No Call/No Show Fee...

[Former Teacher]

Yes you make perfect sense!

I agree 100%. If the parents have been notified of an outing or something for that day, I don't think I'd wait. they know when they're supposed to be here. They signed the form. I'm not ruining the other kids' days because you're irresponsible. The parents of my daycare kids don't get refunds for the days that they are no-shows (luckily, since I'm new, I haven't had any no-shows yet but I'm sure it'll come). This is stated in my policy booklet. In the case of an outing that they had to pay for, they wouldn't get that refunded either. Period.

As for charging an inconvenience fee ... I dunno about that. But then I also don't make parents pay to hold a space unless their schedules are irratic, like so many other places do. I tend to agree with the statement that they are already paying for the day anyway so there's no sense adding an additional fee to that.

I understand that it's a huge pain in the butt to get up early when you don't have to - I'd be furious to be getting up at 5:30 only to have someone not show up, and the parents would definitely hear about it the following day. But still, you're getting paid for the day anyway, so if it were me I'd just be glad to have a quieter day and take the free money as it is without adding another fee on top of it.

.... I hope that makes sense .....

Amanda, you sound like a great provider. True I too would be upset about the getting up early etc, but hey I agree, take advantage of it!

My beef about the no show/no call deal is that, a provider is already being paid for their time whether or not a parent uses it. I have read some handbooks online that are quite funny about this. A provider would say something like ok your contract states your child is to be here from 7-3 etc. After 3:00 you are to pick up your child. No running errands, going to the gym, this is MY TIME, yadda yadda (not in so many words!). Funny thing is, you can not control that. Parents are paying for it. IMO the parent can use their slot anyway they want. Do I agree with dropping off a 2 month old so the mother can go back to bed? NO of course not. Do I agree with the father dropping off his 4 year old at 630 because the child woke up early? Again no of course not. However it was my job and it paid my bills.

Naturally like many if not all providers I do agree its a matter of respect to the caregiver that should be given should a child not be there. I have called many a parent in my time in a center just because I was worried or we were overstaffed etc. Would it tick me off had I known that Johnny wouldn't be in at all, that I couldn't have gone home at 12:30 instead of 6:30? Yes. There again, parents are paying for the slots. And your bills (used to be mine as well! )

[mac60]

I charge whether the child is here or not. I also set my weekly rate based on the times/hours the parents say they are going to need me. I will charge a little less for someone who only needs 8 hours of care verses someone who needs 10 hours of care. Like 6:30 to 3:15. If a parent decides to go grocery shopping and run errands and doesn't pick up till 4:30, I am basically caring for their child for free, that last 1.25 hours, as I based their rate on the hours they said they would need me, which was 6:30 to 3:15, not till 4:30 so they can go do their thing. Hope that made sense.

I still agree that parents need to pick their kids up when they are done with work, and take them to run their errands and shopping. I do have stated in my handbook I am here to care for yor child while you are at work.

[SimpleMom]

For myself, it's not about the money. I don't currently charge a no show fee, but I'm not against it. It's more or less the lack of knowing who's coming or going. It's hard to know and if I don't have anyone scheduled for the day until 9 am I really like to know if they will be late. That way I can get in a trip to the grocery store or run an errand for one of my own children that may be easier to do, etc.

The fee would be more for keeping parents accountable for letting me know in advance that they will be late or not here at all.

I used to work in a center, too. I never understood the business aspects and some of the policies and it used to bother me as well--until I opened up my own daycare. Now, I get it a little more.

[SimpleMom]

All this wining is inane. You people are trying to double charge for services. If they don't show up and you get paid, forget about it. Don't charge them am additional fee because you didn't have to work. That is idiocy.

You get paid to provide a service, not have convenience for yourself. Wake up, cook the pancakes, and eat them yourself if no one shows up. Otherwise, go work on an assembly line and you can have a reasonable set schedule.

Not to be rude, BUT, the only whining I have seen is on the part of having to pay an extra fee for being disrespectful. Every business has their wierd unexplainable fees. Get over that and follow the policies agreed upon and, yes, life does go on.

The 'whining' as you call it is only people trying to explain an answer to a question they were asked about. It's a cold/hot question. Not much of a middle ground on the issue that's all.

[mac60]

I don't charge a fee either if they don't call. I don't even charge fees if their late. But in the end, it is the respect issue as a whole that bothers me.

[sweetcinna]

I also do not charge a no call/no show fee. I charge a flat rate whether your child is here or not, I also have set times for breakfast, lunch and snacks, if your child is not here during those times......well then its up to you to feed them. I have turned parents away for this.....example, Breakfast is from 7am to 8:30am, if you bring your child and they have not been fed, then they don't eat till snack or you need to take your child home or wherever and feed them. I don't do outings cause i do take infants but when i worked in the center and there was an outing planned, we did not wait, the child that was brought late spent that time in another class.

[Unregistered]

It is not about the money as many have said but it is about the money you will be spending on extra staff that you have scheduled based on the adult-child ratios. For example, in the state of Iowa you need to have certain amount of children with one adult so I have scheduled two or three teachers and I don't need one of them since the parent never called it messes up the teacher's day and screws up their routine because now I have to send them home. So yes there should be a no call/no show fee because it promotes the parent's to be responsible and it helps the daycare staff plan out the schedule along with their programming. It also creates less frustration with the staff... I mean if you are a teacher and you are here at work would you really want to go back home? You have basically wasted your day and wasted money on gas because of a few parent's irresponsibility. It also makes you angry at your supervisor and wonder why couldn't they have contacted you that they don't need you before you start your shift?

[Unregistered]

I don't charge a no call/no show fee, however I have it stated that if the child is no call/ no show by a certain time the child will be marked absent for the day. This has eliminated attendance issues. I had to add this policy when I had to close because no children showed up for the day. This occurred several times where I would be waiting til noon for a child to show up (some called some didn't). Waste of breakfast, snack, and lunch that were prepared. I'm on the food program so the meals couldn't be counted.

[Controlled Chaos]

This post is from 2009

[nanglgrl]

I don't charge a no call/no show fee but completely understand why others might need to. I do say that if a child does not arrive by 9 am and I haven't been notified of a late arrival I will not accept that child into care for the day. My clients would still have to pay for that day.
There are several reasons I can think of that a provider might charge a fee for no all/no show clients on top of charging them the daily rate:
1. In order to keep costs low most providers participate in the federal food program. The food program reimburses part of our food expenses and this means cheaper rates for our clients. When a child is supposed to arrive at a certain time food is prepared for them. When they show up we are allowed to check them in attendance for the food program and are reimbursed for a portion of the cost. When a child doesn't show up and food is prepared for them we can not be reimbursed by the food program. In both situations the food expense was then same but in the second situation all of the expense comes out of the providers pocket. It's easy to SAY to wait to prepare food until children arrive but when feeding 6-12 children things need to be done in advance.
2. In many situations providers agree to an earlier drop off for a family (earlier than their regular opening time) and don't charge extra, they do it as a courtesy for their clients. When the provider wakes up early for this family and they don't call or show up it is an inconvenience and its an inconvenience the provider is not being paid for. The providers that I know who open early for clients without charging have a huge problem with clients showing up late and not informing the provider of their plans.
3. I agree with other posters about it not being about the money, it's about the respect and relationship. So many adults need an incentive these days to do what they should be doing anyway.
4. When a client doesn't show up its not as if the providers day just goes on as planned. I often worry something has happened to them..gas leak?car accident?did they go to work and accidently leave their child in the car? So I try not to overreact and call right away and instead I listen for the door and the morning is wasted. It's hard to listen for the door while teaching. Eventually I do call because the worry overcomes me only to be met with a "sorry, we're running late!" As glad as I am that nothing horrible happened it doesn't fix that I'm now overly stressed and the schedule is a mess.
5. Some providers hire an assistant or substitute to come in, often times its a loss for the provider but she does it so she doesnt have to close for an appointment or so she can take the older children on a field trip. When a client doesn't show up and doesn't call it may not cost the provider more for the extra help but it's money from her profits that could have been spent elsewhere.
6. My daycare space is in my basement and we can not hear the door when we're down there. I'm certainly not leaving my door unlocked so when I'm expecting an arrival/departure we come upstairs. I've scheduled my clients so they all arrive in the same 1/2 hour and leave in the same 1/2 hour meaning we are only upstairs first thing in the morning and right before close. When a client doesn't show or call to tell me they are going to be late we wait..5 minutes..10 minutes..15 minutes and then we head downstairs. Thats 15 minutes spent waiting instead of having quality time in my program.

[Michael]

This post is from 2009

Yes, and still relevant. ::