What Are Your Going Rates and Where Do You Live?

[dice401]

but I tell my families to check around and remember you will get what you pay for!!

That's completely true! There are several providers in my area that are charging much less than me, and they are always posting that they have more room!! To charge $250 less a month then myself and never have anyone take you up on it, leaves me a little worried about what they're like!

[TomCopeland]

Exactly! I looked through the website that Tom Copeland posted. It only mentioned "agreement".

"Price fixing occurs when two or more sellers agree that they will increase prices a certain amount, or that they won't sell below a certain price."

If 2 or more providers sit down and make an "agreement" to set their prices at a certain level, then it's price fixing. However, the question that the OP posted had nothing to do with making any agreements. The OP was just inquiring so she could have a better understanding of the "going rate" or "fair market value" of this type of service. That is NOT price fixing. It's called "market research". Whenever anyone starts a business, but is unaware of the current market value for those goods or services, the owner needs to do research to find out what is considered "fair" in that area. For example, my research told me that home daycare providers in my area charge $105-$150 per week for full time care for 1 child. Since I was considering charging $130 a week, I knew that I was on the right track and was not outside the "fair market value".

I just love how people twist the law and take it out of context. So I posted my rates. Anyone want to take me to court over it? I am very confident that I would prevail.

However, I will apologize to Tom Copeland. I did make a comment that was not fair to him. Someone (not him) posted that Mr. Copeland claims that any discussion of pricing between providers is illegal. Without questioning him myself, I claimed that he didn't know what he was talking about. I think his opinion or thoughts may have been misquoted or misunderstood. Then I jumped on that. Tom, I am sorry for assuming that you were under the belief that "market research" such as this is illegal. However, if you do interpret the law as saying that this is illegal (when someone is just inquiring but not making any agreements), then I would have to respectfully disagree. Next time, I will try to make sure I do not develop an opinion of one person based on the hearsay of another.

No need to apologize. The laws dealing with price fixing (anti-trust violation) are tricky. There is the federal law and individual state laws. Clearly, if two competitors got together and agreed to set their rates, this is illegal. But, it's also been found to be illegal if two competitors got together and discussed their rates, even though they didn't officially agree to set rates. This is what happened to a family child care association in Minnesota. The mere discussion of rates, without any formal agreement to raise rates, was determined by our state to be illegal. I can't speak for what would happen in other states, but I think providers should be sensitive to this point.

A provider who goes out to do market research by looking on websites or calling local CCRR is not violating any laws, because the information being sought is public. It's when a provider asks another provider in private about rates (when both parties know they are competitors) that there is trouble.

Posting your own rates on this website, or on your own website, or on a neon sign in your front window is perfectly okay because this information is public.

[TomCopeland]

tom...

i still want to now how you found out someone mentioned your name on here...

I just happened to be cruising the Internet and saw this web site. I was curious and starting reading some of the entries and saw my name. I couldn't resist responding.
So..... if you think you can talk about me without me finding out about it, forget it!

[Janet]

Where are you from in Michigan Janet?

I live in the Grand Rapids area. I was in the Detroit area, but we moved here like 6 years ago.

[happykidschildcare]

Washington state

Weekly Daycare Rates

infant to 24 mos $175
2 & up $150
b&a school $125

part time daily $35 w/ 3 day min

[misol]

Greenshadow - what part of VA are you in?

I am in Northern VA and the rates vary greatly in my area. I have seen as low as $100/wk and as high as $220/wk for in-home. I was paying $270 a week per kid at the center my kids went to.

with any new families coming in I am switching to charging the same rate regardless of age. Currently though, each of my families pay a different rate which was calculated based on the ages of the children and the number of hours in care. My rate includes 2 meals and 1 snack and we do preschool activities.

dcb 160
dcb 200
dcb 153 (includes sibling discount)
dcb $5/hr (drop in)

I charge $125 for part time (up to 22 hours) and $5/hr for drop in with a minimum of 4 hours.

[Former Teacher]

My book Family Child Care Marketing Guide is still in print (www.nafcc.org). It's illegal for competitors to discuss rates, but sharing rates on this forum is okay because you don't compete with someone from another state.

Wow..a famous person right here on our forum...I am speechless

[Unregistered]

Michigan Daycare

I also operate a licensed home daycare in MI and I charge $5 hr drop in,$30 per day PT or FT $140 infant,$125 Toddler,$100 school age. State of MI reimburses providers $2.90 hr.

[Abigail]

Is it necessary to charge rates according to age?

Opps, posted this is the wrong place. Can I delete this?

[Unregistered]

Moving to Mi. macomb cnty

I charge a daily rate of $25/day. It's been the same since I opened my doors about 6 years ago. I live in Michigan. I'm not sure what other Michiganders charge, but I do know that if you check Craig's List, there are people who are WAY cheaper than I am!

any chance youre near macomb county?

[TomCopeland]

rates

First, if anyone tells you that something is legal or illegal, always ask them to show you the law regarding that. Second, Mr. Copeland is full of it on this issue, especially in Michigan. I live in Michigan, too. I called DHS to inquire about the rates in my area to ensure that I was charging a fair rate. They sent me a list of the daycares in my zip code and what their rates were. The rates were even broken down by age group, PT/FT, etc. So, I know it is NOT illegal in MI to inquire about the rates of other daycares.

Plus, if it's price fixing, what about gas stations posting their prices on those great big signs? What about stores like Wal-Mart that scope out the prices of other stores to try to offer the most competetive prices? It's part of doing business in any industry. It's only price fixing if all the providers in your area got together and said, "hey, we want to charge $200 a week for all full-time kids, so let's all raise our rates together. Then the parents won't have a choice."

I charge $130 for FT (35-50 hours) and $3.50 an hour for part time. But I am rethinking this to account for longer days, second shifts, etc.

It's against federal law for competitors to discuss rates. It's called anti-trust violation or price fixing. Any business can advertise their rates to the public (gas stations) and child care agencies can share rates to the public. It's only when two or more competitors share rates privately that is against the law.

[Unregistered]

Trying to establish monthly rates for half day preschool.

Where I live the half day preschool rates vary enormously, anywhere from 125.00 a month to 300.00 a month. The lower rates are church based and perhaps subsidized by their main organization. I am trying to open a private, family based preschool. I have a teaching degree in Early Childhood Education and taught preschool for 6 years before desiring to open my own social service licensed preschool. I will meed from 9-noon 3 days a week and I will employ an assistant. I was thinking of charging 190./month and children will provide their own snacks in original warping to avoid any allergies so they will not be allowed to bring peanuts, tree nuts, chocolate (on child whose parents want to enroll him is is servery allergic) . etc.
Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you

[Unregistered]

so sorry for the typos in my above reply

I saw two typos. Very sorry!

[TomCopeland]

Price fixing?

I was told by Tom Copeland that asking another provider their rates is against the law. It's called price fixing.

That being said, I charge $160 a week based on 45 hours. Everything included except diapers. Centers around me charge $225.

It's only illegal to discuss rates with a competitor. So, if you don't live close enough to another provider to be a competitor, then sharing rate information is okay. If you only reveal on this website what state or city you are in, then it's unlikely that you will know if that person is your competitor because you don't know how close they live to you.

[TomCopeland]

Rates

I had a book by Tom Copeland that actually says to call daycare's and say that you are looking for daycare to get their rates ::. It was pretty old so maybe it was an old printing, I wish I still had that book so I could scan it and post it. This isn't the first time that I've heard of him saying this.

But when I did my orientation for licensing and when I took a workshop "The Business of Daycare" and the question was asked about what we should charge both licensing and the speakers (one was from licensing and the other was a tax consultant that specializes in daycares and centers) they both recommended calling daycare's in the area and asking what their rates were.

I want to know because I don't want to charge too little or too much for my service when compared to others of the similar kind.

My Family Child Care Marketing Guide is still in print and has a chapter about setting rates and talking about them. It's illegal to share information with a competitor (when both of you know that you are competitors). So, it's okay to call another provider and say, "I'm a parent looking for child care what do you charge?" But it's not okay to call up another provider and say, "I'm a provider in your neighborhood, what do you charge?"