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craftymissbeth 05:24 PM 02-11-2014
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
Craftymissbeth:
I can appreciate your answer that "it's a business decision", because you're not trying to say it's fair or not, you're simply saying "this is how I've chosen to run my business and keep its doors open". And that's fine. As so many have pointed out, the business makes policies and the customer can decide to live with them or go elsewhere. What I'm reacting to in my post, though, is the assertion by so many that this practice is FAIR.

I'm a little put off by your statements on money though. Frankly, I think it's human nature to dislike parting with almost any amount of money and getting nothing in return. If a homeless man put a dollar into a soda machine and got nothing in return, he'd feel screwed. No different than I feel screwed. Whether I pay a lot or a little, I'm not sure why the concept that I should actually receive services I pay for somehow earns me the ugly title of "entitled".

We all work hard for our money. I think we can at least all agree on that.

And the quality of the care is irrelevant to the discussion about the fairness of this common policy, so I'll skip that in order to stay on topic.

Interestingly, the reason I DON'T use a nanny or a home center is because (this should not surprise you) I want consistently available care. I don't want to be stuck in a situation where my one and only provider is sick or her car won't start, etc. I understand those things happen, but I'm trying to minimize my chances of being affected by them by going to a daycare center instead.
I'll be the first to admit I reacted harshly and brought up things that don't add to the topic. Sorry for that

You make a good point, though. It isn't fair. Here's a little story just to show that I completely understand what you're saying: my family and I moved to our current home from a different city 2 years ago. I called to have the water turned off at our old home, but they never shut it off. The new tenants racked up over $400 in water and the bill was still in our name (why it wasn't shut off after being late the first month I still don't understand). The water company was adamant that we owed that money. We just got it all sorted out today, but it makes me understand your point a little better.

Why pay for a service that are not using?

Perhaps looking at your tuition differently will help you see it from a business perspective. Many centers and home daycares come up with their rates differently than you may think.

Let's say that there are 260 work days in a year (because Google told me so). The daycare will be closed 10 holidays per year as well as one full week during winter break. That means they will be open 245 days in the year. They are going to go ahead and figure in 5 unexpected closures for the year (weather related, loss of utilities, illness, etc.) so now they are at 240 days open for the year.

They charge $25 per day per child. Multiplied by the amount of days they estimate they will be open = $6000. To make payments easier for parents they divide this amount into 52 equal payments = rounded to $115 per week.

Assuming that clients are long-term (which is ideal) this means that the clients actually ARE only paying for days the daycare is open. They are not paying for days the daycare is closed. In fact, it's likely that they are getting free days in the end... if the daycare doesn't actually close for all 5 of those additional days they figured in. It sure feels like you're paying for every day, but it's likely you're not. In the scenario above if they charged for all 260 work days regardless of closed days the weekly rate would be $125.

I hope that makes sense
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