If they can't pay an additional fee for the electronic expedition of the title report, they should at least guaranty a certain degree of volume to justify the additional expense to the abstractor with the understanding that if the volume is not there every week an increased fee would be charged for the cost of the expedited electronic abstract. Although the increased volume is not as good as an agreement to pay a higher fee to offset the cost of the technology, the volume would to some degree provide some additional compensation to the abstractor.

In Connecticut the abstractor's ability to complete a search is severely circumscribed by the hours the Town Halls are open and the time it takes to travel between them. The biggest problem here is the loss of time in which to conduct searches. Most abstractors search during the day, and write abstracts at night. If the abstractor is now asked to both search and write abstracts between 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM, the abstractors ability to complete searches within the time constraints of the Town Hall's hours of operation is further curtailed. This is true even if he/she maitains a mobile office. If the volume of searches is curtailed through loss of time, his/her income is also curtailed. Is it reasonable for a vendor manager to expect the faster service without appropriate compensation being paid to the abstractor?

Among all the expressions of willingness to pay a higher price for a speedy and accurate abstract expressed by vendor managers in the above referenced report, that has not been my experience to date.

The first question out of their mouths is "How much do you charge for abstracting, and can you do it less expensively?"
The next question is "How fast is your turn around time?"
Very often they will offer volume in return for a price reduction. The volume lasts for several weeks and then declines. However, the abstractor is expected to continue the volume discount rate even when there is no volume.If it is truly the vendor managers position that they are willing to pay more for quality and speed as expessed in the survey, I think some dialogue needs to be opened between them and the abstractors to straighten out a very confused situation.