Originally Posted by Myst_Seattle:
I fully agree that it won't let you increase your capacity, but in theory it should increase your profit margin. Let's say you are currently charging $100 per week and have a 3 year waitlist. If you increase it to $110 (for new clients) the waitlist might drop to 2 years. If you further increase it to $120 it might go down to 1 year. Therefore your revenue would increase by 20% without having to take up any extra work.
This isn't actually true either. I raise my rates pretty regularly and it doesn't seem to make a difference as to the length of my waitlist.
The biggest issue in my area and the reason there is such a long waitlist is there are so many parents that want part time, sporadic care and want to pay only for the hours or days they use. That doesn't work well for a child care provider trying to earn an income themselves and while staying within ratios.
My waitlist has actually grown more as I've charged more. Go figure. lol! I can't explain that logic so I don't even try.
Originally Posted by Myst_Seattle:
It would price out some parents out of the daycare market, but at the same time it would help parents who have recently moved into the neighborhood and haven't had a chance to sign up for the waitlist three years ago. That's an issue faced by many of my parent colleagues who are new to Seattle.
The thing about waitlists too that many aren't realizing or mentioning is it isn't first come first served so those last signing up to wait might sometimes be first served.
For me, it's about who FITS whatever opening I currently have. Does that make sense? So in reality a new family moving into the neighborhood and just signing on to the wait list might only wait 2 months for care verses someone on the list that has been waiting 3 yrs.
Best fit trumps first on the list.
Hopefully that makes more sense.