Originally Posted by LostMyMarbles:
Why do you assume that the waitlist would drop due to a rate increase? The need for childcare will still be there regardless of a rate increase.
The need would still be there, but you won't have to wait for it. Just like you can always buy a plane ticket for Christmas, even if it costs a lot more than on other days. Likewise it is easy to buy a house in Seattle, although you need a lot of money to afford one.
Originally Posted by :
Can you elaborate on that thought process?
Having a long waiting list means parents who both want to work full-time are unable to do so, even if they have the funds to pay for childcare. I personally know people who are struggling with this issue. Increasing the price would increase the profitability of daycares and make access to their services easier to plan for.
Originally Posted by :
Waitlists will cease to exist when there are enough options for families to find adequate care. Price gouging does nothing to eradicate that.
It is easy to demonstrate why this is true with an exaggerated example. Let's say you increase your daycare price to $100,000 per week. At those rates only someone like Bill Gates would be able to afford it and the waitlist would be gone. Obviously you can't charge $100k per week, but there is always a price point at which the waiting list would become minimal without hurting your profitability. In economic theory this is referred to as the "supply and demand" curve.
Originally Posted by :
If you truly want to make a change in the daycare supply, write to your representatives.
I completely agree that overregulation is the root cause of the daycare deficit! However that doesn't explain the business practices of daycares in the existing legal environment
