

"Had a request to cap the attendance at X amount per day from a national firm.  I don't want to use numbers, but let's just say it wouldn't cover a full day. I said I wouldn't take the job if the attendance was capped.  Wondering if this is happening with anyone else?"

Yes.  In Chicago reporters have told me that there are insurance company deals with the appearance has been either severely discounted or taken away all together, along with a reduced original rate.  Additionally, there is work in Chicago that is contracted with local governmental entities for severely discounted rates.  This done by an agency that is not reporter-owned.  I don't get it.  Words are words and they can be hard to transcribe due to the circumstances of the job.  I wonder if the discounters ever consider taking a pay cut for their work? 

[Carol A.]

Exactly how it is here in New York.

 

"I wonder if the discounters ever consider taking a pay cut for their work."  GREAT STATEMENT!!!