Unregistered 11:59 AM 06-01-2012
Hi in September I will have been doing daycare for a year. I was wondering if it is unfair to have a yearly price increase or if that isn't something day-cares do? I was thinking of increasing $5.00 a week and am charging new incomers the increase rate. I would like to do this every September as a cost of living raise. What are your thoughts? I do daycare in the state of New York. Thank you for your help!
SunflowerMama 12:05 PM 06-01-2012
I have a $1/day increase each January. I just have a full time rate so it just goes up $5/week each year.
Abigail 12:33 PM 06-01-2012
I plan on keeping mine the same right now. I started up with higher rates but it is helping me buy a lot of things to start up with. I would recommend you raise rates slowly, like the $5/week or instead of raising rates add a week of paid vacation or sick days or eliminate any free days parents get. In the end it works out. I already have 15 paid closed days so I don't think I'll add to those next year. I feel like I'm doing very well and am happy. That is what matters!
Unregistered 01:54 PM 06-01-2012
Originally Posted by SunflowerMama:
I have a $1/day increase each January. I just have a full time rate so it just goes up $5/week each year.
Thank you that is what I was planning! Appreciate it! We are definitely worth a $5.00 a week raise yearly!
momofsix 05:32 PM 06-01-2012
I have never raised rates on current families.
What I do is when a new family comes in, then I will give them a higher rate than the current families. So I get a raise, but the families never have a rate increase. That also means some people are paying different fees than others, but it's never been a problem for me.
It's just what has worked for me.
There may come a time when that will have to change though-it's not something I promise my families or anything
Abigail 05:41 PM 06-01-2012
Originally Posted by momofsix:
I have never raised rates on current families.
What I do is when a new family comes in, then I will give them a higher rate than the current families. So I get a raise, but the families never have a rate increase. That also means some people are paying different fees than others, but it's never been a problem for me.
It's just what has worked for me.
There may come a time when that will have to change though-it's not something I promise my families or anything
How often do you have new families enrolling? What is the difference between your lowest vs. highest current rates?
Only for new clients. Old ones stay the same unless they've been with me a long time (maybe 5-6 years), then I will give them a small raise.