RATE DETERMINATION
* Invoicing: All invoices are itemized and contain the time, number of lines and complete description in detail of the work performed. NO "One Amount" invoice leaving you wondering what the charges covered.
- Hourly Rate Timing: The various steps involved in completing a job; i.e. transcription, typing, scanning, insertion of tables, images or financial data, enhancement of photos, data entry, internet research, special formatting, saving to PDF format or other phases of the job are individually timed using a special work timing computer program that tabulates a dated, line by line, minute by minute record of each phase of the work done. When the job is complete, this record is printed and used to itemize your invoice. You will know exactly how much time was spent on each step necessary to complete the job.
- By-the-Typed-Line or Data Entry Field Rate: The number of lines and/or fields, rate and total along with a description of the document worked on will be listed on the invoice so you can see exactly how many lines or fields you were charged for. Lines are calculated using the Properties Statistics feature in Word. Fields are calculated in Excel.
- Our By-the-Typed-Line rates are based upon hundreds of hours of historical data compiled regarding the time it takes to complete each of the various types of services we offer at our basic hourly rate. The more complex and difficult the type of job to be done, the higher the per-typed-line rate. (See additional explanation below under transcription), The number of typed lines is determined by referring to the Properties Section of a Microsoft Word document. The advantage to you is that even if the document is single-spaced, spaced 1 1/2 lines or double-spaced, or if a page contains only a few lines or is laid out for printing on legal sized paper, the typing/ transcription charge will be the same.
- For explanation about our By-the-Field rate for Data Entry, see below.
- You are ONLY charged for the ACTUAL TIME EXPENDED to do your job. NO guesswork or wondering how the time you were charged for was spent or how many lines or fields you were charged for.
* Industry Standards: Our rates are based upon widely recognized industry standards for our area.
* Document Specifications: Our rates are based upon using an Ariel, Times New Roman, Verdana or Helvetica 12 point font, 1” margins, single spaced, 8 ½” x 11” page with portrait orientation.
NOTE: Other services that quote a by-the-typed-page rate usually quote based on double spacing NOT single spacing as we do. Quoting by the pages that are double spaced or 1 1/2 spaces will mean more pages in the document. That's why we charge by the typed line no matter what the spacing or number of pages. The only per-page rate we charge is for printing.
* Average number of lines on a typed page: A completely FULL 8 ½” x 11” page from top to bottom will normally contain from 42 to 46 typed lines depending upon the number of paragraphs. (TEXT ONLY. This does NOT include tables, images, graphs, columns, etc.)
* Average number of lines of typing per handwritten page: 1 to 2 handwritten lines on an 8 ½” x 11” legal pad equal approximately 1 typed line. 1.75 to 2 handwritten pages will equal approximately one typed page. These figures will vary depending upon the size of the handwriting and if the writing in inside the margins or the entire page.
* Transcription time: One hour of dictation/recording can take from 3 to 6 hours to transcribe. Transcription time depends upon the speed of the person(s) talking, clarity, number of speakers, background noise, recording quality and complexity of the topic i.e. medical terminology, financial data etc. Our per-typed-line charges are based upon the normal amount of time it takes to transcribe "clear" dictation/recordings of certain types of documents i.e. minutes of meetings, speeches, interviews, one-person, etc.. We cannot give a firm per-typed-line charge until we actually hear the recording for the following reasons:
Problems that can affect transcription time and the By-the-Typed-Line Rate:
- Recordings on cell phones may cut out from time to time or have a lot of background noise and/or static.
- When someone is using a speaker phone and is not close enough to the speaker there can be an echo effect or we can't make out what is said.
- If there is more than one person talking at the same time (over top of one another).
- Someone speaking too close to the speaker/microphone can cause distortion.
- A person using a handheld recorder may begin speaking BEFORE the recording begins OR continue speaking AFTER the recording stops. This is caused by not pushing the Record button soon enough or releasing it too soon.
- The person or persons speaking have a distinct accent. People who talk too fast tend to "munch" their words making if difficult if not impossible to understand what was said.
If your transcriptionist has to listen to the same portion of a recording over and over in an attempt to make out was was said because of any of the above or other reasons, this influences the per-typed-line charge.
* Data Entry Fields/Records: One record may consist of many fields. If you want to estimate how much one record will cost you, multiple the per field cost times the number of fields in your record. Example of a record would be: Last name, First name, Street Address, Apartment/Suite, City, State, Zip code = 7 fields X .05 per field = .35 cents per record. If you have 100 records, the cost would be $35 plus a $5.00 setup fee. Layout and merging with a primary file i.e. form letter, label, envelope for mass mailing will be additional. Records can contain phone numbers, cell phone numbers, email addresses, fax numbers, internet web site URL's, notes etc. We can also sort the entire file by any of these fields you choose.