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KIDZRMYBIZ 08:31 AM 03-12-2015
Originally Posted by Crazy8:
maybe you need to reevaluate your closing time? Honestly, if you advertise that you close at 5:30 and a parent picks up at 5:29 they will feel they are on time (even if it then takes them 10 min to get out of your driveway).
Unfortunately that is the problem with a blanket closing time. You need to expect to work until that time every day.

Yep, I close at 5:30. And I fully expect to work right up to that time every day, and do! However, we all know on here that we providers are (unfairly) not treated the same as any other business. You don't take your stuff up to the register at 5:29 when the store closes at 5:30. You take it up by 5:20...maybe even 5:10 if you expect to have a 15-minute let-me-use-you-as-my-sounding-board-for-this-personal-part-of-my-life conversation with the cashier. You don't drop your clothes off at the dry-cleaners one minute before they lock the door if you require the owner's attention for a lengthy conversation regarding special instructions or the process they use to rid a stain. So these DCFs are technically "on time," but they are dipping into my personal time when they don't hustle out within 1 or 2 minutes. I just wanted these people to come early enough that I could be pulling out of my driveway at 5:31, and not a second later. Maybe I will change my forever closing time to 5:19. It's weird, but it seems like they need 11-minutes of banter time, and then I can firmly shut the door at 5:30.

When a family comes to me for an interview we determine the hours they need and then they are contracted for those hours. Their rate is based on those hours so the person picking up at 4:30 and the person picking up at 5pm do not pay the same amount. I don't care what the parents are doing before they pick up, as long as they pick up on time. The thing is when they sign up they usually pick a time that just includes their travel time after work.

I'm glad this works for you. I tried it for 2 years, and it didn't work for me as this not what clients want in my area.
Anyway, this was just a post for you guys to go at. I know I made a mistake in asking for them to pick up pronto, and fully admit it. I also know how things are in this business (like not really closing till 10 min after closing time). Just wanted to vent with others that are here with me on the greenest side of the fence. I say that because I really do like my job!
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