Posted by TRG_wy on 4/21/08 10:23am
Msg #244258

fuel service surcharge

I just read to earlier post about how much it costs to fill the tank these days and I feel the pain too.

It used to be that we pretty much had a 30 mile round trip buffer built into the fee and the SS expected that.

My average is roughly 27 miles round trip for local closing. That equates to $13.09 given the federal mileage allowance of 48.5 cents per mile for 2007.

All these lowball "offers" are very offensive to me personally given the professional service they demand and what they are willing to pay today. At this point I am not reducing my fee at all, let them call the non-professional at a reduced initial fee and I am happy to go do the resigning due to multiple errors.

I am also going to start attaching a "fuel service surcharge" of $10 to my base fee; following suit of the airlines, trucking industry, FedEx and UPS. Expecting me to just eat this huge increase in my cost of doing business and waiting 30-60 to get paid is too much to expect. I stand firm against those who refuse to pay for no signs, RTCs or other things not under my control. This fuel service surcharge falls into the same relm as my required reimbursement for printing costs and any extended mileage allowances. By the way, I should add that my extended mileage allowance already takes into account the fuel service surchage. We are very rural up here and when I do have to travel great distances time and mileage are already factored in.

So, I think that we should seriously consider employing the " fuel service surcharge".

Reply by GregM/ME on 4/21/08 10:35am
Msg #244262

I agree with you TRG. It's the same up here in Maine. I refuse to lower my fee's to meet these companies low-ball demands. I also don't agree with "something is better than nothing" idea of accepting these sob stories from the SS that are still getting their fees and trying to keep them to make up for the short fall of business. I know what my time is worth and it's not $10.00 an hour.

Reply by RickinVA on 4/21/08 10:46am
Msg #244266

I think you are taking too much for granted. The "federal milage allowance" does not equate to your actual cost. According to the AAA, several years ago the average cost of operating a vehiucle was a dollar a mile. If you are interested in breaking even on driving costs, the federal allowance isn't a good reference. For gas costs alone,you could use this site: http://www.unfocusedbrain.com/projects/miles_per_dollar/
then add the myriad of other costs based on the number of miles you drive; insurance, cost of maintenance, cost of the vehicle, taxes and tags, etc.

Rick

Reply by WDMD on 4/21/08 11:11am
Msg #244271

I accepted a signing last Friday. When the confirmation arrived there was a form to fill out, which you had to agree to, listing 8 different ways a signer could forfeit their fee. That to me is a bigger gamble than a no sign with a trip fee. One of the ways to forfeit the fee was if you acted "unprofessional" at the signing. How vague is that? If I complete the signing I expect full fee. With gas prices the way they are I'm not gambling with my fee. Told them to get someone else.

Reply by TRG_wy on 4/21/08 11:44am
Msg #244284

Kudos to you !!

I never "forfeit" my fees. If i perform my job I WILL get paid. (that little period should be a really BIG period)

Reply by CaliNotary on 4/21/08 11:58am
Msg #244289

I don't see anything wrong with doing this, BUT

I wouldn't recommend that you tell whoever is calling you that you're tacking on a fuel service surcharge. Just quote them the higher fee, there is no reason we have to give them any sort of breakdown of what our fee covers.

Reply by TRG_wy on 4/21/08 12:04pm
Msg #244290

Re: I don't see anything wrong with doing this, BUT

I agree.

They don't need to know how I calculate my basic fee and I have only had to explain my fee structure to a few who asked if I was a lawyer because of my fee. Then I just tell them I know of no lawyer that would close for the fee they wanted to pay anyway.

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 4/21/08 2:43pm
Msg #244315

Didn't add a fuel surcharge..

but I *DID* add $5.00 to my home-county signing fee and $10 to my other-county signing fee .. some of my "other county" signings, or make that MOST of my other county signings, are 80-100 miles round trip, sometimes not including package drop, so that adds another 30 miles rt...

Reply by JAM/CA on 4/21/08 6:32pm
Msg #244375

It's 50.5 cents a mile for 2008 n/m