The “Pastor’s Discount”
- Posted by: Todd
- Posted on: Tue, June 13, 2006
- Viewed 53
- (23) comments so far
I did my pastors pics last week. They turned out great. I know the family has enough money, trust me. He wanted to order all 4x6's to take to his family in another state next week, to show them and see if they wanted to order. He asked for a discount on 4x6's if he ordered them all. I gave him half off, reluctantly, knowing he has money, and I dont. (This is my business) Then again, he is coming back to place a large order when he returns home. I know it will be worth it. What if he asks for another discount? I feel dumb NPT giving him one, because he has done a lot for the family, really he has. But his "freebies" were a free sitting on the land of his home (normally $50) and a free 8x10 (normally $15). That was my gift to him. What to do? They are great people, but I have no more sittings scheduled this month, and am layed off for the summer from my job at a school.
Do you ever ask for a 'pastor's discount'? Do you know some pastors who do? (I think we've all met a pastor or two in our day that thought he was entitled to a little bit of everything because of his title). What would you do it you were this store owner?
Todd
Do you ever ask for the "pastor’s discount"? I ran across this on a message board about a photo store owner a little frazzled due to a pastor asking for a discount. What do you think?
Comments
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TJ on Tue, June 13, 2006
I’m so disappointed when I hear things like this. Come on, church - we should be giving to our community, investing in our church’s business owners - we are praying for our congregation’s success right? So why not be a tool God can use to bless them. I know of a person who had a snowcone stand, and the people from their church would come and ask for free snow cones - 3 or 4 times a day. They eventually had to close down. HMMM, I just can’t figure out why society has such a negative perception of the church ...
Will on Tue, June 13, 2006
I would never ask for or accept a discount. The last thing I would want anyone to think of me as a Christians is that I am cheap! As for the store owner I cannot speak.
Rich on Tue, June 13, 2006
I would never ask for a discount unless I knew ahead of time that the company gave pastoral discounts as a policy (some do and the owners are blessed to offer this as a ministry). I am often offered discounts by church members and I always tell them I would rather they tithe to the church which already takes care of my needs. In addition, I never ask a member to perform service for the church in their profession for free or for a discount. Again, I believe the church should expect to pay full price and then let that person decide how best to apply the funds God has provided for him/her.
Wendi on Tue, June 13, 2006
While working in the corporate world I regularly got requests for freebies and discounts from Christians who knew me as a Christian business person. Most of the time these were for the purposes of ministry, enabling more to be done with less. As a Christian I always understood these requests and although I couldn’t accommodate all of them I was never offended by them. Occasionally I got requests for personal “favorsâ€? or discounts or comps from other Christians. These certainly were offensive.
My non-Chrisitan colleagues tended to see these two types of requests as one and the same, thinking Christians are always after something free and not placing a high value on the same kind of kingdom results as we do. This is why it’s important, whenever asking for a discount or something free, that we explain exactly why we are asking and point to results that would be a perceived value for Christians and non-Christians alike (fewer teen pregnancies, welfare to work, drug/alcohol recovery, etc.). And if you can’t make a legitimate ministry case for asking . . . for heavens sake DON’T ASK!!
Wendi
Randy Ehle on Tue, June 13, 2006
Many businesses offer a variety of discounts (e.g., AAA, AARP/Senior, child, etc.) that are publicized, but not always widely known. I have no problem asking for one of these, or even making a joke like, “Do you offer discounts to high school graduates?” These businesses are usually in the tourism and service industries - hotel, car rental, food service, etc., and have factored such discounts into their cost of doing business.
I don’t think I would ever ask for a “ministry discount” unless I had a pretty good reason to believe they normally offered one, as some Christian bookstores do. I also think it would be in poor taste to ask a small business owner - whether in my church or not - for a ministry discount (unless, again, I knew that was a normal part of their business, as Rich suggested).
Kent on Tue, June 13, 2006
Nope, don’t ask for one and don’t want one. I am well paid and can pay just as well anyone else can.
Aaron on Tue, June 13, 2006
The difference is the perception of feeling entitled or being grateful. I am grateful to pay for a service. Evenif I have very little. Only place I have ever asked for discount is Bible book stores bc they use it to identify pastors as potential “celebrity” endorsement. I would never ask a favor from a parishoner. I will ask God. He knows better who can afford and who is willing to offer. So then I can get a discount and a divine provision. All in the same act. Way cool. Does anyone give a parishoner discount (i.e. no volunteer workers for a week or a day)? It must be a two way street. Maybe preach for free one week?
michael on Tue, June 13, 2006
Right off the bat, let me say that Oak Leaf is a church plant that doesn’t have much money. There are churches in Georgia starting up wtih 10x more money than we have in the bank. Our budget is a flying joke. Our staff is currently working for free. We aren’t rolling in the dough, spending thousands on direct mail or an AV system.
Pastors and church leaders are notorious for looking for handouts. I’ve known pastors who play the pastor card to try and get a discount on kitchen cabinets for their house. Pastors are somehow entitled to a furniture discount because of their profession? I’ve heard about pastors who make a big deal about not leaving a 15% gratuity because “10% is good enough for God.” When we wonder if a curriculum or product might work for our church, too many of us check out the price tag before thinking through the end result, or…gasp…taking time to pray about it? “How much does it cost” is a great question, but it shouldn’t always be our first question.
With this mentality in our leadership, we wonder why Bertha thinks it’s a good idea to donate the pee stained couch to the youth ministry. Hey, maybe the kids can use it. Oh really? If it’s not good enough for your moth-ball smelling house, then why do you think the church would want it? The reason Bertha thinks that is because she’s seen the attitude modeled in her church leaders.
As pastors, we wouldn’t want our people sitting in the pews wondering what is the smallest amount of money they could give the church. We don’t want our people trying to do Christianity on the cheap, yet we try and do church on the cheap. We would beat ourselves in the head if they started looking for discounts in their tithes, yet getting a discount is often our primary objective when shopping for something for our church.
I posted some of these comments at my blog.
Brian on Tue, June 13, 2006
I don’t ask for discounts. In fact, I asked a guy in my church to give me a quote on some work I needed done at my house. (Carpentry type stuff.) The price was lower than I anticipated, so I said to him, “Your quote includes labor, right?” His response, was, “Yes, I have to charge for labor.” And I quickly responded, “Good, I would expect you to. “
Now, if someone offered me a discount or if I knew a place offered discounts to pastors, I would take it and support the buisness with my regular patronage.
I did hear about a golf course that used to let pastors golf for free on Mondays. They changed their policy once and when a friend of mine asked why, the response was, “When word got out, everybody and their brother was a pastor all of a sudden.”
adam on Tue, June 13, 2006
I think it’s tacky to ask. While I’ve never asked for a discount there have been many times when I’ve been told that my money wasn’t wanted or that someone would like to honor my service to them or their family with a special discount, etc. I suppose I’ve never thought it was rude to accept these genuine offers of gratitude. (Never a stranger though!)
I do respect those who refuse such treament and I definitely think the person from that forum was dealing with someone pretty rude.
Thanks for the thoughts. I think I have a lot to learn in this area.
KMS on Tue, June 13, 2006
When pastors feel they aren’t making enough money, they can sometimes begin to feel entitled to a “break.” Or perhaps desperate for one. One reason why pastors are trying to get a discount is because they feel like outsiders in their community, who can’t really afford to live like other people do. Of course, another reason is pride or a sense of entitlement. But if you have any say in your church, make sure that the pastor feels at home in his community. That’s an important starting point.
Jay Gainer on Tue, June 13, 2006
Personal discount for professional work by a church member… NO WAY. Very unprofessional. Wouldn’t do it to a car dealer who was a member or an insurance broker, probably gets eggs and milk from the grocery store at half price too.
Len on Tue, June 13, 2006
Never asked for it but I have accepted when offered by a few. One was a doctor friend who waived his fees and the other was for dental work for our girls. 20% off with no dental insurance was seen as a gift for which we were very grateful.
Todd - Not That Todd on Tue, June 13, 2006
Let me preface all of this by saying that I do live in an area where the majority of pastors are underpaid and under appreciated. Assistant pastors and worship leaders doubly so. They are usually volunteers (as I am) and encounter varying degrees of appreciation or lack thereof.
For years I worked at a small Christian Retail Store. I have seen it all. Probably half of the people who shopped there were involved in a ministry of one kind or another. Between underpaid pastors, well paid pastors who just expected preferential treatment, multitudes of customers involved in this ministry or that, and a general expectation that because we were a Christian business we should give everything away, it was hard to make ends meet.
(Just as an aside – maybe Christians should try to really support and be a blessing to genuine Christian business people instead of trying to see what they can guilt them out of! I mean, it never occurred to me to go to a brother’s place of business and say, “Hey did you see me lead worship Sunday morning? You have no idea how much work it takes to prepare for that - and nobody pays me! How about half price for that break job?â€?)
It was always amazing though, how many ministers, who had little money, hardly ever (and then only meekly) asked for discounts, hardly ever complained about prices (unless their budget was really stretched or they thought they saw a better price at the discount store) and were genuinely appreciative when we could give them a discount.
Meanwhile, some ministers, who had plenty of money, always demanded a discount, always tried to nickel and dime us to death and were never satisfied - no matter how much we gave them. Masterful manipulators. (Of course I would tend to think that ministry and manipulation would be polar opposites.)
There is a particular local protestant minister down here (he is now nationally known) who inquired about having us order a clerical collar for him. He noticed in his travels that the Catholic priests were often recognized, acknowledged, “comped� and in general just given preferential treatment. He figured that with the collar he could get his fair share!
Human nature – I thought we had slain that ...
Todd
Kirk on Wed, June 14, 2006
What should the businessman do? Start looking for another church comes immediately to mind?
I don’t have any problem with asking for and receiving non-profit related discounts for the church (Thank You! Adobe). But personal comps and discounts? Wow.
kdl
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