Snow Removal and DCFamilies

[hgonzalez]

Ugh....
I live in a very sowy part of the country. I am a single Mom and my children are grown and off to college, so they are not here to help me clear snow from my driveway and sidewalk.

I hired a person to plow my driveway by 7 am if it snows more than 2 inches. He also does the sidewalk at that point. If it is less than that, I shovel my sidewalks and a path to the street for parents to walk up to my house.
My drop offs start at 7 am, and the city plows have been coming between 7 and 8. After they plow, the end of my driveway is full of snow. There is NOTHING I can do about this. I cannot leave children inside of my house to go out and shovel again. It would cost me an additional $ 20.00 to have the person come back out and plow again.

My parents have been super whiny about this. I keep telling them that if their safety is at risk, they can always pull into my driveway. But instead they complain about how much snow the plow has dumped at the end of the driveway.

What do the rest of you do about this? I understand that it is difficult to climb over the snow, but there is not much I can do about it once children start arriving. It is also usually too cold here to bring them outside with me.
:confused:

[WoodOx]

Yea, I hate it when the city plows the street and blocks my drive way, and to top it off it makes it easier to get stuck
my solution is to shovel as much snow from the street towards my driveway, that way when the city comes to plow, they won't get so much snow in front of my drive way. of course i do this before the kids show up, and if I can't then too bad. I have never had parents complain to me about parking in snow, My house isn't the ONLY place with snow

[laundrymom]

I agree with them& offer to give them a shovel if they would like to clear it for me, or it will have to wait until I get off work.

[MyAngels]

I agree with them& offer to give them a shovel if they would like to clear it for me, or it will have to wait until I get off work.

This, or raise your rates on the crabby ones to pay the extra for the snow removal guy to do it.

[MamaG]

My mom lives on a busy street that always get plowed and she ends up with 4 feet of snow at the end of her drive! She bought a truck, 4x4, now she can just drive thru it. She can't shuvle it all by herself. I have an ally it doesn't get plowed, not sure witch is worse really . I vote for moving to Texas personally .

You could simply explain the kids can't come out while you shuvle, who'd be watching them? And they can't stay inside alone either. I love suggesting they shuvle it for you! But if it were me I'd **** it up and pay the guy to come fix it. $20 is not bad really, they'd charge lots more here. It's tax deductible.

[daycarediva]

My mom lives on a busy street that always get plowed and she ends up with 4 feet of snow at the end of her drive! She bought a truck, 4x4, now she can just drive thru it. She can't shuvle it all by herself. I have an ally it doesn't get plowed, not sure witch is worse really . I vote for moving to Texas personally .

You could simply explain the kids can't come out while you shuvle, who'd be watching them? And they can't stay inside alone either. I love suggesting they shuvle it for you! But if it were me I'd **** it up and pay the guy to come fix it. $20 is not bad really, they'd charge lots more here. It's tax deductible.

Im thinking she means she already paid him $20, and would have to pay an additional $20. If it needs to be done 2x in a week, that's $80.

I live where it snows too (we just got 2 1/2 ft last night that took 45 minutes to clear and the city will come plow the roads in 15 minutes and leave me with a blocked driveway). I sent a notice home with parents that although you understand their frustration, there isn't much you can do about it. I have dd shovel when she gets home from school at 3, which helps with pickups in the evening. But if you arrive after 8, bring boots!

[MamaG]

I understand what she meant. I just would prefer to pay that small fee then to lose clients or be sued because someone fell. Why not have him come right after the city? Are more kids dropped off before or after that? You could pick a time that'd please the majority and unless it snows a lot during the day it'd be clear at pickup. $20 is nothing to come plow, you couldn't get a guy or gal to even come over for $20 here. It isn't very professional to have DCF's trudging thru feet of snow with little ones in tow. That's my opinion and its not changing. The guy offered a very reasonable price to touch it up and even if she had to pay him 5 days a week to do it that's such a small fraction of your daily income, and tax deduct able.

[countrymom]

could you call a student to come and do it. I would pay the 20 dollars and get it done. I live on a busy street and it happens here. I'm lucky dh has a atv with a plow but I have to wait till he comes home to do it. could you also pay a parent to do it.

[JenNJ]

Can you ask a neighbor to do it and you will shovel their walk when you are up before 7am doing yours?

[KEG123]

I am literally unable to shovel, like ever. I am a single mom with 2 small children (14m and 4 years) and the little one screams her head off when I go to the basement to do laundry, let alone go outside to shovel. Luckily it has only snowed once and I shoveled while they were buckled in their carseats in the van... but i don't look forward to more snow. I'd let the parents know where the shovel and salt was if it was a huge issue. There is only so much you are able to do and shame on them for not being more understanding.

[MNMum]

Depending on my group for the day and the temps, we may all go outside in the front drive and I shovel a path for the parents to walk through if I'm able. Otherwise, I leave shovels by the front door, parents are welcome to use them. My husband plows us out, but the plow always comes between drop off and pickup times and plows us back in...

[itlw8]

tell the crabby ones they can pay you extra for the guy to come back and shovel or you will leave the shovel out for them to use to help the other parents. I trained a middle school boy to do it and then his parents moved LOL

[Blackcat31]

Same thing happens here. NONE of my parents have ever complained.

I do however, have a really nice DCD this year who happily grabs the shovel and will make a path just big enough for everyone to walk through. My DH will plow before I open in the morning and then again when he comes back for lunch.

Some days I am really lucky and the guy that does the plowing for the city in my neighborhood will lift the blade so there is no ridge in front of my driveway, or he will just outright plow the snow away from my drive for me. (I suppose it helps that he is family )

I take my DCK's outside a majority of the time and will shovel it myself. If I could get a second job shoveling, I would! I lovethis shoveling snow! It can be peaceful and relaxing.

In all my years in business, I have really only had one child who HATED going outside. The rest of my DCK's have ALL loved going outside no matter what age they are.

[crazydaycarelady]

I clear the snow and spread salt before anyone comes but that is really all I can do. If it snows more I will sweep of short sidewalk from my driveway to the house. None of my parents complain either. What the heck do they expect?

[MarinaVanessa]

Ugh....
I live in a very sowy part of the country. I am a single Mom and my children are grown and off to college, so they are not here to help me clear snow from my driveway and sidewalk.

I hired a person to plow my driveway by 7 am if it snows more than 2 inches. He also does the sidewalk at that point. If it is less than that, I shovel my sidewalks and a path to the street for parents to walk up to my house.
My drop offs start at 7 am, and the city plows have been coming between 7 and 8. After they plow, the end of my driveway is full of snow. There is NOTHING I can do about this. I cannot leave children inside of my house to go out and shovel again. It would cost me an additional $ 20.00 to have the person come back out and plow again.

My parents have been super whiny about this. I keep telling them that if their safety is at risk, they can always pull into my driveway. But instead they complain about how much snow the plow has dumped at the end of the driveway.

What do the rest of you do about this? I understand that it is difficult to climb over the snow, but there is not much I can do about it once children start arriving. It is also usually too cold here to bring them outside with me.
:confused:

Can you offer the first family that shows up in the morning a small tuition break per day if they shovel a space big enough to walk through? They don't have to shovel the whole driveway opening just a break in the wall of snow that's big enough for your DC families to walk through.

I was just thinking like $4 a day only on the days that it's needed. That turns out to be a discount of $20 a week but it's better than $20 a day on top of what you already pay the other guy for snow removal. And of course you tell the DCP that it will only be paid on the days that it's needed. You can leave a shovel outside on the days that you want it cleared as a signal that it's ok to shovel. Who knows ... some clients might be tempted to take you up on your offer and whoever gets there first and does it gets the discount. If they don't want to do it then obviously they don't really care about the snow being there.

Another option would be to offer the families to have the snow removal guy come back after the city plow came to remove the snow and evenly split the cost among your families.... or at least among the families that this is a problem for.

Can you maybe change the time that the guy shows up to do your house so that he starts a little later? I know your house probably isn't his only house that the guy shovels and he probably has other clients and a schedule to keep so this might not be an option but if he can start a little later and do your driveway first, then your sidewalk during the time that the city plow comes through then he can clear the wall out last. But then again your clients might show up at 7am and the city plow not till 8am and you can't have the guy sit around for an hour waiting.

You can also ask them whet THEY do to get their driveways and sidewalks cleared. I'm curious to know how many of your families shovel or pay someone to shovel their driveways and sidewalks every morning before coming to your DC. How many of them would rather just leave the snow most mornings and simply walk in the snow to get to their cars?

I think your snow problem is just like any other DC problem. Clients may complain about something as long as it doesn't effect them but if the solution somehow involves them somehow by either having to do it themselves or having to pay a little extra out of pocket for it then you might be surprised to find that suddenly it's not such a big problem anymore.

**PS: Just thinking about your liability issues here. I could be wrong but if a client falls walking through the snow wall and you can show that you already pay for snow removal of your driveway and sidewalks and that the client fell walking through the snow wall created by the city and fell on city property I doubt your clients could win. I mean it's not like you're being negligent and if the only snow that's left for them to fall on is that wall blocking the driveway and sidewalks isn't that in the street? I mean even if the client fell on the sidewalk that's not your property ... it's city property so I'm assuming it's the city's problem. Just thinking out loud here.