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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Notice of early closing
TaylorTots 10:04 PM 04-30-2014
Does this sound ok? Do I need to change anything?
"On Tuesday, May 27th childcare will be closing at 12:00pm due to our son’s Kindergarten graduation ceremony. Childcare fees will be prorated at half rate for the day. Please make arrangements to have your child(ren) picked up by 12:00pm. Late fees of $5 per half hour with a minimum late fee of $5 will apply as outlined in the Parent Handbook. Thank you."
"On Tuesday, May 27th childcare will be closing at 12:00pm due to our son’s Kindergarten graduation ceremony. Childcare fees will be prorated at half rate for the day. Please make arrangements to have your child(ren) picked up by 12:00pm. Late fees of $5 per half hour with a minimum late fee of $5 will apply as outlined in the Parent Handbook. Thank you."
NightOwl 10:16 PM 04-30-2014
That's perfect. The only thing I would do differently is add the last two sentences as an "oh, by the way...." note after your signature. That way it's more of a reminder than an "I expect you fools to be late". Lol.
Josiegirl 02:51 AM 05-01-2014
Are you giving yourself enough leeway just in case some of those dcfs would rather pay late fees than arrive per your requests? If these are your normal late fees I'd up them to hopefully discourage lateness for this particular time. Maybe. 
LadyPearl 05:30 AM 05-01-2014
Your late fees should be more. $5 for 30 minutes might not be much of a consequence for some.
mountainside13 05:37 AM 05-01-2014
Originally Posted by LadyPearl:
Your late fees should be more. $5 for 30 minutes might not be much of a consequence for some.
Your late fees should be more. $5 for 30 minutes might not be much of a consequence for some.
I think the late fee should be higher too. $5 for 30 minutes isn't much.
CraftyMom 05:41 AM 05-01-2014
Your notice sounds good. But I wouldn't even add in the late fee part, it almost sounds like it's saying "its ok to be late but you'll pay a fee". In this case it is NOT ok to be late at all since you don't want to miss any of your son's graduation.
I like to give myself extra time just in case because someone is always late, you may have already done this.
You might consider something like "Please pick up your child NO LATER than 12:00. If you arrive past this time your payment will not be prorated and you will pay for the entire day" even if it's only 2 minutes. But even still, some might not mind paying and still be late.
Personally I wouldn't want them to think they had an option to be late
I like to give myself extra time just in case because someone is always late, you may have already done this.
You might consider something like "Please pick up your child NO LATER than 12:00. If you arrive past this time your payment will not be prorated and you will pay for the entire day" even if it's only 2 minutes. But even still, some might not mind paying and still be late.
Personally I wouldn't want them to think they had an option to be late
TaylorTots 05:54 AM 05-01-2014
Originally Posted by Josiegirl:
Are you giving yourself enough leeway just in case some of those dcfs would rather pay late fees than arrive per your requests? If these are your normal late fees I'd up them to hopefully discourage lateness for this particular time. Maybe.
Yep, the graduation is at 1:35, I need to leave by 1:20. If anyone is more than 30-45 minutes late and they aren't in the hospital with an emergency I would be terming anyway really, know what I mean?Are you giving yourself enough leeway just in case some of those dcfs would rather pay late fees than arrive per your requests? If these are your normal late fees I'd up them to hopefully discourage lateness for this particular time. Maybe.
I may need to raise late fees, but I had the issue of doing $1 per minute and I had parents reguarly 1-4 minutes late - so I made a $5 fee to cover anything up to a half hour. I like it because if mom needs to run to the grocery store I go to babysitter wages, etc.
I duno about the late fee change right now at least. I have been back and forth and have yet to find a solution I like or want to enforce.
midaycare 07:01 AM 05-01-2014
Originally Posted by CraftyMom:
Your notice sounds good. But I wouldn't even add in the late fee part, it almost sounds like it's saying "its ok to be late but you'll pay a fee". In this case it is NOT ok to be late at all since you don't want to miss any of your son's graduation.
Your notice sounds good. But I wouldn't even add in the late fee part, it almost sounds like it's saying "its ok to be late but you'll pay a fee". In this case it is NOT ok to be late at all since you don't want to miss any of your son's graduation.
This
TaylorTots 07:03 AM 05-01-2014
Ok, fixed! Thanks ladies.
Blackcat31 07:05 AM 05-01-2014
Originally Posted by TaylorTots:
Yep, the graduation is at 1:35, I need to leave by 1:20. If anyone is more than 30-45 minutes late and they aren't in the hospital with an emergency I would be terming anyway really, know what I mean?
I may need to raise late fees, but I had the issue of doing $1 per minute and I had parents reguarly 1-4 minutes late - so I made a $5 fee to cover anything up to a half hour. I like it because if mom needs to run to the grocery store I go to babysitter wages, etc.
I duno about the late fee change right now at least. I have been back and forth and have yet to find a solution I like or want to enforce.
I'm thinking of making late fees an automatic fee of $10 AND $1 per minute for the services provided during that time. Yep, the graduation is at 1:35, I need to leave by 1:20. If anyone is more than 30-45 minutes late and they aren't in the hospital with an emergency I would be terming anyway really, know what I mean?
I may need to raise late fees, but I had the issue of doing $1 per minute and I had parents reguarly 1-4 minutes late - so I made a $5 fee to cover anything up to a half hour. I like it because if mom needs to run to the grocery store I go to babysitter wages, etc.
I duno about the late fee change right now at least. I have been back and forth and have yet to find a solution I like or want to enforce.
That way if a parent is even one minute late the amount they would owe is $11...MORE than enough to detour late pick ups...especially since they shouldn't be late anyways...kwim?
I also multiply my fees for each late occurrence so the second time they were late, the fee would be $22
After the third late pick up in 12 months, termination is considered.
TaylorTots 10:13 AM 05-01-2014
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
I'm thinking of making late fees an automatic fee of $10 AND $1 per minute for the services provided during that time.
That way if a parent is even one minute late the amount they would owe is $11...MORE than enough to detour late pick ups...especially since they shouldn't be late anyways...kwim?
I also multiply my fees for each late occurrence so the second time they were late, the fee would be $22
After the third late pick up in 12 months, termination is considered.
That's not a bad idea! I like that alteration. I know that $1 per minute wasn't making a difference to the parents - I was constantly adding $1-2 onto fees and it just drove me nuts that they didn't care - it was rude that they were late etc. but they saw it as ok since they were paying the fee. I'm thinking of making late fees an automatic fee of $10 AND $1 per minute for the services provided during that time.
That way if a parent is even one minute late the amount they would owe is $11...MORE than enough to detour late pick ups...especially since they shouldn't be late anyways...kwim?
I also multiply my fees for each late occurrence so the second time they were late, the fee would be $22
After the third late pick up in 12 months, termination is considered.
The $5 has had a better effect. I have maybe one parent late per week since I changed it - I have just never closed early. I usually take the day off (unpaid) but I wanted to try out a early closing to see if it works (as I can easily make doctor and whatnot appointments at 3:30-4:00pm and close a little early if the parents demonstrate they can be here punctually at an early close.