Paying Full Tuition When the Daycare Closes for a Snow Day...Is This Fair?

[Unregistered]

Charging parents for snow days is UNFAIR

This is an old post, but I'm dealing with it right now (which is why I googled it!). Let me give another perspective.

I use a Primrose (national franchise) daycare center, and frankly, I think it's completely unfair to make me pay the full tuition for a snow day. My case may be a little more understandable, because my daycare is expensive. My child's not in one of those shoe-string budget centers that would be looking at me thinking, "Listen lady, we barely charge you what we should as it is!!"

I understand having to pay if my child is sick and doesn't show up--I totally get that. Or, for example, if I want to cancel on my cleaning lady, I better give her enough notice so that she can try to fill the spot--otherwise, she's held time for me and can't make up that money. I totally get those things.

But if I buy a steak sandwich from the Corner Deli every day at lunch, and the Corner Deli one day decides to close for weather...guess what? They don't make me pay for the sandwich anyway! Why? Because THEY decided to close.

(And God, please don't respond with "But you didn't have a CONTRACT with the corner deli!!" I'm not even going to respond to those responses because they're not relevant to the point I'm making. This isn't about what's legal or what I agreed to, etc. This is about whether or not it's FAIR. This is about the morality of it. The ethics of it. The customer-service aspect of it. The "are you being a fair business owner" aspect of it.)

And yes of course I read my contract--I'm a lawyer. And all you out there shouting "didn't you READ the contract???" at these people, I think you're missing the point. I read it. And, yes, when I read it I thought it was unfair, and, yes, I chose to use the center anyway. My point is not that I'm complaining after the fact...my point is that it feels very UNFAIR and it really BOTHERS ME and makes me angry at my daycare--much like that dad that posted above who felt screwed. Not because he didn't know it was a possibility, but because it feels crappy and he (and I) are frankly just complaining.

The way I look at it is this: I am paying $50 a day for a service. If I'm willing to show up with my child for my daycare to perform the service, then my daycare should do one of two things: 1) perform the service for the $50, or 2) not perform the service but not take my $50.

Doesn't that sound reasonable? The reality is that SO OFTEN when the daycare is closed, SOMEHOW most of us other workers STILL HAVE TO GO TO WORK. So not only am I out the $50 I had to pay for services my daycare REFUSED to render that day (yeah, yeah, I know...for safety...but the rest of us are out there, so our bosses deemed it safe for us to go to work somehow...), but now I have to pay money on top of that to find different care for my child! (Care I already paid someone for, mind you!) And I REALLY feel bad for the people who simply don't get paid if they don't go to work, because sometimes those people are doubly screwed--they have to pay the $50 plus they have to miss out on their paycheck that day because they couldn't find care for their kids...ummm, care they ALREADY PAID SOMEONE FOR. (okay, I'll give the dead horse a break)

Think of it this way: Imagine you work in the city and you pay a parking lot $25 a day to park there, but SOMETIMES when you show up with your car they turn you away, but debit your checking account for the $25 anyway. Seriously. Imagine that. Most people would be outraged. Regardless of whether or not this was in the contract, how screwed would you feel once this had happened two times...three times.... ?

And please, can we just skip the responses about how my kid's not a car and the daycare providers aren't parking attendants and how dare I and devaluing and all that--This post is irrelevant to how wonderful the pseudo-moms are at my daycare, who are helping me parent my child. This argument is about the money end of things.

The daycare is a BUSINESS. And the point is simple. The daycare is providing a service, I'm paying for it, they refuse to provide it sometimes, yet I can't in turn refuse to pay for it. UNFAIR. Legal, yes. Unfair, yes.

Let's make this daycare a co-op. NOW I get it. This co-op only makes enough money to keep itself in operation and because of that, we all benefit (from low costs). Fine--in that case, I'm not complaining--we need to keep the center open, regardless of weather! But a for-profit center is different.

I read all these things about "but we (daycare owners) still have to pay the rent! we still have to pay operating costs!". So? How is that persuasive?? Guess what? If I stopped coming to work and my boss started refusing to pay me, do you think it's a valid argument for me to say, "But I still have to pay my mortgage and my insurance and buy food!!" Hell no! He'd say, "You don't provide the services, you don't get paid." Why is this universally-accepted concept so screwy when it comes to daycare?

To me it's no different than, say, a retail business. If they decide to close for weather they don't make sales that day. Or cut hair that day. Or sell gas that day. In other words, they LOSE MONEY if they choose to close for weather...so therefore most of them rarely close! But somehow when daycares close for weather they still get paid for the services they didn't render. I can't see in what world that's fair!

(And that doesn't even touch on incentive. If I got paid for not coming to work, and I got to DECIDE when I wasn't showing up, any time, any day, guess what my incentive is?)

Look, at the very least, charge me some MINIMAL amount. Some amount that doesn't include the cost of feeding the kids or profit or supplies that day. Even that would make me feel slightly less screwed.

Clearly....I'm tired of snow days.

[Michael]

Pushing this back up..

[Cat Herder]

Everyone thinks their daycare is expensive.

Nobody likes being told no.

Everyone thinks their situation is somehow special or the exception.

***Don't enroll your child if you disagree with the contract. ***

****Life is not fair.**** ::::

[craftymissbeth]

This is an old post, but I'm dealing with it right now (which is why I googled it!). Let me give another perspective.

I use a Primrose (national franchise) daycare center, and frankly, I think it's completely unfair to make me pay the full tuition for a snow day. My case may be a little more understandable, because my daycare is expensive. My child's not in one of those shoe-string budget centers that would be looking at me thinking, "Listen lady, we barely charge you what we should as it is!!"

I understand having to pay if my child is sick and doesn't show up--I totally get that. Or, for example, if I want to cancel on my cleaning lady, I better give her enough notice so that she can try to fill the spot--otherwise, she's held time for me and can't make up that money. I totally get those things.

But if I buy a steak sandwich from the Corner Deli every day at lunch, and the Corner Deli one day decides to close for weather...guess what? They don't make me pay for the sandwich anyway! Why? Because THEY decided to close.

(And God, please don't respond with "But you didn't have a CONTRACT with the corner deli!!" I'm not even going to respond to those responses because they're not relevant to the point I'm making. This isn't about what's legal or what I agreed to, etc. This is about whether or not it's FAIR. This is about the morality of it. The ethics of it. The customer-service aspect of it. The "are you being a fair business owner" aspect of it.)

And yes of course I read my contract--I'm a lawyer. And all you out there shouting "didn't you READ the contract???" at these people, I think you're missing the point. I read it. And, yes, when I read it I thought it was unfair, and, yes, I chose to use the center anyway. My point is not that I'm complaining after the fact...my point is that it feels very UNFAIR and it really BOTHERS ME and makes me angry at my daycare--much like that dad that posted above who felt screwed. Not because he didn't know it was a possibility, but because it feels crappy and he (and I) are frankly just complaining.

The way I look at it is this: I am paying $50 a day for a service. If I'm willing to show up with my child for my daycare to perform the service, then my daycare should do one of two things: 1) perform the service for the $50, or 2) not perform the service but not take my $50.

Doesn't that sound reasonable? The reality is that SO OFTEN when the daycare is closed, SOMEHOW most of us other workers STILL HAVE TO GO TO WORK. So not only am I out the $50 I had to pay for services my daycare REFUSED to render that day (yeah, yeah, I know...for safety...but the rest of us are out there, so our bosses deemed it safe for us to go to work somehow...), but now I have to pay money on top of that to find different care for my child! (Care I already paid someone for, mind you!) And I REALLY feel bad for the people who simply don't get paid if they don't go to work, because sometimes those people are doubly screwed--they have to pay the $50 plus they have to miss out on their paycheck that day because they couldn't find care for their kids...ummm, care they ALREADY PAID SOMEONE FOR. (okay, I'll give the dead horse a break)

Think of it this way: Imagine you work in the city and you pay a parking lot $25 a day to park there, but SOMETIMES when you show up with your car they turn you away, but debit your checking account for the $25 anyway. Seriously. Imagine that. Most people would be outraged. Regardless of whether or not this was in the contract, how screwed would you feel once this had happened two times...three times.... ?

And please, can we just skip the responses about how my kid's not a car and the daycare providers aren't parking attendants and how dare I and devaluing and all that--This post is irrelevant to how wonderful the pseudo-moms are at my daycare, who are helping me parent my child. This argument is about the money end of things.

The daycare is a BUSINESS. And the point is simple. The daycare is providing a service, I'm paying for it, they refuse to provide it sometimes, yet I can't in turn refuse to pay for it. UNFAIR. Legal, yes. Unfair, yes.

Let's make this daycare a co-op. NOW I get it. This co-op only makes enough money to keep itself in operation and because of that, we all benefit (from low costs). Fine--in that case, I'm not complaining--we need to keep the center open, regardless of weather! But a for-profit center is different.

I read all these things about "but we (daycare owners) still have to pay the rent! we still have to pay operating costs!". So? How is that persuasive?? Guess what? If I stopped coming to work and my boss started refusing to pay me, do you think it's a valid argument for me to say, "But I still have to pay my mortgage and my insurance and buy food!!" Hell no! He'd say, "You don't provide the services, you don't get paid." Why is this universally-accepted concept so screwy when it comes to daycare?

To me it's no different than, say, a retail business. If they decide to close for weather they don't make sales that day. Or cut hair that day. Or sell gas that day. In other words, they LOSE MONEY if they choose to close for weather...so therefore most of them rarely close! But somehow when daycares close for weather they still get paid for the services they didn't render. I can't see in what world that's fair!

(And that doesn't even touch on incentive. If I got paid for not coming to work, and I got to DECIDE when I wasn't showing up, any time, any day, guess what my incentive is?)

Look, at the very least, charge me some MINIMAL amount. Some amount that doesn't include the cost of feeding the kids or profit or supplies that day. Even that would make me feel slightly less screwed.

Clearly....I'm tired of snow days.

As a business owner, I have made the decision to include in my contract that I DO charge for snow days as well as days when my utilities are lost (due to weather, water main break, gas leak, etc.). I charge for these days because they are VERY minimal... and I do NOT charge for any other days I'm closed (holidays, my vacations, personal days, sick days, etc.). I don't charge for those days in order to keep costs down for my clients, but I do charge for snow days in order to help "off-set" the loss of income from the other closures. It was a business decision. Plain and simple. Many, if not most, providers charge a flat rate for 52 weeks per year regardless of whether they are closed or not.

Now, if I found out that I had a client as outraged over my policy as you are I would have to take a second look at our business relationship and determine whether or not it was worth it to keep them as a client. If any of my policies cause a client to become that angry then they probably aren't the best fit for me. That's another business decision. Plain and simple.

It looks like you need to either fine a different daycare or spend the loads of cold hard cash you splurge on your child's non-shoestring-budget daycare and get yourself a nanny. A nanny that won't require you to pay them whenever you're "closed".

Also, this post is just another reminder for me that the more parents pay the more they feel entitled. Never mind the awesome providers caring for their child or the awesome quality of the daycare... that doesn't matter. Money speaks loudly to many parents more than any of that.

[mema]

Maybe instead of being a lawyer, you should open a not for profit daycare that is open 24-7-365 regardless of weather, holidays, etc.

Maybe finding a home daycare would be better. Most stay open (unless a state of emergency) since they don't have to go out in it. Also, they are usually cheaper than a center. Win-win

[Unregistered]

Craftymissbeth:
I can appreciate your answer that "it's a business decision", because you're not trying to say it's fair or not, you're simply saying "this is how I've chosen to run my business and keep its doors open". And that's fine. As so many have pointed out, the business makes policies and the customer can decide to live with them or go elsewhere. What I'm reacting to in my post, though, is the assertion by so many that this practice is FAIR.

I'm a little put off by your statements on money though. Frankly, I think it's human nature to dislike parting with almost any amount of money and getting nothing in return. If a homeless man put a dollar into a soda machine and got nothing in return, he'd feel screwed. No different than I feel screwed. Whether I pay a lot or a little, I'm not sure why the concept that I should actually receive services I pay for somehow earns me the ugly title of "entitled".

We all work hard for our money. I think we can at least all agree on that.

And the quality of the care is irrelevant to the discussion about the fairness of this common policy, so I'll skip that in order to stay on topic.

Interestingly, the reason I DON'T use a nanny or a home center is because (this should not surprise you) I want consistently available care. I don't want to be stuck in a situation where my one and only provider is sick or her car won't start, etc. I understand those things happen, but I'm trying to minimize my chances of being affected by them by going to a daycare center instead.

[Blackcat31]

Craftymissbeth:
I can appreciate your answer that "it's a business decision", because you're not trying to say it's fair or not, you're simply saying "this is how I've chosen to run my business and keep its doors open". And that's fine. As so many have pointed out, the business makes policies and the customer can decide to live with them or go elsewhere. What I'm reacting to in my post, though, is the assertion by so many that this practice is FAIR.

I'm a little put off by your statements on money though. Frankly, I think it's human nature to dislike parting with almost any amount of money and getting nothing in return. If a homeless man put a dollar into a soda machine and got nothing in return, he'd feel screwed. No different than I feel screwed. Whether I pay a lot or a little, I'm not sure why the concept that I should actually receive services I pay for somehow earns me the ugly title of "entitled".

We all work hard for our money. I think we can at least all agree on that.

And the quality of the care is irrelevant to the discussion about the fairness of this common policy, so I'll skip that in order to stay on topic.

Interestingly, the reason I DON'T use a nanny or a home center is because (this should not surprise you) I want consistently available care. I don't want to be stuck in a situation where my one and only provider is sick or her car won't start, etc. I understand those things happen, but I'm trying to minimize my chances of being affected by them by going to a daycare center instead.

I understand and even agree with most (not all) of what you are saying and honestly, my only answer is the same answer I tell my daycare children.

Life isn't fair.

The sooner you accept that and figure out how to make your life as happy as you want or need it to be, it is what it is. There are VERY few things in life that are truly fair.

Charging for snow days is NOT fair.

But I do it anyways.

Not just because I can but because I can and because it is how I personally choose to run my business.

If it doesn't work for a specific family, then they don't sign on with me.

Other than finding care that doesn't charge for snow days you really only have one other option.....live somewhere where it doesn't snow.

[KidGrind]

It’s fair. As a business owner I still have costs whether the children enrolled come or not. I’ve stated it up front in my contract & policies. I haven’t misled or hoodwinked the parents.

[MarinaVanessa]

This isn't about what's legal or what I agreed to, etc. This is about whether or not it's FAIR. This is about the morality of it. The ethics of it. The customer-service aspect of it. The "are you being a fair business owner" aspect of it.

Okay great, you're a lawyer so I'm assuming that you've been in a court room. If you have then you'd know that the funny thing about our judicial system (and frankly, pretty sad) is that it doesn't actually promise justice (fairness), it only promises us due process. So yes, it does have everything to do with legality. The cigarette companies sell their product knowing full well that they're unhealthy. My grandfather dies last Saturday from lung cancer from having smoked for over 30 years but I'm not complaining to the tobacco companies. He chose to smoke. IMO selling a dangerous product is immoral but it's still legal. Not all daycares charge for days such as snow days, you (general you) just have to find child care that is the better fit for you.

[craftymissbeth]

Craftymissbeth:
I can appreciate your answer that "it's a business decision", because you're not trying to say it's fair or not, you're simply saying "this is how I've chosen to run my business and keep its doors open". And that's fine. As so many have pointed out, the business makes policies and the customer can decide to live with them or go elsewhere. What I'm reacting to in my post, though, is the assertion by so many that this practice is FAIR.

I'm a little put off by your statements on money though. Frankly, I think it's human nature to dislike parting with almost any amount of money and getting nothing in return. If a homeless man put a dollar into a soda machine and got nothing in return, he'd feel screwed. No different than I feel screwed. Whether I pay a lot or a little, I'm not sure why the concept that I should actually receive services I pay for somehow earns me the ugly title of "entitled".

We all work hard for our money. I think we can at least all agree on that.

And the quality of the care is irrelevant to the discussion about the fairness of this common policy, so I'll skip that in order to stay on topic.

Interestingly, the reason I DON'T use a nanny or a home center is because (this should not surprise you) I want consistently available care. I don't want to be stuck in a situation where my one and only provider is sick or her car won't start, etc. I understand those things happen, but I'm trying to minimize my chances of being affected by them by going to a daycare center instead.

I'll be the first to admit I reacted harshly and brought up things that don't add to the topic. Sorry for that

You make a good point, though. It isn't fair. Here's a little story just to show that I completely understand what you're saying: my family and I moved to our current home from a different city 2 years ago. I called to have the water turned off at our old home, but they never shut it off. The new tenants racked up over $400 in water and the bill was still in our name (why it wasn't shut off after being late the first month I still don't understand). The water company was adamant that we owed that money. We just got it all sorted out today, but it makes me understand your point a little better.

Why pay for a service that are not using?

Perhaps looking at your tuition differently will help you see it from a business perspective. Many centers and home daycares come up with their rates differently than you may think.

Let's say that there are 260 work days in a year (because Google told me so). The daycare will be closed 10 holidays per year as well as one full week during winter break. That means they will be open 245 days in the year. They are going to go ahead and figure in 5 unexpected closures for the year (weather related, loss of utilities, illness, etc.) so now they are at 240 days open for the year.

They charge $25 per day per child. Multiplied by the amount of days they estimate they will be open = $6000. To make payments easier for parents they divide this amount into 52 equal payments = rounded to $115 per week.

Assuming that clients are long-term (which is ideal) this means that the clients actually ARE only paying for days the daycare is open. They are not paying for days the daycare is closed. In fact, it's likely that they are getting free days in the end... if the daycare doesn't actually close for all 5 of those additional days they figured in. It sure feels like you're paying for every day, but it's likely you're not. In the scenario above if they charged for all 260 work days regardless of closed days the weekly rate would be $125.

I hope that makes sense

[Unregistered]

Kidgrind:

This is nothing about being sneaky--I appreciate that it's in your contracts and your parents know up front, and no one should be surprised...but that doesn't make it fair.

What if your contract said, "Sometimes, when I've personally overspent my bank account that month, I'll charge all you parents extra to make sure I have personal spending money. That way I can still go out to dinner every Saturday."

Is it in your contract? Yes. Do the parents get to decide up front if they will ACTUALLY pony up when it happens. Yes.

.....but does that make it FAIR? Nooooo.

And, oh wait...before I address the other part of your post, Kidgrind, can you please clarify something for me? You said this: "It’s fair. As a business owner I still have costs whether the children enrolled come or not."

Are you really saying that even when YOU PERSONALLY decide that you WILL NOT care for the children that day, you still think it's fair to charge the parents because you have to cover the costs of running your business? I can't imagine you mean it this way...

Or do you mean that if a parent CHOOSES not to come that day, they still have to pay? (I agree with this charge. You're right-on to charge for this.)

MV, I'm really sorry to hear about your Grandpa, and I think we're on the same side of this discussion. Is it legal? Sure. Is it common? Sure. But does it TOTALLY **** AND DESERVE SOME IMPASSIONED PLEAS FOR THE INSANITY TO STOP? Absolutely.

(Clearly my snow day complaint isn't even in the same world of seriousness as what's upsetting you. So sorry to hear you're dealing with that.)

And for those of you telling your four year olds (and me) that "life's not fair", I hope in reality that you are *sometimes* adding at the end of that phrase, "and maybe it's time someone spoke up and started a dialog to try to convince people to start doing the right thing".

[Unregistered]

Craftymissbeth....THAT is very interesting. Maybe that sorta actually helps me to understand it. I guess that's *if* my daycare used that formula to figure out their pricing, but if I choose to believe they did, then I can not feel so screwed anymore!

Sorry to hear about your water issue...OMG that kinda stuff STINKS because how many HOURS of your time did you spend just dealing with that?? You're lucky you got it sorted out.

And, hey, all you business owners out there, consider this:

This daycare I'm complaining about has another policy: Once per year you are allowed to take your child on vacation and NOT pay for that week at all.

I was so surprised to hear this. The daycare is expecting my child and they've held a spot in their school for my child and I've decided not to have my child attend. I actually EXPECT to have to pay in this scenario and they tell me I don't have to!

Honestly, I wish they'd scrap that policy entirely and instead just not charge me for snow days. Because on one hand I feel like I'm getting a benefit I don't even deserve, but on the other hand I feel like I'm getting screwed. Switch the two policies and I'm happy.

Besides, their vacation policy "punishes" families with less money and less ability to take vacation! If I'm in one of those families who don't get paid if I don't work (i.e. no paid vacation), then I might only go away on weekends and never take a week vacation. In that case I never get the BENEFIT of this policy, yet those families will also bear the worst burden on snow days. ('cause if they can't go to work, they don't get paid.)

[kendallina]

This is an old post, but I'm dealing with it right now (which is why I googled it!). Let me give another perspective.

I use a Primrose (national franchise) daycare center, and frankly, I think it's completely unfair to make me pay the full tuition for a snow day. My case may be a little more understandable, because my daycare is expensive. My child's not in one of those shoe-string budget centers that would be looking at me thinking, "Listen lady, we barely charge you what we should as it is!!"

I understand having to pay if my child is sick and doesn't show up--I totally get that. Or, for example, if I want to cancel on my cleaning lady, I better give her enough notice so that she can try to fill the spot--otherwise, she's held time for me and can't make up that money. I totally get those things.

But if I buy a steak sandwich from the Corner Deli every day at lunch, and the Corner Deli one day decides to close for weather...guess what? They don't make me pay for the sandwich anyway! Why? Because THEY decided to close.

(And God, please don't respond with "But you didn't have a CONTRACT with the corner deli!!" I'm not even going to respond to those responses because they're not relevant to the point I'm making. This isn't about what's legal or what I agreed to, etc. This is about whether or not it's FAIR. This is about the morality of it. The ethics of it. The customer-service aspect of it. The "are you being a fair business owner" aspect of it.)

And yes of course I read my contract--I'm a lawyer. And all you out there shouting "didn't you READ the contract???" at these people, I think you're missing the point. I read it. And, yes, when I read it I thought it was unfair, and, yes, I chose to use the center anyway. My point is not that I'm complaining after the fact...my point is that it feels very UNFAIR and it really BOTHERS ME and makes me angry at my daycare--much like that dad that posted above who felt screwed. Not because he didn't know it was a possibility, but because it feels crappy and he (and I) are frankly just complaining.

The way I look at it is this: I am paying $50 a day for a service. If I'm willing to show up with my child for my daycare to perform the service, then my daycare should do one of two things: 1) perform the service for the $50, or 2) not perform the service but not take my $50.

Doesn't that sound reasonable? The reality is that SO OFTEN when the daycare is closed, SOMEHOW most of us other workers STILL HAVE TO GO TO WORK. So not only am I out the $50 I had to pay for services my daycare REFUSED to render that day (yeah, yeah, I know...for safety...but the rest of us are out there, so our bosses deemed it safe for us to go to work somehow...), but now I have to pay money on top of that to find different care for my child! (Care I already paid someone for, mind you!) And I REALLY feel bad for the people who simply don't get paid if they don't go to work, because sometimes those people are doubly screwed--they have to pay the $50 plus they have to miss out on their paycheck that day because they couldn't find care for their kids...ummm, care they ALREADY PAID SOMEONE FOR. (okay, I'll give the dead horse a break)

Think of it this way: Imagine you work in the city and you pay a parking lot $25 a day to park there, but SOMETIMES when you show up with your car they turn you away, but debit your checking account for the $25 anyway. Seriously. Imagine that. Most people would be outraged. Regardless of whether or not this was in the contract, how screwed would you feel once this had happened two times...three times.... ?

And please, can we just skip the responses about how my kid's not a car and the daycare providers aren't parking attendants and how dare I and devaluing and all that--This post is irrelevant to how wonderful the pseudo-moms are at my daycare, who are helping me parent my child. This argument is about the money end of things.

The daycare is a BUSINESS. And the point is simple. The daycare is providing a service, I'm paying for it, they refuse to provide it sometimes, yet I can't in turn refuse to pay for it. UNFAIR. Legal, yes. Unfair, yes.

Let's make this daycare a co-op. NOW I get it. This co-op only makes enough money to keep itself in operation and because of that, we all benefit (from low costs). Fine--in that case, I'm not complaining--we need to keep the center open, regardless of weather! But a for-profit center is different.

I read all these things about "but we (daycare owners) still have to pay the rent! we still have to pay operating costs!". So? How is that persuasive?? Guess what? If I stopped coming to work and my boss started refusing to pay me, do you think it's a valid argument for me to say, "But I still have to pay my mortgage and my insurance and buy food!!" Hell no! He'd say, "You don't provide the services, you don't get paid." Why is this universally-accepted concept so screwy when it comes to daycare?

To me it's no different than, say, a retail business. If they decide to close for weather they don't make sales that day. Or cut hair that day. Or sell gas that day. In other words, they LOSE MONEY if they choose to close for weather...so therefore most of them rarely close! But somehow when daycares close for weather they still get paid for the services they didn't render. I can't see in what world that's fair!

(And that doesn't even touch on incentive. If I got paid for not coming to work, and I got to DECIDE when I wasn't showing up, any time, any day, guess what my incentive is?)

Look, at the very least, charge me some MINIMAL amount. Some amount that doesn't include the cost of feeding the kids or profit or supplies that day. Even that would make me feel slightly less screwed.

Clearly....I'm tired of snow days.

Yup. As a provider, I completely agree with you. Having to pay for a service that is not being offered is NOT fair. I do not charge my parents for snow days. BUT, I do charge a couple extra dollars/month than many providers in my town so that I do not have to charge for snow days. This year was an anomaly for my area and there were lots of snow day. I will lose a few dollars because of this- but my parents are super happy that they get a credit on their statement when we've had a snow day--client satisfaction matters a whole lot in keeping your business stable. Last year there was not a single snow day where I live and I made a little extra.

I understand a provider's inclination to say, "well, it's in the contract" and I say it myself. I have policies in place that some parents don't like. They have to decide to either deal with it or leave. Obviously, you've decided that this one "unfair" policy is not worth leaving a child care that you seem to like otherwise.

I agree with you that it's not a fair policy-perhaps a better compromise would be the center charging more per day and not charging on snow days or just charging a reduced amount on snow days for those expenses that we do still have to deal with (utilities and such).

[Annalee]

I understand and even agree with most (not all) of what you are saying and honestly, my only answer is the same answer I tell my daycare children.

Life isn't fair.

The sooner you accept that and figure out how to make your life as happy as you want or need it to be, it is what it is. There are VERY few things in life that are truly fair.

Charging for snow days is NOT fair.

But I do it anyways.

Not just because I can but because I can and because it is how I personally choose to run my business.

If it doesn't work for a specific family, then they don't sign on with me. Other than finding care that doesn't charge for snow days you really only have one other option.....live somewhere where it doesn't snow.

AMEN!!! Discussions between providers/parents are endless. I have been reading posts this evening where parents don't want their kids to nap because they can't get the child to go to bed :: ...then there is how charging for snow days is unfair :confused:....I get many calls from persons I know that are not in my dc and they want to know "if their current provider can do certain things like the issues mentioned"....to which I reply "if the contract said mud would be served every day at lunch and you signed, then YES they can do that!" If you don't want to abide by this contract, GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!!!! BUT if they come to my dc, I will have the same, if not stiffer, guidelines. We are business owners, not heartless, but we have boundaries to make this job worthwhile for ourselves and our families.

[Unregistered]

Kendallina--

I'm not surprised your parents are impressed with your great commitment to customer service!! Sounds like your policy keeps parents happy and doesn't help you/hurt you too much either way. That's a WIN!

Annalee--

I'm guessing from your confused emoticon with three question marks next to this ---> "then there is how charging for snow days is unfair" means that you are:

1) baffled as to how I could think such a thing, and
2) CONFIDENT that you are right in your opposite opinion.

But since you didn't actually address any of my points to help me understand why you think such a practice is clearly FAIR (as evidenced by your baffled emoticon), and instead just lumped me in with some complaint that sounded like "God I'm so sick of all these complaining customers!", I guess we can't talk about it.

So in response, I'll just address how I feel about the lack of any actual points on-topic in your response: