Please Give Me Your Late Pick Up Policy

[JenNJ]

A late fee will be charged for any pick up past your agreed contracted time. The fee is $1 per minute payable before the next day of care. Care will not be provided until all late fees are paid in full. Multiple late pick ups are grounds for immediate termination.

I do not charge late fees to make extra money, I charge them because I value time with my family alone in our home.

[snowball]

I charge $1/minute, due in cash, immediately. I never allow a grace period or waive late fees. Regardless fo the circumstances, I expect children to be pickedup on time, or to be paid for the extra time I put in
Parents who pick up late habitually will be terminated without notice.

This is my policy too.

[meganyoon]

I loved reading everyone's responses. I am in the process of starting my own daycare. This is the policy that I have come up with:

"If parent is going to be late picking up a child, every effort must be made to contact the provider. After 5:30 PM, a late pick-up fee of $1 per minute will be charged and billed to the child’s account balance."

I don't have any mercy either. When parents sign their contract and enroll, they understand (or they should!) you're expectations as a provider. It's not your problem if they are late!

[CountryRoads]

I do not do late fees because I don't want anyone to think it's an option to pick up past closing.
I don't have too many problems. Once in a while, someone will be like 2-3 minutes late and it's not a big deal. I will admit there's been a couple times when I wish I had it, like when dcm picked up 5 minutes past closing (without letting me know she would be late) because she had to pick up rolls from somebody
But I don't have too many issues. If I ever add in a fee, it would be $1 a minute, paid on the spot.

[Kimskiddos]

This is my late pick up policy. While I have enforced the fee, it is also a bit of a weakness for me also and rarely will I charge if they are less than 5 minutes late.

LATE PICK UP FEES

Parents are expected to pick up their child by the agreed upon dismissal time. A late fee charge of $10.00 for the first 10 minutes (or any part thereof) and $1.00 per minute starting 11 minutes after scheduled pick up time. If at least a two hour advance notice of a late pick up is received the fee will be $5.00 per 10 minutes (or any part thereof). Kim’s Kids Family Child Care closes at 5:00 p.m. All pickups must be completed by this time.
This late fee is due at pick up. If you need to arrange for extra hours before or after your regular scheduled hours, please speak to me, I will try and help when my schedule permits.

[BrynleeJean]

$1.00 for every minute past my closing time
my policy says its due that day upon picking up but i usually charge it to the tuition due at the end of that week.
common for my area though most don't enforce it as often as they should.
it only takes one late fee of 15 mins or so to make them realize I'm not playing with my family time and them magically theres not any more traffic. go figure. :roll eyes:

[MyAngels]

The only late pick up policy I've ever had is don't do it. It's worked great for over 25 years now.

[Blackcat31]

I adopted Nan’s policy....


Don’t.


It’s by far the easiest and least confusing policy to date.

[lovemykidstoo]

Yes, I would definately get rid of the 1/2 hr. grace period!! All my parents would defaintely use that to the fullest extent!! I have a 5 min. one, and they all use this to the fullest extent!!!

Plus blame a lateness on traffic instead of them just stopping to grab a gallon of milk or something.

[lovemykidstoo]

The only late pick up policy I've ever had is don't do it. It's worked great for over 25 years now.

That's what I do too. I work 10 hour days. I don't allow being late for any reason.

[MarinaVanessa]

Late pickups are one of my biggest pet peeves.

Here's mine:

Late Pick-Up Fee

Any pick-up arrival after your contract hours will result in a Late Pick-up fee of $20 for the first fifteen minutes and $1.00 for every minute thereafter which must be paid no later than at drop-off on your child’s next attendance day.

For example, if your scheduled pick up is at 4:00 p.m. but you do not leave my daycare home until 4:10 p.m, the appropriate late fee will apply for those 10 minutes.
Please see the “Late Pick Up” section for more information.

Late Pick-Ups
Clients must be respectful of my time, the needs of my own family and other obligations and must respect their contracted hours.

If your child is picked up later than your contracted pick-up time with no prior approval, I may have planned that time for other things and/or may not be present when you arrive to pick your child up. It will then be your responsibility to either go to my location to pick your child up or wait until I return, late fees will apply until the time that you retrieve your child.

Thirty minutes past your scheduled pickup time is considered excessively late and will require a meeting with me before a child may return to the daycare. Lateness of more than three occasions during the course of our contract is a significant problem and may be grounds for termination.

If you have a question or concern to discuss with me I am always happy to conference with you, but ask that you arrive early enough before your scheduled pick-up time or make an appointment with me so that there is enough time to talk.

[Jupadia]

I charge $1 per minute. If parent contacts me at least 15 min before they are late the fee changes to $10 per half hour with providers permission. I do this because traffic here can be really bad. We have some of the worse highway traffic, I know there are days my husband can get home 30 to 60 min late because of it. I also dont have parents that over use it at all. But I did add the line about providers permission so parents cant abuse the policy. It's only there for the times they actually get stuck. I originally made it $10 per hour but found that one parent (now gone) would only use it occasionally but then be the full hour every time. She would be running late but then stop to do an errand on the way since she had an hour. Now I find it's enough time for parents to deal with a hiccup on the road but not do anything else in between.

[littlefriends]

Late Pick Up: there will be a $1 per minute late fee for parents picking up their child(ren) after daycare has closed at 6pm. Little Friends Childcare is open from 7am to 6pm Mon thru Fri. If you arrive later than 6pm you will be given a late pick up notice the following morning with the total amount due that will need to be paid on Friday with the next week’s tuition. If the late pick up fee is not paid in full your child(ren) will not be allowed to attend until it has and is subject to an additional late payment fee as described above. There will be no exceptions for this policy. Calling or texting me to let me know that you are running late (while very much appreciated) will not waive this fee. As always, I am willing to work with you ahead of time if there are times that you know you will need care after 6pm but these times must be discussed with me BEFORE the date you will need after care and pre approved.

[hwichlaz]

Children that are still in care after their contracted pick up time will incur a $1 per minute fee until they leave the property with a guardian. The third time you are late without prior approval, you will have two weeks to find other care.