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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>How Strict Are You With Early Drop-Off And Late Pickup?
trix23 11:50 AM 07-02-2017
How strict are you with early drop-off and late pickup?

Do you have a grace period? Charge fees? Etc.
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bklsmum 12:57 PM 07-02-2017
I am very strict. I charge and the rate goes up every time and after the third time they can be termed.
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CityGarden 01:52 PM 07-02-2017
I am not strict but am not passive either.

I do not allow early drop off and will not open the door prior to my opening time. I have noticed parents will sit in the car and read a book to their child or will walk the block if they arrive early so I started putting a basket of books on the porch along with sturdy child size chairs so they can read to their child on the porch as a transition prior to coming in - I use the same method as my pick up transition to hand them back off to their parents. ( I would like to invest in a nice porch bench but it is not at the top of my wish list so will be purchased eventually.)

I charge $1 per minute for late pick up, I do not make a big deal about it just itemize the times and add it to their monthly invoice. All of my moms except for one are SAHMs and it's the working mom who struggles to pick up on time due to her commute. She pays the late fee but I would rather her be on time than pay a fee. I plan to give notice to the family (for other reasons) as soon as I can afford to so this will not be an issue much longer. I do think the way I do pick up tends to encourage parents to pick up on time. I walk the children out and read to them on the porch while they wait to be picked up..... so they will see all the other kids depart and they are still here.

I may adopt a more strict late pick up policy as I would really rather my time than late fees.
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Snowmom 02:01 PM 07-02-2017
Super strict.

I keep my door locked until 7:30am.

Each family has contracted pick up times and they need to be out the door before that time.
If they arrive late, it's $1 per minute within my operating hours. If they arrive past my closing time, it's $2 per minute.
I charge for even 1 minute.
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CityGarden 02:08 PM 07-02-2017
Also I read on here somewhere in relation to setting hours. To set your work hours and your open and close hours with a 30 minute cushion at the end of the day....

In example if you want to be off work at 6:00pm set your close time at 5:30pm during this time you can clean up/prep for the day. If a child is picked up late at 5:35pm they have not infringed on your family time or after work obligations but you just made $5 or whatever your late fee is. You do not tell parents about this cushion it just mentally shifts the annoyance on your part since you would be working anyway and gives you some planning/cleaning wiggle room. I know I spend about 20 minutes at the end of each day cleaning and prepping building that time in makes sense if you can do it.
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TheMisplacedMidwestMom 02:46 PM 07-02-2017
My fees outlined in my handbook are actually adjusted for how much notice they give me. Example... if you notify before x time that'll you're running late it's this much. If you don't notify me or do so after that time it's a higher rate. Same with keeping after hours for an extended time or needing an early drop off. The more notice you give the better the rate you can get. And still only available at my discretion of course.
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trix23 04:08 PM 07-02-2017
Specifically for early drop-off, what are your polices? Charge if early?

For a 9am start time, client was 7 minutes early one day and 4 minutes early another.

If they don't pay the fee on time, how much is your late fee?
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Snowmom 05:12 PM 07-02-2017
Originally Posted by trix23:
Specifically for early drop-off, what are your polices? Charge if early?

For a 9am start time, client was 7 minutes early one day and 4 minutes early another.

If they don't pay the fee on time, how much is your late fee?
Are you unlocking the door for them to arrive early? IMHO, that tells them you're ok with coming early.

My fee (although I don't unlock my door) is $2 per minute during closed times. The fees are due on the next pay day. If fees aren't paid by the 3rd day after payday, their contract will be terminated and no refunds, including the initial deposit will be given.
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flying_babyb 07:09 PM 07-02-2017
Originally Posted by CityGarden:
I have noticed parents will sit in the car and read a book to their child or will walk the block if they arrive early so I started putting a basket of books on the porch along with sturdy child size chairs so they can read to their child on the porch as a transition prior to coming in - I use the same method as my pick up transition to hand them back off to their parents. ( I would like to invest in a nice porch bench but it is not at the top of my wish list so will be purchased eventually.)
if your willing to diy: these two are easy builds. We have both in our back yard. Were under $50 to build.
http://www.ana-white.com/2017/06/DIY...ge-porch-bench
http://www.ana-white.com/2011/11/front-porch-bench
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Unregistered 09:08 PM 07-02-2017
Originally Posted by Snowmom:
Are you unlocking the door for them to arrive early? IMHO, that tells them you're ok with coming early.

My fee (although I don't unlock my door) is $2 per minute during closed times. The fees are due on the next pay day. If fees aren't paid by the 3rd day after payday, their contract will be terminated and no refunds, including the initial deposit will be given.
So should i just not let them in til their time? :/
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DaveA 04:19 AM 07-03-2017
Before I open- very strict. Door doesn't open till I do. I don't do early drop off.

As for late pickup/ grace period- depends on the family. I have late fees built into my contract and will enforce them. But I also will make exceptions to fit the situation. I have one DCF that DCM doesn't get off work till 430 (I close at 5)and has a 25-35 drive. Never had to use it, but I wouldn't start charging late fees till 510 in their case.
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Indoorvoice 04:49 AM 07-03-2017
I'm not as strict as I would like to be, but I have a pretty respectful group of parents right now. When I started having trouble with early drop offs when I had a different set of families , I sent out a notice that I would turn my porch light on when I was ready for families and that put a stop to the early drop offs right away. I know that totally depends on your group of parents though I have a new dck just for the summer that has been coming about 10 minutes early and I haven't set my foot down yet, but it's hard because she always picks up 15-20 minutes early so I'm just kind of letting it go since it's only 2 days a week for the summer I'm really bad at being strict. I would like to think if it was a more permanent family, I would lay down the law haha
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midaycare 05:13 AM 07-03-2017
Originally Posted by DaveA:
Before I open- very strict. Door doesn't open till I do. I don't do early drop off.

As for late pickup/ grace period- depends on the family. I have late fees built into my contract and will enforce them. But I also will make exceptions to fit the situation. I have one DCF that DCM doesn't get off work till 430 (I close at 5)and has a 25-35 drive. Never had to use it, but I wouldn't start charging late fees till 510 in their case.
This is me. At least half my parents work at least 25-30 min away. They work 8-5, and I'm open 7:30-5:30.

In Michigan, we have 2 seasons: winter and construction. We can have delays either way. I try not to be unreasonable about late pickups, but parents that are late, coming to my home in workout clothes? Hahahaha, no.
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midaycare 05:16 AM 07-03-2017
Before ever agreeing to early pickups, find out all the information. I was opening early for a family I had for 2 years. Dcd got a job in same town as dcm and they were going to carpool. I was opening 15-20 minutes early for them.

3 months into the new job I find out the location of dcds new job is literally right next door, same parking lot as dcm, who never had an issue dropping off on time.

My guess is they were making a Starbucks run. I put a stop to that immediately.
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amberrose3dg 05:33 AM 07-03-2017
Problem with late pickups is if you let them do it they will continue to do it. I have had to term because of abusing picking up on time.If you give an inch, they will take a mile.
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trix23 10:54 AM 07-03-2017
Mine haven't picked up late ever. Thankfully!

But maybe I'll start doing the porch light thing.
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CityGarden 11:46 AM 07-03-2017
Originally Posted by flying_babyb:
if your willing to diy: these two are easy builds. We have both in our back yard. Were under $50 to build.
http://www.ana-white.com/2017/06/DIY...ge-porch-bench
http://www.ana-white.com/2011/11/front-porch-bench
Oh my thanks for sharing both are nice but that first one has this non-handy lady considering a visit to Home Depot!!! I may PM you with questions along the way though
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CityGarden 11:50 AM 07-03-2017
Originally Posted by trix23:
Specifically for early drop-off, what are your polices? Charge if early?

For a 9am start time, client was 7 minutes early one day and 4 minutes early another.

If they don't pay the fee on time, how much is your late fee?
There is nothing to be strict about for early drop off just don't open the door. I can show up to Target 2 minutes early and the workers will just look at me and continue setting up and preparing for their day until opening.

If a parent rang my bell early I would open at the schedule time and if they said something I would respond something along the lines of:
"Sorry I did not hear the bell I was in a zone preparing for our day with the children, was there some sort of emergency prior to our opening time?"
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trix23 01:57 PM 07-03-2017
I open at 7am but dropoff times range from 8am-9am for current families. Today it happened with a family and i waited 3 minutes to open it til their time. Dad didn't say anything but i think he knew why i didn't get there sooner. Lol
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Snowmom 05:04 PM 07-03-2017
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
So should i just not let them in til their time? :/
It all depends on what's important to you.
If it bothers you, then yes, definitely keep the door locked. If they say something, then just state very matter-of-factly: "your contracted times are X-X. I am not available beyond those hours without prior consent."
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morningrl 10:15 AM 07-05-2017
I try to be strict as in $1 per min for early drop off and late pickup. I let it slide on a min or 2 if it only happens occasionally. I send out a reminder of my fee's if it starts happening more often with once or more parent. Then I charge the fee's. Most parents just say, oh sorry didn't notice and pay the fee and get back on track. Unfortunately I just lost a kid last week who's parent just wasn't ok with my strict time policy and pulled. Eeeks, didn't think that would ever happen but apparently it did. I even offered to give them 5 more min on their contract time without charge. But nope. They didn't like being told they had to drop off no earlier than their contract time.
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EntropyControlSpecialist 12:27 PM 07-05-2017
I mean what I say.

NO early drop off. I wont answer.

Late pick ups means $1/minute.
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Pestle 07:01 PM 07-05-2017
I open at 7am and nobody has thus far tried to drop off earlier than that.

$1/minute for late pick-ups. I tell parents, "Stay safe. If you get stuck in traffic or for some other reason don't realize you'll be late until you're already driving, don't contact me about it! Just focus on getting here safely." And I make it clear that I won't accept kids here when there are outstanding charges. If they come to the door the next day with the late payment, fine; otherwise, they have to take the kids with them to the bank.
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Meeko 07:04 AM 07-07-2017
Very strict. I don't work even one minute for free.
I have never had an early drop off problem....but late pick up became a problem even with a dollar a minute fee. Some parents obviously thought it was worth the fee.

I close at 6PM. Now, there is a $5 charge first off and then a dollar a minute thereafter. Late pick up stopped once they realized they were getting charged $5 for being a minute late!
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trix23 10:57 AM 07-07-2017
I charge $5 for every increment of 5 minutes late. $5 for 1 Minute late
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