Comments on: WASWI: Asking for better than you get

By: Sam Hunter

Sam Hunter — Fri, 24 Feb 2017 20:35:46 +0000

In reply to Neame.

Neame – thank you for your thoughts! You are absolutely right… an unofficial unionization of the little people might do the job. We have a Craft Indusrty Alliance, which I think has a potential to become that, but we’re not there yet 🙂

By: Neame

Neame — Wed, 22 Feb 2017 22:52:34 +0000

I’m not a business person, retired now. Did work in corporate America. Wondering if all of the small quilty creatives could not band together into an association of some kind so that it would be a large entity dealing with a large entity. Pooling resources so that legal help is affordable and available would likely cut down on the stompin’-on-the-littles behavior. Just a thought with no real information at hand.

By: Karen Sparrow

Karen Sparrow — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 21:56:56 +0000

Question: Do “THEY” allow their customers to not pay for their items until 90 to 120 days out?

When I worked for that LARGE HMO (you know which one, the one with the initials of KP) they ONLY paid their bills 120 days out. The vendors who supplied food for meetings, T-shirts for events and other smaller items QUIT letting us use them unless we paid up-front with a credit card.

It might come to that for you!

By: Ruth

Ruth — Wed, 15 Feb 2017 16:21:37 +0000

It isn’t disrespectful, it is illegal. They are not meeting the terms of the contract. It should be dealt with legally, not personally.

By: Debra Yeska

Debra Yeska — Sat, 11 Feb 2017 04:25:32 +0000

How frustrating for you!
I agree, it seems disrespectful to the partnership. 🙁
Hopefully, they will do better in the future.

By: Frank Palmer

Frank Palmer — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 19:42:58 +0000

This resonates heavily right now.
Class deposits often don’t come in time for me to order supplies, and I am frequently out of pocket until I get paid for the class, which sometimes isn’t until AFTER the class. I hate to cancel them, but eventually, it will probably come to that, and THEY can deal with their disappointed students.
In addition to teaching and quilting for others, I also sell travel, and that work is solely commission based. When I book something, I don’t get paid until the trip is paid in full and the clients have traveled. So, let’s just say, I book an extensive European itinerary for 9 months from now. I just spent hours and hours researching and booking your ideal trip, gone back and forth, making changes and tweaking things to be absolutely perfect. I haven’t been paid until you travel and up to 90 days afterward, when the commission checks come in from the rail company, the car company, the hotels, cruise line, etc. And if you cancel before then? I don’t get paid at all. Many times, hotels and car rental companies don’t pay and just let it slide, counting on me not noticing, but then I have to go shake them down for money. It’s the way the industry has been forever, so when I expanded my streams of income to include teaching and quilting, machine repair, etc., I hoped for better.
I’ve also noticed when talking with some machine dealers, they don’t get commissions on their sales in a timely fashion either. The only ones who do are the ones who buy their stock wholesale.
This is an important discussion, so I really hope it goes somewhere positive.

By: Sam Hunter

Sam Hunter — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 15:47:45 +0000

In reply to Susan Paris. Sadly, the price is fixed so there is no PITA pricing I can enact. I have been offered a discount for faster pay, or a credit card number (then I have to pay fees) and I have rejected both. If they would just pay at 30 days PER THE AGREEMENT I would be fine.

By: Susan Paris

Susan Paris — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 15:24:26 +0000

When I was freelancing, I ran into that a lot. Big companies or institutions were the worst. When I would ask for payment, I would be told that (x giant soulless client) paid in 120 days and I could have all the wording I liked on my invoice and that’s just the way they did business, and they were insulted that I thought a big wonderful company like them wouldn’t pay their bills. Of course I couldn’t do that with my creditors. Eventually my partner and I would figure out what we called the “hassle factor” and charge them more for our work. Oddly, that sat better with them than bugging them for payment. The other alternative is raising your rates just a bit and offering a small discount for faster payment. They like to think they are getting a deal. Not sure how that would work with your business though. I just know that rational explanation of my needs rarely made a difference, sadly. Smaller customers got it and were much better paying on time because they were in the same boat.