Late Pick Pp Fee's

[tenderhearts]

In my contract I do have a fee for late pickups, it doesn't bother me if they are late picking up BEFORE my closing time as long as they call me and let me know they are going to be late. However at my closing time I don't want late pickups. I know that a few min. is normal I suppose.

I have a new daycare mom well newest she has been with me for 2 mo now and she is always pushing it, literally. Like int he first couple weeks it was always 5:05, then it started creeping later to like 5:10 or more, after a couple days of this I said I know things happen on occassion but I really need you to pick up by my closing time and she gave me some excuse that she thought I closed later than I did, ok fine so how you would misunderstand that I don't know but she says she did. I like this mom and all I do think she's a little out there and seems very frazzled alot of the time, but I always tell my clients in the interview that I am very firm on my pick up times.
So she started coming better by the closing time. Now it's creeping back to the 5 - 6 min after,with one day last week being 5:07 and 5:10 she was offering the late fee but I hate doing that, however I did accept it and have told her on 3 different occassions when it was like 10 -15 min late that she needed to pay the late fee, she is always fine with it and told me whenever she owes it to let her know. So here's my problem, I don't know when I should start the late fee, my contract says after my closing time it's $5.00 every 15 min starting at 5:00, so I should be charging her even if she's 5 min late but like I said I feel like that's being too nit picky, but I don't want her coming after the 5:05, later I have no problem charging, like 5:10.
She appears to not mind paying the late fee so what do I do, just tell her again when she's more than 5 min late to come by my closing time? Or just keep charging her and hope she gets tired of paying the extra fee? I can't afford to lose any more kids.
My new contract states after 5:05 it's late and it's $1.00 per minute after that. It seems easier, I wish she was on that one.

[MsKara]

I would explain to her that you have changed your policy with late fees and you want to have everyone on the same set of policies. Have her sign a new contract with your new late fee policy.

[My4SunshineGirlsNY]

It's frustrating when you get those that don't mind paying the late fee when the intention of the late fee is to prevent anyone from being late.

I have one mom, who just started last month..the one that irritates me with dropping off without seeing me and had her son in her running car, that disrespects my closing time of 5p.m.. I have a late fee of only $4/hour with a one hour min. (I know, WAY TOO cheap!)...and never charged her when she was picking up at 5:10-5:20, which she has done a handful of times in the month that I started her son. I should have been consistant from the get go....

but Friday she showed up at 5:10...her son is the last one here and my kids were waiting ALL day long to use the pool...I close at 5, that is MY family time and my kids had to wait longer just for her to show up. So that was enough for me to say enough is enough, I added on the extra $4 to her total. Well today the father picks up the boy at 4:50 and he NEVER has picked him up before so that must of been enough for the mom to understand that I close at 5.

[tenderhearts]

Sounds like she got the hint, hopefully it sticks. With this mom when it's been after 5:10, her shoes on, backpack on waiting with her out front on the porch, still no hint, she runs up here oh I'm sorry I'm sorry, come one hurry, then 3 different occassions our daughter had some senior projects and we had to be there by 5:30, 2 of my family members were waiting in the car while the other one was out with me waiting on the porch, as she pulled in at 5:14 my daughter got in the car, she knew we were leaving and still no hint. It hasn't been that late but it was 5:10 last thur and 5:07 last mon. she called thursday and told me she was stuck in traffic, she doesn't work no excuse, so frustrating.

[momofboys]

Sounds like she got the hint, hopefully it sticks. With this mom when it's been after 5:10, her shoes on, backpack on waiting with her out front on the porch, still no hint, she runs up here oh I'm sorry I'm sorry, come one hurry, then 3 different occassions our daughter had some senior projects and we had to be there by 5:30, 2 of my family members were waiting in the car while the other one was out with me waiting on the porch, as she pulled in at 5:14 my daughter got in the car, she knew we were leaving and still no hint. It hasn't been that late but it was 5:10 last thur and 5:07 last mon. she called thursday and told me she was stuck in traffic, she doesn't work no excuse, so frustrating.

You SHOULD NOT feel guilty for charging her even if it is just a few minutes late. The verbage of my late fees read that I chage __X amount__
for 20 extra minutes of my time OR any part of 20 minutes. I would outright tell her thought that you can no longer accept late pick-ups. It infringes on your family time too much, even if it is just a few minutes. It's irritating I know. I would also change your policy to read that if a parent picks up late with no advance notice it is grounds for termination. I am not sure if you want to go that far but I hate late pick-upers. It's so annoying!

[My4SunshineGirlsNY]

Sounds like she got the hint, hopefully it sticks. With this mom when it's been after 5:10, her shoes on, backpack on waiting with her out front on the porch, still no hint, she runs up here oh I'm sorry I'm sorry, come one hurry, then 3 different occassions our daughter had some senior projects and we had to be there by 5:30, 2 of my family members were waiting in the car while the other one was out with me waiting on the porch, as she pulled in at 5:14 my daughter got in the car, she knew we were leaving and still no hint. It hasn't been that late but it was 5:10 last thur and 5:07 last mon. she called thursday and told me she was stuck in traffic, she doesn't work no excuse, so frustrating.

This would frustrate me and I would have a hard time keeping a mom like this...I'm holding on by a thread with this mom I have that shows up late and irritates me with a few issues.

[momma2girls]

Sounds like she got the hint, hopefully it sticks. With this mom when it's been after 5:10, her shoes on, backpack on waiting with her out front on the porch, still no hint, she runs up here oh I'm sorry I'm sorry, come one hurry, then 3 different occassions our daughter had some senior projects and we had to be there by 5:30, 2 of my family members were waiting in the car while the other one was out with me waiting on the porch, as she pulled in at 5:14 my daughter got in the car, she knew we were leaving and still no hint. It hasn't been that late but it was 5:10 last thur and 5:07 last mon. she called thursday and told me she was stuck in traffic, she doesn't work no excuse, so frustrating.

I start getting shoes, coats, and whatever else on at 4:20 - 4:25, pickup is at 4:30. There are many times I have to be out the door myslef for children's activities at 4:40--

[momofboys]

It's frustrating when you get those that don't mind paying the late fee when the intention of the late fee is to prevent anyone from being late.

I have one mom, who just started last month..the one that irritates me with dropping off without seeing me and had her son in her running car, that disrespects my closing time of 5p.m.. I have a late fee of only $4/hour with a one hour min. (I know, WAY TOO cheap!)...and never charged her when she was picking up at 5:10-5:20, which she has done a handful of times in the month that I started her son. I should have been consistant from the get go....

but Friday she showed up at 5:10...her son is the last one here and my kids were waiting ALL day long to use the pool...I close at 5, that is MY family time and my kids had to wait longer just for her to show up. So that was enough for me to say enough is enough, I added on the extra $4 to her total. Well today the father picks up the boy at 4:50 and he NEVER has picked him up before so that must of been enough for the mom to understand that I close at 5.

I would seriously consider raising that late fee. $4 hr is nothing to most people & most parents would consider that so cheap that they would not make it a priority to be on time. My late fee now is $10 for every half an hour or ANY PART of half an hour.

[momma2girls]

I would seriously consider raising that late fee. $4 hr is nothing to most people & most parents would consider that so cheap that they would not make it a priority to be on time. My late fee now is $10 for every half an hour or ANY PART of half an hour.

I agree with this post- I used to have a late fee of $5.00 per 15 min. I had parents pay this all the time, they thought nothing of it, an extra $10.00!! I did increase it to $10.00 per 15 min. and it stopped.

[tenderhearts]

Thanks, so would you say something or charge if it's always 3-5 min late even? I updated my contract just a few weeks ago and I have that starting 5:05 it's $1.00 per minute, but I know she will always be at least 5 min late. I gave the 5 min grace period just because I know stuff happens. Should i not even have a grace period? Also her contract (my old one) it's $5.00 every 15 min. after close. So I can charge $5 bucks even if she's just a few min late. I'm thinking that I'm going to change it to each min. past 5:00 is late and not do the grace period. It's just so irritating, because like I said we've had her ready in the driveway and I've said I was suppose to leave already and we get in the car a go and she just doesn't seem to get the hint. One good thing is her dad will be picking up 2 days a week and he doesn't appear that he would be late so hopefully not.
I think if she's late again tonight I'll say something. She mentioned yesterday that it would be either herself or her daughter pick her up, well her daughter gets off of work at 5:00 so obviously she'd be late. I had a dilema so I couldn't ask at the moment, so after she left and I took care of the issue I called her and said, I just wanted to be sure your daugher knew she had to pick up by 5:00, well she picked her up (5:04) so I took as though her daughter wouldn't have been able to.
I just don't get why she's late, she doesn't work yet.

[momma2girls]

Thanks, so would you say something or charge if it's always 3-5 min late even? I updated my contract just a few weeks ago and I have that starting 5:05 it's $1.00 per minute, but I know she will always be at least 5 min late. I gave the 5 min grace period just because I know stuff happens. Should i not even have a grace period? Also her contract (my old one) it's $5.00 every 15 min. after close. So I can charge $5 bucks even if she's just a few min late. I'm thinking that I'm going to change it to each min. past 5:00 is late and not do the grace period. It's just so irritating, because like I said we've had her ready in the driveway and I've said I was suppose to leave already and we get in the car a go and she just doesn't seem to get the hint. One good thing is her dad will be picking up 2 days a week and he doesn't appear that he would be late so hopefully not.
I think if she's late again tonight I'll say something. She mentioned yesterday that it would be either herself or her daughter pick her up, well her daughter gets off of work at 5:00 so obviously she'd be late. I had a dilema so I couldn't ask at the moment, so after she left and I took care of the issue I called her and said, I just wanted to be sure your daugher knew she had to pick up by 5:00, well she picked her up (5:04) so I took as though her daughter wouldn't have been able to.
I just don't get why she's late, she doesn't work yet.

No, I would never do a grace period, or they will always take advantage of it!!

[momofboys]

Thanks, so would you say something or charge if it's always 3-5 min late even? I updated my contract just a few weeks ago and I have that starting 5:05 it's $1.00 per minute, but I know she will always be at least 5 min late. I gave the 5 min grace period just because I know stuff happens. Should i not even have a grace period? Also her contract (my old one) it's $5.00 every 15 min. after close. So I can charge $5 bucks even if she's just a few min late. I'm thinking that I'm going to change it to each min. past 5:00 is late and not do the grace period. It's just so irritating, because like I said we've had her ready in the driveway and I've said I was suppose to leave already and we get in the car a go and she just doesn't seem to get the hint. One good thing is her dad will be picking up 2 days a week and he doesn't appear that he would be late so hopefully not.
I think if she's late again tonight I'll say something. She mentioned yesterday that it would be either herself or her daughter pick her up, well her daughter gets off of work at 5:00 so obviously she'd be late. I had a dilema so I couldn't ask at the moment, so after she left and I took care of the issue I called her and said, I just wanted to be sure your daugher knew she had to pick up by 5:00, well she picked her up (5:04) so I took as though her daughter wouldn't have been able to.
I just don't get why she's late, she doesn't work yet.

I would give the mom a new policies page effective today that states that you can no longer tolerate late pick-ups. From today on there will also be NO grace period. Anytime utilized after 5:00 pm are considered overtime whether planned in advance or not. Here's what my new policy states:

"Anytime before or after your contracted timeframes listed above must be arranged in advance. If you believe you will be late for pick-up or drop-off, please notify me. I reserve the right to charge a late fee ($10.00/for every half hour or any part of half an hour whether planned in advance or not) for habitual late pick-ups or for overtime planned in advance. I understand that sometimes traffic/weather will be bad & there is no way to avoid a late pick-up. If lateness is not habitual I will be lenient & likely not charge a late fee. If you have a meeting or doctor's/dentist's appt after work & know in advance that you will be late please give me some advance notice. Please be respectful of my time with my family by abiding by these guidelines."

[tenderhearts]

Thanks, I thought about that too the grace period, I have never had problems before except with the daycare dad I've had issues with. Thankgoodness he learned and hasn't done it anymore. I just hate when one person doesn't follow the contract. Especially when you've said something and you've dropped the biggest hint that she has inconvenienced you. Duh but like I said she's a little "out there". Well I think I'll retype up my late pick up policy. thanks for all your help.

[skittles]

My late pick up fee is a dollar a minute after the first fourteen minutes. My parents have a 14 minute "grace period" if they are stuck in traffic ect.. I purposely started closing 1/2hr early when I redid my contracts so I could build this into my program. Now if they are late I charge them the fee and I don't mind so much because I am use to working on my "old time" (which they are not aware of). I only have one family that has been charged once but they still come past closing (which is 5pm) use to be 5:30pm but I would still have kids at my house until 6pm and sometimes 6:30pm.

[missnikki]

Here's my late fee, as found in my policy handbook:

5. Late Pick-up Fees (after hours): Parents picking up children after 6:00 p.m. will be charged a late fee of $1.00 per minute, per child with no cap. Late fees are payable in cash to the closing teacher upon pick up. Unpaid late pick up fees will be billed to the child’s account balance. Upon three or more late pick ups, a penalty of $30 will be billed in addition to applicable per-minute fees. If an unforeseen circumstance will prevent timely pick up of your child, please call to notify staff at (phone number) as soon as possible.

When parents show up 5 mintues late with starbucks in hand, they oughtta know that $5 won't be worth it. They get 2 chances to get off with just a dollar a minute. We all have things to do and believe me, your kids are great but we watch that clock!!!