I heartily agree with your first paragraph. You've listed many good reasons why our peers should insist on receiving higher fees, and I'm sure we could all come up with several more. As you suspected, though, your suggested solution presents some problems, as the others have already indicated.
The biggest issue is that we aren't employees who are entitled to create unions, we're independent contractors, free to charge whatever fees we wish, whether it be less or more. When separate business entities try to establish minimum fees, it's considered price fixing and is illegal. That's just a fact. And the feds have already proved that they do care (or at least once did), and are willing to call it out, as they've done before.
However, you've made some recommendations that don't require an organization or enforcement (however one would manage to do that...) of certain fees. You're asking for people to set standards in determining who they work for and for how much, which I fully endorse and have been encouraging here for way more than a decade. But all everyone "needs" to do is understand that an organization isn't required for that to happen.
There's nothing stopping us from deciding to start today doing that on our own. I know that because I've done it, as have many others on this forum. If a company doesn't meet my standards, I just say no. Period. Simple as that. Did I lose some clients as a result? Of course. But I found other companies to work for and realized that with a higher profit margin, it didn't take as much work to net similar results. If more people would decide to do that, we might be able to drive some of the bad apples out of this field - except that there will always be newbies who fall for it.
So no one will ever get everyone (or even a majority) to come to an agreement on this issue. But we can keep raising awareness that signing services can only play us against each other if we let them. As long as we do a great job, conduct ourselves with responsibility and professionalism, there will be some business for us. If it's not enough, then we can always choose to pursue something else with greater potential. [And I believe that's an option that should stay on the table, unless you're planning to retire soon.]
But we can only control what we can control - which is ourselves and our own decisions. Organizing won't change that. We've seen someone (usually a person who has never bothered posting here before...) propose similar ideas about organizing many times in the past, probably at least once a year. I can only think of one that was able to gain any traction, but that eventually ended up going nowhere, like all the others.
I applaud your intentions and would love to see you change some minds about what standards we should hold ourselves to when deciding whether or not to accept an assignment, but your request for a copy of an NNA SA certification in order to get access to the group was off-putting to me, sounding too much like data mining. With that requirement, you'll exclude some of the most experienced and influential folks on this forum. (You could always retain administrative control of a FB group and delete anyone who turns out to be other than who they presented themselves to be.) I'll be one of those who won't be sending a copy of my 'certification' to you (or to anyone else).
|
| Messages in this Thread |
|  Deserving of Professional treatment - Darnell/FL on 9/14/20 10:22am |
|  Re: Deserving of Professional treatment -  Cheryl Elliott on 9/14/20 10:31am |
|  Re: Deserving of Professional treatment - Darnell/FL on 9/14/20 10:42am |
|  One quick question - couple comments - Linda_H/FL on 9/14/20 10:48am |
|  Sadly, there is little interest in participating in robust - grapebed on 9/14/20 11:44am |
|  The comment was not aimed at any one person in - Linda_H/FL on 9/14/20 12:07pm |
|  Herding cats - Luckydog on 9/14/20 1:20pm |
| Re: I wasn’t called on, but other NOTROTERS both past and, - Carolyn Bodley on 9/14/20 4:55pm |
|  Re: I wasn’t called on, but other NOTROTERS both past and, - Luckydog on 9/14/20 6:22pm |
|  He's forming a group on FB - not exactly the way to - Linda_H/FL on 9/14/20 6:43pm |
|  Re: He - Luckydog on 9/14/20 7:54pm |
| Re: I wasn’t called on, but other NOTROTERS both past and, - Negrete on 9/15/20 10:19am |
| Re: I wasn’t called on, but other NOTROTERS both past and, - Luckydog on 9/15/20 10:36am |
|  Re: Now that there are more NSAs, all the more reason - Carolyn Bodley on 9/15/20 12:44pm |
|  Re: Now that there are more NSAs, all the more reason - Luckydog on 9/15/20 2:11pm |
|  Re: Now that there are more NSAs, all the more reason - Carolyn Bodley on 9/15/20 2:55pm |
|  Re: Now that there are more NSAs, all the more reason - Luckydog on 9/16/20 11:56am |
 | Yes, we are "Deserving of Profession Treatment" - JanetK_CA on 9/14/20 5:33pm |
| Re: Yes, we are "Deserving of Profession Treatment" - Luckydog on 9/14/20 6:25pm |
| Clean house, dump the losers, don't work for < $100 - Cheryl Elliott on 9/15/20 8:15am |
| Re: Deserving of Professional treatment - Carolyn Bodley on 9/15/20 8:52am |
| He is a "Signing Service" - - Linda_H/FL on 9/15/20 9:45am |
| Re: He is a "Signing Service" - - Cheryl Elliott on 9/15/20 10:28am |
| Awww, Cheryl, please don't poke that bear! :) n/m - Linda_H/FL on 9/15/20 10:35am |
| Howard... - Belinda/OR on 9/15/20 4:30pm |
| Re: Since having a registered Signing Service since 2014, - Carolyn Bodley on 9/15/20 1:15pm |
| This will never work and why... - Luckydog on 9/15/20 3:01pm |
| Why certification by NNA required? I have been... - Belinda/OR on 9/15/20 4:29pm |
| Same for me Belinda... n/m - Linda_H/FL on 9/15/20 4:32pm |
| For the sake of full transparency, he has responded - Linda_H/FL on 9/15/20 6:42pm |
