I just seen some ads for childcare. One was offering $60/week another $70/week. Another one was a 20 yr old saying rate was whatever you could afford.
Outrageous! My oldest family is paying $18/day. I am going to be raising it to $19 in Aug. My newest family is paying $20/day. I would like to be charging more for what I offer, but in my area, that would be near to impossible.

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Make sure that when you advertise you include more than just your hours and prices.

Focus on your experience, your reputation, offer lots of references etc. This is more important to some than just price.

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I know. But there are a lot of people that only look at $ when it comes to their kids. Yet the parents don't seem to be without. Nails always done, large cup of coffee from the convience store, name brand clothes (while the kids wear yard sale items) cell phones with all the works, going out for breakfast almost everyday, etc. I'm speaking of my dcps.
I have a dcg who at age 4 never had a haircut. Unless you count the one where dcg did it herself. 1/2 of her hair was/is shorter than the other half and parents didn't even take her to at least get it even it out.

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Hang in there...those who would pay $60 a week for child care are probably not the best parents and not the kind you would want as clients. Hopefully you will get some soon who really appreciate good care and are willing to pay for it.

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Those people advertising that low will probably only last a week and a half before they say no more.

I'm not saying this is fact, but I personally feel that those low rates mean they are trying to take on more than their share of clients, they figure if i take 6 kids @ 60/week i'll be ballin. But they don't realize how hard it will be, and after overhead, they will be losing.

don't worry about them, they are not your competition.

i also NEVER post my rates, i post my website in my ad, so that I can at least get parents on my site before they see the rates. I'm pretty standard in price, but i have 2 families that leave the majority of the time around 3pm, so they get a good deal, and i'm fine with that. My dh gets home around 4pm, and if dck's leave at 3, that's 2 less kids i have to lug to school to pick up girls, and i can come home clean up, and then get supper ready.

also, everyone who has clicked on my site emails me to tell me how much they love it. so that's always good even if you don't get them as clients! my new dcb's mom asked me at interview "are you studying child psychology?" i said no, and she said her mom who is a dean at a university was extremely impressed with my philosophies and thought i was in psych. lol. i told her i'm just finishing my highschool hahahahaha. my exam is next week, i'm so nervous!

but honestly, don't fret that stuff. it's not worth it. either they get no clients, or they get the ones you wouldn't want.

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You will find clients that will pay your price, unless you are outrageous in price. Those that are very cheap will probably not last long. They probably will not have good care, or they will burn out easily. And sometimes their parents cannot truly afford care so they will not be someone you want to take on anyway.

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I actually emailed a couple of people on CL about this not long ago. I was very honest with them, told them I was a fellow provider and asked them point blank what their reasoning was for charging so little when their services should be worth more. I was VERY VERY polite and took great pains not to be judgemental or condescending. I honestly just wanted to know why they charged so little.

All of the responses that I got were rude, full of cursing, spelling errors and two were typed in all caps.

Just saying.

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You're right. However, this isn't always the case. I always know when people reply to my ads asking "How much?", I'll never hear from them again. But I do stay full because I get parents who simpy ask for an interview, and don't even inquire about rates until they ask "When can we start?" once the interview is done... I've never had an interview that didn't result in an enrolment. Once they meet me and see our daycare they are willing to pay the higher prices than they would have at the home daycares down the street that are really just livingrooms with a small box of toys and a bunch of little television zombies sitting around.
Be the best and you'll get the best

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I actually did this once as well. There was a lady not too far from my home that was charging $300 a month full-time, which is only half of the typical monthly rate in my city. She wasn't rude at all, but told me that she only serves cereal for breakfast and snacks and buys ramen noodles in bulk at costco and only serves that for lunch... I was horrified to say the least. However, the longer I am in this business the more horror stories I hear about how sub-par some other childcare is.

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