I resurrected the age-old debate about lowering rates over at FreelanceSwitch.com. But it's different than the debate over working for lower rates consistently. Still, the post opens up a wide range of discussions. (I was glad to see that the discussions were kept polite, too!)

See, a client of mine asked me to lower our standard rate when he misquoted it to a client. In this case -- awesome client who gives me regular work -- the reduction wasn't that big of a deal. It would save him from going back to the client to jack up the price. It was his mistake, but I didn't mind taking a few bucks off the price because this guy's good business. In this case, I didn't lower my rate due to the economy. But I have in other instances -- or I haven't jacked them up as high as I could.

The article does open up a broad spectrum for comments on the topic of lowering rates in our current economy. What happens when you get a client who wants to see if you can go a little lower? Well, that depends on you. But you have to look out for yourself, too.

Have you lowered your rates due to the economy at all? Or for a client on a one-time basis? What were the results?