stephen_f Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 With todays soaring gas prices, and me having to travel sometimes up to 100 miles round trip, I'm curious as to what other photographers charge for mileage. When I go a distance, I generally charge .37 cents a mile, and with gas being about $2.50 a gallon, thats not really cutting it. So, what do other/ you photographers charge per mileage. How much is too much to charge. Am I skinning my own hide. Any comments appriciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marshall Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 I'm not a wedding pro, so feel free to ignore my comments, but I think you'll have a hard time charging more than most of your customers get to expense for mileage, or it will simply look out of whack. You might be able to charge somehow for travel time or work it into the fee somehow, but a straight mileage number much above that will probably raise questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picturesque Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 I charge for travel time, not mileage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry_ Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 You need to make adjustment to your wedding 'package' price. Just as you would if film were to become a $7.00 or a $12.00 per roll expense throughout the U.S.A. (Some folks with digital equipment had their camera's drop from a tree...no film expense to include in the cost of covering a wedding at all...just hours in Photoshop tweaking their images.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliff_henry Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 I've been charging .50/mile, out of town, nothing in town, for past 18 months. May have to increase because of gas prices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al_kaplan1 Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 Fifty cents is reasonable. Just don't show up riding a moped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cpk Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 I charge $1/mile outside of my base city. Combo of time and gas... no one seems to mind paying it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
todd frederick Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 Al...you always seem to have the talent to put every issue into it's proper perspective! (^O^) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russ_butner___portland__or Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 Damn! I guess I won't need to wax the Vespa this weekend. Russ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
think27 Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 Time is money ;-) <p>I charge $48 per mile after one hour from my home. I've surprisingly often been hired to shoot 2-3 hours away!!! Trust me - I often wonder why? Quite a few down in Norfolk area... Go figure... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomweis Posted July 13, 2005 Share Posted July 13, 2005 $48/mile, Mary?! Geez, I wish I had a car just to be able to charge that much... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben_rubinstein___mancheste Posted July 13, 2005 Share Posted July 13, 2005 Wimps, you should see petrol prices in the UK... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
todd1664878707 Posted July 13, 2005 Share Posted July 13, 2005 OK, let's do a little math. As you said you are paying $2.5/gal. Would you consider raising your prices if the gas price was $1.5/gal? I assume not. So that's a difference of $1/gal. Don't know what kind of vehicle you drive, but if you are driving up to 100 miles round trip I assume that's mostly highway and we'll go with a MPG of 20. In order for you to go that 100 miles, you will use 5 gallons of gas. At at difference of $1/gal, that's only 5 bucks. It will cost you only 5 bucks more paying $2.5/gal than it would if it were $1.5/gal for that wedding. We all freak out when we see the prices of gas, but when you break it out, it's not really that bad. Go ahead try to explain to the bride that you need an extra 5 bucks to cover gas money... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clauder Posted July 13, 2005 Share Posted July 13, 2005 If my converter is right you pay around 65 cents (0.65$) per liter (1 gallon is around 3.8 liters? right?) holy crap, here (Luxembourg) I pay 1.121€ per liter (went to sthe station today), which is 1.46$ per liter, MORE THAN DOUBLE what you pay... And that is even cheap compared to most other european countries! you should consider yourself lucky! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurenm Posted July 13, 2005 Share Posted July 13, 2005 Nice point Todd. Stephen, as said by others I'd just build it into your overall price, not being specific about miles. I'd be more concerned about what my time is worth (100 miles at 60-70mph highway is about an hour and a half of my time which is worth more than the five bucks in gas). I would figure your rates by deciding on a base travel time your willing to go and then add on from there, then again 1 1/2 hrs round trip would be considered a pretty decent commute to work by most people.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurenm Posted July 13, 2005 Share Posted July 13, 2005 sorry, just can't get that right!<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gopi_rajaseharan Posted September 12, 2005 Share Posted September 12, 2005 I am photographing my second wedding in about a month (need to provide a quote to the Bride today). It is going to be an hour long event (only 4 people at the Wedding). But I will be spending up to three (3) hours driving. So it is actually a four (4) hour commitment for me. I am wondering if I should go with Lauren's advice and charge by the hour. Any advice anyone? The Bride approached me because this is only my second wedding and she probably feels I will be "reasonable". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now