Chris,

That's exactly my thinking. I don't think people tip often in my market (for anything). I also think they perceive the DJ/Caterer/Etc. as providing service and me as just providing a product. It's goofy.

Sounds like it's about the same for videographers everywhere, though.

mileage
 

I will be charging my next out of town wedding for mileage. I did one for no relocation charge and have to admit that I should have. Especially because it was a 2 hour drive. In any case, what do you charge for those events? I was thinking $1 per mile, which might cover gas and wear and tear. Currently I think the government allows a $0.48 deduction per mile as business expense. Is the remaining $0.50 / mile too little for the time necessary to pack the gear, drive, find the place, setup, and return?

jason

I was experimenting with $0.30 a mile this year. Our market already seems to have a hard time spending ANY money on video. Tacking on $400 (for hotel and gas) might be too much for a lot of our clientelle. Can't say for sure yet, though.

I'm going to go out on limb here and say I dislike the whole concept of tipping. I know most videographers don't expect to be tipped but I can see how it stings to see someone else get a couple of hundred bucks, not because of some superior service, but simply because "it's customary". Man, that's whacked. Heck, the whole concept of tipping is whacked. It just seem so arbitrary to me. Why does "serving" someone deserve any more special treatment than someone slaving away at a factory to make the clothes you wear? And why does a waiter get tipped for bringing me food, but not the guy at Sports Chalet for bringing me a pair of shoes to try on? I say we should just pay what we agreed to pay (at restaurant, a hotel, etc.) and the employee gets paid what he agreed to get paid. No more tipping!! Spread the word! Okay, sorry folks, end of rant :)

here in aus, tipping isnt customary.. in fact, its not a requirement or an expectation..

BUT its a nice gesture to give someone a tip if they provide good service.. wedding or otherwise..

usualy with weddings etc, as the punters arent paying tips are usually minimal.. on the flipside, a charging bar will usually yield tips as people are happy anyway so services are "emphasised"..

either way, i charge my customers.. my tips come when i can finish a 8 hour edit in 2 days... ;)

as for travel.. i have a set fee of $132 per hour or within 100kms of the city centre. Then i have another charge of $330 if i need accomodation.
Last year i did about 45 thousand ks with no charge..
that was dumb..
not anymore..

Tim,

Amen to that.


Peter,

Amen to that as well, lol.

There are many employees in service industries here in North America that don't get any wages at all (or are nominally paid so far below even normal statutory minimum wage levels because the worker is undocumented or the industry & job categories are exempt from coverage by the law that they might as well be zero), working exclusively for tips. In fact, there are some locations and industries - not all of them jobs on the shady side like exotic dancing, etc, either - where the workers not only don't receive any wages, they must kick-back part of their tips to the "employer" to pay for the privilege of working.

I haven't been doing weddings but I'd certainly consider it a normal business practice - whether for videography or any other contract vender - to bill for actual expenses plus travel etc when they exceed a certain level. Establish a reasonable radius of "local operations" around your primary business location, say 25-50 miles, and bill for all mileage outside that radius. Required hotel accomodation should certainly be a billable item plus a reasonable amount for per diem coverage of meals and incidentals for overnight travel. Back in the day when I was producing/directing some corporate video and we hired crews and gear from broadcast production houses for the shoots, the standard practice was portal-to-portal billing for the crew, the clock starting to tick when the truck pulled away from the loading dock and running until they returned so they got paid for travel time as well as time on location.

If you don't set up some policies like that you can find yourself in a situation like I was offered just last week (and declined) where the after-tax income netted from a job doesn't cover the direct costs of getting to and from the job-site.

we've only been tipped once, but it was a doozy. the groom gave us an envelope at the end of the reception. in it was a check for $500.