What is your early drop off and late collection fee...?

What is your early drop off and late collection fee? And per how many minutes?

My plan has been to charge £2 per 15 minutes. I have had a parent turn up nearly 15mins early but not quite. But she regualarly arrives 10mins early and doesn't actually leave my house on time either (at collection time). It just seems unfair to me that she might take up 20mins extra of my day and she doesn't pay for it but I have an invoice for another mother who wants to drop off an extra 15mins in the morning. Perhaps I should just tell the other mother to drop off 10, 13-ish minutes every morning and I won't charge. :rolleyes: It just doesn't seem fair that I am now going to charge an extra 15mins to another parent and all parents should be treated the same I think.

I implemented a policy but it wasn't appreciated. :eek:

So I was wondering what the norm is and if it's even fair to be charging the other mother for extra time.

If she constantly comes early/leaves late, I would tell her that you both need to review the contract and charge accordingly.
At the end of the month those minutes mount up to quite a sum. I find it difficult to address these situations, and apply late fees, so this is the way I sort it out. You can show by your attendance register how much time is owing over the month, she then has the option to arrive and leave on time or change the contract. Do not stop invoicing the other parent, you will be losing out too much. This parent would not work extra time like this for no pay, so don't you either.

Thank you for the reply. I don't know if it's just me but I do doubt myself at times, especially working alone (needing an opinion).

I have bought a clock which is radio controlled so it's always exactly correct and it sits by the door next to my register. I have started entering actual times of dropping off and leaving in my attendance book whereas I used to just enter contracted times. She arrives 5, 10 mins early to collect sometimes but by the time she's chatted away to the children and to me, it's usually later than her contracted time.

She knows I only charge early/late fees by 15mins, so maybe she is giving herself extra time this way.

I'm lucky that my other parents are very good and never arrive more than 5mins either way and even then they apologise. :littleangel:

Invoice to the other parent has been given this evening.

On occasions when I've had parents who don't want to change their contract but are dropping off/collecting just a few irritating minutes every day, I've added up the minutes over the month and added the total to their bill (double hourly rate) - a bit petty I know but sometimes these things build up to a rather large annoyance! :thumbsup:

I don't answer the door if they arrive early - they have to wait outside until it's time. Late collection fee on my contracts is £4 per 15 mins but I rarely implement it - most parents are good at time keeping and I would never charge if there was a genuine reason they were late. I think you have to have a bit of give and take - there might be a time when I would want to finish a bit early.

Miffy xx

We charge a daily rate which either covers 7am-5pm or 8pm-6pm if they require more they pay for an extra un-social hour which £6.50 p/hr. Most of ours probably use about 30mins less than their daily hours every day but they never quibble because they know the option is there if they need to use that time :D

I'm all for give and take, but she's not giving. I've tried answering the door once when I was ready but I got quite a bit of attitude.
Nevermind, I'm sure I'll get through, eventually. Luckily my other parents are very considerate. :)

I have a parent who always turns up 15 mins early in the morning but she is always here 15 mins early at the end of the session. i only charge per hour so if anyone is more than 10 mins into a new hour they get charged the full hour they soon get the message. But i also find it hard getting parents to leave at the end of they day with there child she'll try and stand around and talk for ages about rubbish not even her child. Its a hard one as i don't want to offend anyone but i do have a life outside of work too.

Unarranged hours are charged at double my rate per hour or part thereof

Don't have a problem with parents turning up early :laughing::clapping:

Mine is based on the deterrent effect, with a degree of sympathetic reasonableness applied.

I don't want clients deciding it's occasionally worth being early/late and taking the one-off financial hit. OTOH, I don't want them being so worried of the extra charge that they drive back like a mad thing and have an accident (cos then they're really late, or -worse - terminally 'late' as in the 'late' Mrs Client RIP :p)

So, I set a punitively high charge for early drop-off/late collection, then explain that it is discretionary. I'll waive it occasionally due to circumstances, if they've warned me in advance and I'm confident they're being genuine. But if it becomes a regular occurrence, they know I'll insist that we renegotiate the contracted hours.

Aside from my time considerations, I actually think the lo's get into a routine and can have a gut instinct for time even if they can't read the clock. The 2yo I have wakes up 5 minutes before colection time. It's uncanny. :)