Question? Do you charge for mileage?

I've had a few questions recently regarding mileage, and I thought it would be a good idea to address this issue on the blog. Many photographers struggle with the idea of charging for mileage, and while it is a business decision you have to make, there are obvious positives and negative to this.

Currently, we are listed as being Ashland Photographers, Columbus Photographers, even Ann Arbor photographers, due to our locations for shooters. However, how do we decide when to charge for mileage and when not to? For us, it all comes down to a base of operations. If we can drive from Ashland, Columbus, or Ann Arbor to a location within 50 miles of one of those cities, then we can usually save on hotel costs since we can get back to "base" relatively quickly. We like to pass those savings onto our clients.

Many photographers will also make the decision to always charge for mileage regardless of distance, simply because the cost of fuel has gone up so high. This of course is the question that you have to ask yourself. Do you eat the cost, or don't you? Kaufman Kramer has always strived to provide top level service to all of our clients, and if we can help them by taking up some of these internal costs, then we're going to do that.

Of course, I say this while gas is around $4.00 a gallon. We'll see how we feel when it hits 6 bucks. (For all those brides out there, I wouldn't worry... We'll make sure to get to your location no matter what.) Just something on my mind that I thought other photographers would be curious about. ;)