Need Opinions On Memo To Parents Re: Late Payment

[AmyLeigh]

Okay, so I will admit that I have been a bit of a doormat for my families. They were all good friends before I started the daycare. Certain parents are consistently late on payment. They pay, just late. Every week. For a long time, the late pay was occasional, so it wasn't a big deal for me. Now that it is becoming a regular occurance, I am starting to get annoyed by it. That's the last thing I want. I love my families and don't want to have any negative feelings in our relationships. Here is the memo I am considering giving to the families.

Dear Friends,

Per our contract that we entered in upon enrollment, there is a $5.00 per calendar day late payment fee. I admit I have been lax about enforcing it.

As of January 1, 2012, the late fee will be strictly enforced.

I love having your children here and am looking forward to watching them grow.


Amy



I plan on talking to each of the families one on one before distributing the memo, so they will not feel ambushed by it.
I feel the need to put more into the conversation/memo such as I use the money to buy healthy foods for their children for the following week, and for craft supplies, toys, etc. As we all know, very little of what we earn actually goes into our pockets. But on the other hand, maybe I should just leave it as is.
What do you think? Thanks in advance.

[My Daycare]

I think it's great. It's short and to the point, but I don't know if parents will take you seriously because of the date. I think you should change it to now, rather than Jan.

[Just Saying]

Okay, so I will admit that I have been a bit of a doormat for my families. They were all good friends before I started the daycare. Certain parents are consistently late on payment. They pay, just late. Every week. For a long time, the late pay was occasional, so it wasn't a big deal for me. Now that it is becoming a regular occurance, I am starting to get annoyed by it. That's the last thing I want. I love my families and don't want to have any negative feelings in our relationships. Here is the memo I am considering giving to the families.

Dear Friends,

Per our contract that we entered in upon enrollment, there is a $5.00 per calendar day late payment fee. I admit I have been lax about enforcing it.

As of January 1, 2012, the late fee will be strictly enforced.

I love having your children here and am looking forward to watching them grow.


Amy



I plan on talking to each of the families one on one before distributing the memo, so they will not feel ambushed by it.
I feel the need to put more into the conversation/memo such as I use the money to buy healthy foods for their children for the following week, and for craft supplies, toys, etc. As we all know, very little of what we earn actually goes into our pockets. But on the other hand, maybe I should just leave it as is.
What do you think? Thanks in advance.

I always give my parents 1 get out of jail free card and I have them sign their get out of jail card and it is place in there file. Like my new DCM was late 8 minutes and she came in with her wallet and I said..."ummm" and she said "what do I owe you" and I said "this is your get out of jail free card and you need to sign it, BUT next time it is $1.00 per minute as stated in our contract. She is a sweetheart and was saying 100 times how sorry she was.

But I WILL charge her next time and she knows it!!


Dear Friends,

Per our contract that we entered in upon enrollment, there is a $5.00 per calendar day late payment fee. I admit I have let this slide a lot. But there will be no more get out of jail free cards for late payments.

As of November 21st, 2012, the late fee will be strictly enforced.

Please remember; How would you feel if your boss told you on several Friday's that he/she could not pay you???

I love having your children here and am looking forward to watching them grow.


Amy

[small_steps]

I always give my parents 1 get out of jail free card and I have them sign their get out of jail card and it is place in there file. Like my new DCM was late 8 minutes and she came in with her wallet and I said..."ummm" and she said "what do I owe you" and I said "this is your get out of jail free card and you need to sign it, BUT next time it is $1.00 per minute as stated in our contract. She is a sweetheart and was saying 100 times how sorry she was.

But I WILL charge her next time and she knows it!!


Dear Friends,

Per our contract that we entered in upon enrollment, there is a $5.00 per calendar day late payment fee. I admit I have let this slide a lot. But there will be no more get out of jail free cards for late payments.

As of November 21st, 2012, the late fee will be strictly enforced.

Please remember; How would you feel if your boss told you on several Friday's that he/she could not pay you???

I love having your children here and am looking forward to watching them grow.


Amy

Get out of jail free card...that's a good idea. I may have to use that idea.

[Christian Mother]

Me too!! I need to go out and find some coupons for xmas to give to the parents like: Free Date Night, Free Late Fee Waiver, Free Over Night, & Free Late Pick Up Waiver...hmmm Only these 4 though...hahah!! Anyone have a cute spread sheet they can send my way?!!

[daycare]

Dear xyz,


Prior to your child’s admission to our day care, we entered into an agreement that daycare fees are due and payable PRIOR to your child's attendance. All day care fees must be paid on the last day of the week that your child attends care, one week in advance wither they are present or not. You further agreed that if payment was not made in advance, your child would not be admitted to the daycare until all past fees, including late fees were brought up to date.


This is just a reminder of that agreement, and request for payments are made on time. Please understand that if fees are not paid in a timely manner, we are unable to pay our obligations, or meet the daily monetary requirements of running this family daycare. We only wish to provide the best care possible for your child, and, unfortunately, money is required to do so. Thank you for your understanding in this matter.
Currently your child’s daycare account has a past due balance of $31.00 that needs to be paid by_________________.

[AmyLeigh]

Please understand that if fees are not paid in a timely manner, we are unable to pay our obligations, or meet the daily monetary requirements of running this family daycare. We only wish to provide the best care possible for your child, and, unfortunately, money is required to do so. Thank you for your understanding in this matter.

LOVE IT!!
That statement says exactly the point I want to make. It is professional, yet friendly. Definitely am going to include this one!

[misspollywog]

Dear xyz,


Prior to your child’s admission to our day care, we entered into an agreement that daycare fees are due and payable PRIOR to your child's attendance. All day care fees must be paid on the last day of the week that your child attends care, one week in advance wither they are present or not. You further agreed that if payment was not made in advance, your child would not be admitted to the daycare until all past fees, including late fees were brought up to date.


This is just a reminder of that agreement, and request for payments are made on time. Please understand that if fees are not paid in a timely manner, we are unable to pay our obligations, or meet the daily monetary requirements of running this family daycare. We only wish to provide the best care possible for your child, and, unfortunately, money is required to do so. Thank you for your understanding in this matter.
Currently your child’s daycare account has a past due balance of $31.00 that needs to be paid by_________________.

Love this! Very professional. I do the prepay thing so haven't had to deal with late payments (whew). No pay, no play!

[AmyLeigh]

Ugghhh!!
Just gave out the letter to my worst offender. It is nice, professional, and I gave 2 weeks notice. I did tell her truthfully that she was not being singled out, because there are others that pay late, too. I didn't have the heart to give it to her yesterday, because she still hadn't gotten paid for last week, and her car needed repairs over the weekend, yada, yada, sob story. Okay, I get it. You don't have the money.

When I told her today, she looked irritated and made a veiled threat, very mild, but a threat nonetheless.
But what really irritates me is the fact that her ex-in-laws are paying the majority of her fee. (They were out of town last week, so they couldn't give her the money to pay me.) So she gets by paying $220 a MONTH for 2 kids, 4 days a week, one all day and one after school until 7:00 pm, dinner included. I want to tell her to try paying that for one week anywhere else.

I know most of it is bad timing, but really, she is irritated because she got paid late last week. Ummm...hello....I get paid late EVERY WEEK!

So, like hubby said, she will either start coughing up the money on time, pay lots in late fees, or decide to go somewhere else. I love the boys, but really, they cause me a lot of stress. They have definite issues from a rough home life. Thankfully I am no longer in a position where the loss (if she decides to go) would stress me financially.

Just had to get that off of my chest. I feel better now.

[nannyde]

Ugghhh!!
Just gave out the letter to my worst offender. It is nice, professional, and I gave 2 weeks notice. I did tell her truthfully that she was not being singled out, because there are others that pay late, too. I didn't have the heart to give it to her yesterday, because she still hadn't gotten paid for last week, and her car needed repairs over the weekend, yada, yada, sob story. Okay, I get it. You don't have the money.

When I told her today, she looked irritated and made a veiled threat, very mild, but a threat nonetheless.
But what really irritates me is the fact that her ex-in-laws are paying the majority of her fee. (They were out of town last week, so they couldn't give her the money to pay me.) So she gets by paying $220 a MONTH for 2 kids, 4 days a week, one all day and one after school until 7:00 pm, dinner included. I want to tell her to try paying that for one week anywhere else.

I know most of it is bad timing, but really, she is irritated because she got paid late last week. Ummm...hello....I get paid late EVERY WEEK!

So, like hubby said, she will either start coughing up the money on time, pay lots in late fees, or decide to go somewhere else. I love the boys, but really, they cause me a lot of stress. They have definite issues from a rough home life. Thankfully I am no longer in a position where the loss (if she decides to go) would stress me financially.

Just had to get that off of my chest. I feel better now.

So they are paying a total of 14 dollars a day for one all day kid until seven p.m. and one school aged kids for three plus hours until seven p.m.? That's got to be like a dollar an hour per kid and that's assuming the one that is there all day doesn't come in until later in the morning?

[AmyLeigh]

So they are paying a total of 14 dollars a day for one all day kid until seven p.m. and one school aged kids for three plus hours until seven p.m.? That's got to be like a dollar an hour per kid and that's assuming the one that is there all day doesn't come in until later in the morning?

You got it. That's her portion. Ain't I awful asking her to pay it on time? My mother always told me that people don't value things they are given as much as things they have to work for.
She is supposed to have an appointment for state assistance today. Surprise, surprise.
For all the crap I have put up with from her boys, she should be bending over backwards to make sure I am happy. Oh well. I have made peace with whatever the outcome will be. Today is her day off, so hopefully she will cool off and understand it from my perspective.

[daycare]

You got it. That's her portion. Ain't I awful asking her to pay it on time? My mother always told me that people don't value things they are given as much as things they have to work for.
She is supposed to have an appointment for state assistance today. Surprise, surprise.
For all the crap I have put up with from her boys, she should be bending over backwards to make sure I am happy. Oh well. I have made peace with whatever the outcome will be. Today is her day off, so hopefully she will cool off and understand it from my perspective.

one thing that you will have to learn... And i don't mean to sound rude to parents, but MOST parents are not grateful for their daycare providers. They will never show gratitude towards us or thank us for our services.

I have had one family call me their saving grace and others tell me that after 12 hours of care each day that I don't do enough...

You have to do this and the special things you do only for the kids. Parents will never see that you did special for them, because they all think they are entitled or deserving of special to begin with.