The volume discount farce never works for the abstractor. It is one of the reasons I left abstracting for closings. The constant pressure for reduced abstracting fees....ridiculous turn around times...slow pay/no pay clients all made abstracting less attractive. The VM's rarely delivered on the volume...that is if you could get them to commit to a specific volume, but they always expected the discount. The only way it would work would be to charge the regular price at the beginning of the month and build in the discount on the abstracts at the end of the month to assure both the volume and the discount were there each month. ( Market price for the first 50% of the agreed volume, and discounted price for the second 50% of the agreed volume).Try and get them to agree to this though.

Since moving into closings I have had a few title companies approach me with the same tired approach. When I told them they would have to guaranty a certain amount of volume each month before the discount would kick in they became a little upset. They said they had no way of knowing in advance what their volume would be. I pointed out to them they were asking for a guaranty of a certain price without their corresponding ability to guaranty a certain volume....nothing but dead air on the other end of the phone. Told them That I would pass on their offer.

The signing agents over on Notary Rotary have discussed this quite often. Their position is that more volume does not guaranty more income unless their is a suitable profit margin after expenses are factored into the equation.

The rise in gasoline prices is actually helping to negotiate higher overall prices. Just quote your desired overall  fee...no break down of profit/expenses. If they come back with a counter offer...my response is that "I am not driving to the other side of the state for that price with gas at $3.75 a gallon." They seem to understand that. Once in a while they will try to find someone closer to the borrower's address, but if it is a last minute closing and their back is to the wall they often do not have the time and will pay the fee quoted to them.