Sibling Discounts

[MARSTELAC]

I give a 40% discount if a family has 2 children in my care. The discount is on the oldest child and only if the family is full-time. I never should have started this. The more you give, the more they want. I don't know if anyone in my area gives discounts for siblings. I also should have started my rates out much higher than what they were but didn't know any better.

I do have one family that is getting the 40% plus more because we were friends. They still think they pay too much and now they are spending tons of money on stuff but tell me they don't know how they are going to pay me next week. Irks the c*&p out of me.l

[Blackcat31]

Siblings do not get discounted care so they do not get discounted rates. Imagine if you said here's a whole sandwhich for you Jane, but Billy only gets 3/4th of a sandwhich. Same concept. Plus siblings fill whole spots not partial ones. If we had to give a discount for a sibling, I'd only take only children. LOL! Another down fall is if one kid is sick and staying home most ppl keep both kids home so you are out 2 kids rates for the day. (Unless you still charge) So for me...no discounted care/rates

[momma2girls]

I give a 40% discount if a family has 2 children in my care. The discount is on the oldest child and only if the family is full-time. I never should have started this. The more you give, the more they want. I don't know if anyone in my area gives discounts for siblings. I also should have started my rates out much higher than what they were but didn't know any better.

I do have one family that is getting the 40% plus more because we were friends. They still think they pay too much and now they are spending tons of money on stuff but tell me they don't know how they are going to pay me next week. Irks the c*&p out of me.l

You can always change it with your new contract. I put out a new contract, Jan. 1st of every yr. so anything that needs changed will go in then for the entire yr. I still give a sibling disc. for fulltimers, but not parttimers or fillins. My sibling disc. is $25.00 per day per child. My normal rate is $140.00 for infant, thru potty trained and $130.00 for the older children, totally potty trained. So it is roughly $20-$30.00 off per week.

[momofsix]

i give a discount, my rate is $30/day for one child, and $50 for two. I had only one family with three once, and that was for only one day and they paid $80.
I mainly give a discount because I know I could never afford $300/week for child care myself and as long as I'm filling spots with siblings i know I won't have empty spots and have to worry about filling them.

[Jewels]

I dont offer a discount, I do have slightly higher prices for infants, but only because I give them all organic homemade or organic store bought baby foods, and I supply formula, a generic of course according to the food program, but I will also put the same amount of money towards any other formula they would rather have. But its only $5 more a week for infant.

[SandeeAR]

So based on what I'm reading, I wonder what most of you would do in my situation?

I have 2 siblings, two days a week. I do not give a discount on these two. When the SA sibling stays on the occasional school day out and summer, woiuld you discount for that child? During summer, it will still only be 2 days a week for all 3.

[Blackcat31]

So based on what I'm reading, I wonder what most of you would do in my situation?

I have 2 siblings, two days a week. I do not give a discount on these two. When the SA sibling stays on the occasional school day out and summer, woiuld you discount for that child? During summer, it will still only be 2 days a week for all 3.

I charge $28 per day (for all regular dck not in school) during school yr b/c we have a curriculum we follow and I am busy! During no school days, I charge $20 per day to SA'ers b/c it is just one or 2 days they have off. In summer months, however, I charge everyone the same ($25 per day)which is a little less than reg daily rate b/c it is summer and we don't follow curriculum, we just play. It is summer break for all. No one gets discounts for siblings.

[misol]

Parents (including me when my kids were in a center) probably think that since discounts are typically given for purchases of multiple quantities of goods or services, childcare should be no different. Since they are "purchasing" more than one space they naturally feel they are within their rights to request a discount. Now that I am a provider, I can see things from a different point of view.

10% off is the going sibling discount at the centers in my area. I currently do not "offer" a sibling discount but if a parent were to "ask" I would give them 10% off the oldest child's rate as long as they were full-timers. To me, it's not worth losing both spots over $15 if price is the only issue keeping them from signing on. Plus, by having kids from the same family that is one less parent/schedule you have to deal with. The only issue is that when that family leaves, you have more than one slot to fill `

I like that idea of buidling discounts into the rate.

[melskids]

ive always built my discounts into the rate.

i have two teachers children right now. right off the bat, they both asked if i would hold their spots for free for the summer. sure- you know why? cause i charge them 25% more during the school year. so they're still paying for the summer, they just dont know it. and they think theyre getting something for nothing

[VicDelmonte]

Siblings do not get discounted care so they do not get discounted rates. Imagine if you said here's a whole sandwhich for you Jane, but Billy only gets 3/4th of a sandwhich. Las Vegas Show Discounts Same concept. Plus siblings fill whole spots not partial ones. If we had to give a discount for a sibling, I'd only take only children. LOL! Another down fall is if one kid is sick and staying home most ppl keep both kids home so you are out 2 kids rates for the day. (Unless you still charge) So for me...no discounted care/rates

Ok, thing is, you aren't including the cost of empty spots.

If you've got all the business you can handle already, of course you don't need discounts. If you have spots that need filling, though, isn't it better to get money in hand now (even if you are discounting some) than to hold out for money from the future that may never come?

Additionally, if you are competing with others in the area that do give discounts, then you aren't going to be competitive without them.

There is a reason that many businesses give a 'bulk discount' - they make it up on volume. This is essentially the same principle.

Is it better to have one spot filled at 300/week and an empty spot, or to have 2 spots filled at an average of 275 each (one for 300, second for 250).

If you start getting so much business/interest that you think the discounted spots can be immediately filled by full-paying customers, just explain that you are discontinuing the discount.

[Crystal]

I give a $20 per week discount for the second child.

[marniewon]

I give 10% on the oldest child. In my area it's all over the board. I know of dc's that don't give discounts and charge WAY more than I do, and they are full!!! I also know of dc's who do the discount and some are full, some have many open spots. Hard to know what to do here.

[Blackcat31]

Ok, thing is, you aren't including the cost of empty spots.

If you've got all the business you can handle already, of course you don't need discounts. If you have spots that need filling, though, isn't it better to get money in hand now (even if you are discounting some) than to hold out for money from the future that may never come?

Additionally, if you are competing with others in the area that do give discounts, then you aren't going to be competitive without them.

There is a reason that many businesses give a 'bulk discount' - they make it up on volume. This is essentially the same principle.

Is it better to have one spot filled at 300/week and an empty spot, or to have 2 spots filled at an average of 275 each (one for 300, second for 250).

If you start getting so much business/interest that you think the discounted spots can be immediately filled by full-paying customers, just explain that you are discontinuing the discount.

I totally get what you mean and I do understand that 2 spots filled at a discount beats 2 empty spots but fortunately for me, I guess, I really don't know of any providers in my area (centers included) that offer discounts for siblings so there is no competition there. I've been doing this 16 years and I guess I am also lucky enough that we have never had a shortage of children needing care either so in that aspect I've never HAD to offer a discount to siblings but if I had to compete or really struggle to fill spaces, I would probably consider offering a sib discount. But for now; I do not.

[VicDelmonte]

I totally get what you mean and I do understand that 2 spots filled at a discount beats 2 empty spots but fortunately for me, I guess, I really don't know of any providers in my area (centers included) that offer discounts for siblings so there is no competition there. I've been doing this 16 years and I guess I am also lucky enough that we have never had a shortage of children needing care either so in that aspect I've never HAD to offer a discount to siblings but if I had to compete or really struggle to fill spaces, I would probably consider offering a sib discount. But for now; I do not.

Fair enough, for sure. I mean, there is no reason for any discount if you don't need to drum up more business than you already have.

[momma2girls]

I still do for fulltime children. If they are not fulltime siblings, then no discounts. I charge so much per day, per child if parttime.