What would you do in my shoes?

[Doodle]

What would you do in my situation?

I used to work in a foreign country where I put in long hours for little pay. It was a good job, compared to others available in that country, but with my education and skills I could also have been working at a MUCH better job. Anyway, at that job I did a lot of special projects, including translations. I was the "go-to" person at the company for all their translation work, which wasn't much, but it was a job every couple of months. They paid me the same amount per hour that I made normally, so the translation work was a source of extra hours, nothing more.

Well, I quit that job and moved back to the US, and today I got an email from my former employer asking if I'd like to continue doing translations for them from time to time, and they'd pay me with PayPal. Their proposed rate is $8.00 US for 30 lines of a Word Document in 12 point font, which works out to $12.00 per page. Unless the document is ridiculously easy, at my fastest I do a page an hour, so that'd be 12 bucks an hour for me. Now, when I was working at their school, they paid me about $6 an hour. And I know they charge about $50-$70 per page, depending on difficulty. So as you can see, they were making a killing on these translations in the past, and now although they're proposing to double my cut, they'd still be making quite a profit.

I want to write back to my ex-boss and say I'd love to help you out, and I'll be willing to work for (insert higher rate here,) and (insert higher higher rate here) for documents with technical vocabulary. I asked two friends from the country in question and got two different opinions. Friend A says yes, definitely, you should tell them you'll do it for 20% more, and 25% more for difficult documents. Friend B says no, your former company is notoriously cheap, and if you give them a counter offer they're just going to say no thanks and find somebody else to do their translations. What do you guys think?

Things to keep in mind:
-I'm currently unemployed, so I'll take extra cash where I can find it. They know I'm unemployed.
-They want to know ASAP if I can do it, since they already have a job lined up and probably have promised to complete it by next week.
-There is no native English speaker at the company willing or capable of doing it, because I'm sure if they had somebody there they could pay their customary $6 an hour for the same work, they wouldn't have asked me to do it.
-I don't know how much freelance translators make there, but here in the US professional translations can be $50-$100 a page.
-It does annoy me that they made such a huge profit on my labors in the past. But yet, I need extra cash now. I don't want to feel, or be, exploited. But yet, I need extra cash now.

[unhyp]

Call their bluff. $8 an hour is an insult.
Yes, they know you don't currently have a job, and are probably a little desperate, but what about something along the lines of:

"I have signed on to a contract translation service here which pays the customary US rate of $50-$100 a page. Because I enjoy working for you so much and I would like to do something nice for you, I would agree to work for you at a rate of $30-$40 a page."

Ask what you're worth! There really is no harm to it! You know they have a tight deadline, they can afford it, and they KNOW they want your services. There really isn't anything to lose. If they do find someone to replace you, it's going to be at the rate you used to work at ($6), at which point you might as well bag groceries.

[Doodle]

Hmm, I'd love to do that, unhyp, but I know there's no way in hell they'd agree to pay that much. This is a company that used to give employees a bunch of helium balloons on their birthdays, and stopped doing it to cut costs. And they operate out of a country where the minimum wage is $5 per day. I know they get these translation jobs by advertising the fact that they have native English speakers on staff (meaning me) and I know that they don't currently have anyone nearly as competent as I was... but $30 US an hour is not in the realm of possibility for them. I suppose I'm trying to guess the magic number that makes it worth my while but that they're also willing to pay. I was thinking of telling them that I'm currently doing temp/clerical work that pays $15 an hour, and basing my rate around that. What do y'all think?

[unhyp]

...but if they are charging their clients $50-$70 a page, why don't you, as the person who is doing all of the actual work, deserve a fair chunk of that? I understand that this is totally off the scale of the local pay rate, but they are asking you to work from the US, and they are charging their clients exorbitant rates, $30 for translation is actually, as you point out, below the rock-bottom rate for a US translator. Plus, they get the added assurance of knowing right off the bat that your work is excellent.

I'd say $15 is a baseline minimum. The last time I temped (2006, clerical office work) the base was $15. That's really nowhere near as difficult as translating.

[MargieMac88]

I think that its about figuring out how much your time is worth to you.

When I babysat a lot I had a base rate that I added to depending on things like the number of kids, diapers, did I have to cook, did I like the parents, was it inconvenient, and so on. At Smith I ended up babysitting during my senior banquet b/c I quoted a ridiculously high rate to the parents who were regulars, explained why, offered to recommend somebody more reasonable, and when they said they would pay it I did it because they were willing to pay me how much my time was worth. That said I refused to ever babysit for families that I didn't like the kids b/c my time isn't worth it. My point and unhyp's, I think, is that you should be paid what your time is worth and if they can't meet that you can walk away. You aren't obligated to take the job or help them out since they are the ones with the false advertising that they have native speakers on staff to do the translating.

[Doodle]

The more I thought about this, the more I got annoyed about what a ridiculous profit my company had been making on my work. I went back and double checked my source, and it turns out he was wrong. My company was only charging $15-20 for 30 lines while they were paying me $6/hour to do it. That makes me feel better, and puts things in perspective. I also found out from a translator friend in that country that when he gets translations from his (different) employer, they pay him $10 for 30 lines, and when he does freelance work he charges $15-20 for 30 lines.

I'm thinking I should tell my ex-boss I'm willing to do it for $10-$14 per 30 lines (comes out to $15-$21 per page) with 10% payment on receipt of order. Does that sound reasonable to you guys? That way it's worth their while because they still make some money on it.

And MargieMac88, I completely see your point. I in no way feel obligated to take the job, trust me. I would feel a certain sense of satisfaction saying "thanks but no thanks" if their offer is too low. I'm just trying to figure out the magic rate that gets me some extra cash while maintaining my self-respect and keeping them coming back to me for their translation needs in the future. If you guys were my ex-employer in that situation, would you take me up on it?

I think that its about figuring out how much your time is worth to you.

My point and unhyp's, I think, is that you should be paid what your time is worth and if they can't meet that you can walk away. You aren't obligated to take the job or help them out since they are the ones with the false advertising that they have native speakers on staff to do the translating.

[prude]

I think you should definitely ask for what you're worth....in no case should you be doing translations for 8$ an hour. Pick a number, and go back to them with it, letting them know you'd be willing to negotiate.