However, if you consider the cost over the course of a year as an overhead cost of doing business, providing accessible services is quite reasonable. You will be asked to pay usually a one or two hour minimum charge for interpreting services. Because interpreters come to you, on your schedule, their fees have to take into account the amount of time spent traveling between jobs, wait time for the next assignment to start, and down time when no work is available. If you have to cancel your request, it may or may not be possible to sell that time to another customer. SignOn has a policy to charge the full rate for assignments which are cancelled with under two business days' notice, as less than this amount of time makes it unlikely that we will be able to refill the interpreter's time.
Interpreters are a scarce resource, and often the demand exceeds the supply.
Because interpreters come to you, on your schedule, we must juggle many customers' needs to try to accommodate as many requests as possible. The farther in advance you can plan appointments, trainings, or meetings where you will be using an interpreter, the better. However, if you have a last minute need, don't despair. Often another customer will cancel interpreting services at the last minute, freeing up an interpreter's time for your last minute request. Interpreting is a complex task, requiring near-native language skills in at least two languages, as well as a deep knowledge of two cultures.