Early Drop Off Fee?
 

My daycare opens at 7am. But occasionally parents will ask(well more like tell me) they need to drop off early on a particular day. I dont mind this, especially if that means the child will be getting picked up early, but i havent been charging anything (i know i know whyyy). I want to add in my contract a fee for early drop off, hoping to discourage it so i can sleep lol. What is reasonable? I will only open as early at 6:30. So i was thinking $10 anytime before 7. Thoughts??

Originally Posted by Unregistered:
My daycare opens at 7am. But occasionally parents will ask(well more like tell me) they need to drop off early on a particular day. I dont mind this, especially if that means the child will be getting picked up early, but i havent been charging anything (i know i know whyyy). I want to add in my contract a fee for early drop off, hoping to discourage it so i can sleep lol. What is reasonable? I will only open as early at 6:30. So i was thinking $10 anytime before 7. Thoughts??

I charge $5 per 15 minutes for any scheduled drop off BEFORE my opening time.

Any unscheduled drop off before my opening time is a "NO." (It's rude and disrespectful.)

I charge $1 minute for any unscheduled drop off BEFORE the family's contracted drop off time.

I rarely if ever open early (and I'd NEVER stay open later) but there has been a few occasions I will agree to it but early drop offs mostly just make my day longer.....Even if the early drop off kid is picked up earlier I still have other kids so my work day isn't shortened by early drop off.

Originally Posted by Unregistered:
My daycare opens at 7am. But occasionally parents will ask(well more like tell me) they need to drop off early on a particular day. I dont mind this, especially if that means the child will be getting picked up early, but i havent been charging anything (i know i know whyyy). I want to add in my contract a fee for early drop off, hoping to discourage it so i can sleep lol. What is reasonable? I will only open as early at 6:30. So i was thinking $10 anytime before 7. Thoughts??

That bolded part above tells me you don't want to do it, so why are you?

I open at 7:30. My door is locked until 7:30. I don't care if you knock, pound or scream. It's not opening it until 7:30.
To me: that time before opening is precious and I need it.
It's $1 per minute if they ask me in advance to open early.
That's my overtime rate. No budging.

Originally Posted by Snowmom:
That bolded part above tells me you don't want to do it, so why are you?

Because I have a giant heart! Ugh my biggest flaw in this business. But its because of this that im becoming miserable, so i need to change some things in my contract. I do daycare out of my home, rented house. So they know they cant just show up; i wont be there.

When a parent asks me (ASKS ME) beforehand and if I am ok with the time then I'll agree to an early drop off. If they pick up early and stay within their allotted daily hours then I won't charge extra but they have to pick up early.

If they pick up at the usual time then I will charge them extra. I don't have a clause about asking to drop off earlier because I leave that up to my discretion but here's how I have it in my contract about early drop-off with no notice.

"Early Drop-Off and Late Pick-Up Fees
A fee of $6.00 per every 15 minutes, or fraction thereof, will be added to the clients account for any unscheduled drop-offs made before the clients scheduled drop-off time. If, however, the child is dropped off earlier than 7:00 a.m. then a fee of $1 per minute will be added to the client’s account for any time extending before 7:00 a.m.

A fee of $6.00 per every 15 minutes, or fraction thereof, will be added to the clients account for any unscheduled pick-ups made after the client’s scheduled pick-up time. If, however, the child is picked up later than 6:00 p.m. then a fee of $1 per minute will be added to the client’s account for any time extending past 6:00 p.m.

The daycare clock will be used to determine the time.

All early drop-off and late pick-up fees are due no later than the client’s next scheduled drop-off."

I did contracted rates as a way to discourage early pick up.... but now I am working longer hours than I really wanted. After agreeing to that I wish I knew then that I valued ending my day earlier than the extra $$$. This experience leads me to say sit down and think about what you value most long term. The additional sleep or the extra $10 potentially? Be honest with yourself then have your policies reflect that.

I do not allow early drop offs plain and simple. I am not really a morning person, neither is my dd (10) plus I have to get both us ready for the day and her to school.

This is my notice to parents when I see they might be forgetting - JUST A REMINDER: Early Arrivals: We staff our teachers based on the contract you have signed and maintaining mandated ratios. Early arrivals need to be preapproved and will carry an additional charge. Unscheduled early arrivals (more than 5 minutes) may result in your child being turned away until their scheduled time as we may not have enough staff on hand until your child’s regularly contracted arrival time. If we have enough staff and are able to take them, this will result in a substantial additional charge. An Early Drop-off fee of $5 for every 15 minutes (or any portion there of) if you arrive before your scheduled drop-off time will be charged. Late Pick-ups: As a courtesy we also ask parents to let us know if they are running late as well, as late arrivals can throw off our schedule just as much as early arrivals. A Late Pick-up fee of $5 for every 15 minutes (or any portion there of) if you arrive after your scheduled pick-up time will be charged. Remember, the usual daily schedule is 9 hours of care (so if drop-off is 8 am, pick-up is no later than 5 pm. If you need to make any schedule change requests*, add someone to your child’s authorized pick-up, or just fill out a medication authorization, you can go to our www.childsplaykids.com, to FORMS to fill out a request. *Any schedule/enrollment changes require prior approval and two-weeks notice. Thanks in advance, Ms. A

Hope that helps.

Originally Posted by thrivingchildcarecom:
This is my notice to parents when I see they might be forgetting - JUST A REMINDER: Early Arrivals: We staff our teachers based on the contract you have signed and maintaining mandated ratios. Early arrivals need to be preapproved and will carry an additional charge. Unscheduled early arrivals (more than 5 minutes) may result in your child being turned away until their scheduled time as we may not have enough staff on hand until your child’s regularly contracted arrival time. If we have enough staff and are able to take them, this will result in a substantial additional charge. An Early Drop-off fee of $5 for every 15 minutes (or any portion there of) if you arrive before your scheduled drop-off time will be charged. Late Pick-ups: As a courtesy we also ask parents to let us know if they are running late as well, as late arrivals can throw off our schedule just as much as early arrivals. A Late Pick-up fee of $5 for every 15 minutes (or any portion there of) if you arrive after your scheduled pick-up time will be charged. Remember, the usual daily schedule is 9 hours of care (so if drop-off is 8 am, pick-up is no later than 5 pm. If you need to make any schedule change requests*, add someone to your child’s authorized pick-up, or just fill out a medication authorization, you can go to our www.childsplaykids.com, to FORMS to fill out a request. *Any schedule/enrollment changes require prior approval and two-weeks notice. Thanks in advance, Ms. A

Hope that helps.

The website is having a few issues.. 3 of the 5 forms link to a 404 file not found page & the FAQ page links to a shopping site; just thought you might want to know

Thanks. I just migrated to a new host and I needed to fix the forms page. Thanks for the reminder.

Here's my "Overtime" policy:
Understanding that sometimes situations require early drop-off or late pick-up, I am willing to accommodate this on a limited basis when prior arrangements are made. In these situations a grace period of 15 minutes before the center's 7:00 a.m. opening time or after the center's 5:00 p.m. closing time will apply, at no additional charge.

However, overtime rates apply under the following circumstances:
♥ If care is needed before the grace period of 6:45 a.m. or after 5:15 p.m.
♥ If a child is on the premises during the grace period without prior arrangements.
♥ If a child is in care for more than 10 hours a day, even if the extra time is within the grace period.

Overtime rates consist of an initial $10.00 flat fee for the first minute, plus an additional $1.00 per minute fee per child for each minute the child is on the premises before 6:45 a.m. or after 5:15 p.m., for each minute the child is in care during the grace period if no prior arrangements were made, or for each minute the child is in care over 10 hours.

I usually have a grandchild or two until 5:30 so if another child has to be here later I usually don't mind. It's before 7:00 that bothers me more.