would you give a discount?

[mushpea]

If you have somone wanting more 52.5 hours a week would you give them a discount?
I have another lady coming this afternoon wanting 7.30am till 6pm everyday and has asked me for a quote but its a bit and i think she will be a bit too and proably wont want the space so I'm wondering if I offer a discount for being here all week if that would help sway her but I dont know how much of a discount to give without under doing myself. Its a 9 month old so could be for the long term aswell
The lady this morning who wanted private school term time only came and went in 10mins so must have upset her lol

[tess1981]

that's a long week no matter what the charges... at the end of the day this really is up to you but if i wanted them hours (from a parents point of view here) i would realistically have to expect to pay a high bill at the end of the week... the child will be there all day, 5 days a week i'm not sure if i would offer discount you are still working them hours

[EmmaReed84]

Did you discuss your hourly fee?

I gave a massive discount because I felt the same as you and now i regret it as I struggle so much!

If you have already talked about your hourly fee then chances are she will have probably sat and worked it out for herself. I would perhaps have your set fee, but work out a discount you would be happy to give then if parent is a bit then at least you have somewhere to go.

[silvermist]

I dont think I'd offer a discount, she must know and expect it to be quite pricey and at the end of the day hun, thats long hours to be working for you. Good luck with it xxx

[Kiddleywinks]

To be honest, I don't think I would either
Before 8am I have a higher rate anyway, so there'd be no point charging a higher rate if I was then going to give a discount anyway.

I do have a day rate (9am - 6pm) though which works out £5 cheaper for a 10 hour day than if they were paying by the hour

[nipper]

I have a 34 month old who does three days from 8am-6pm. My normal hourly charge is £3.50 but I charge her £32 a day (effectively £3.20 ph). Mum and dad want to send her to me full time (she currently does two days a week in nursery). Parents use vouchers to pay for half her fees.

[JCrakers]

It's a tough one isn't it because at the end of the day it's extra work for you so extra money would be expected. It's not like a bargain at the supermarket , you actually have to work longer hours so why should you work for less.

This is the argument we have with ms truss isn't it. She wants us to charge less for having more but it just doesn't work like that. It's not like a bulk order that the more we have the less we charge. I wouldn't have more children for less money.

The only discount I give is a family of 3 and instead of the 10.50 per hr that it should be I discount each child so it totals 8.80 but I should add that the two older children are the hardest of the lot. Such hard work I can't believe I'm charging less for all the stress they give me
In fact the 8yr old who is very difficult is only £2.60 per hr. he's more work than all the other 15 mindees put together.

I wouldn't discount, if she had two children then yes I would

[bunyip]

If you have somone wanting more 52.5 hours a week would you give them a discount?
I have another lady coming this afternoon wanting 7.30am till 6pm everyday and has asked me for a quote but its a bit and i think she will be a bit too and proably wont want the space so I'm wondering if I offer a discount for being here all week if that would help sway her but I dont know how much of a discount to give without under doing myself. Its a 9 month old so could be for the long term aswell

Do you know what she might be expecting to pay? If she wants a lot of something (in this case childcare) she surely must be expecting to pay a lot. Funny how people expect a discount on minding but wouldn't in any other situation: would you go in a restaurant and demand a discount on the dessert, cos you've already had 2 courses at full price?

I guess you could offer her your normal "full" price, and see how it goes down, whilst being prepared to negotiate.

It might be worth asking the mum to come up with a figure that she thinks is reasonable. This can sometimes make them ask themself the question, "so, what price do I put on my DD/DS's wellbeing?"

To help mum get a sense of proportion, it can help to present your figures in relation to national minimum wage = £6.08ph, or other services (eg. £9.50ph for a domestic cleaning agency, etc.)

If they plead poverty, then the approach is to address the Tax Credits question. eg, "Oh dear, I didn't realise you were that hard up. Well, if that's the case you ought to get the maximum TC allowance, so you'd be getting 70% back from HMRC, surely...?!?!"

[samb]

In a word... no... I wouldn't give a discount for longer hours - in fact I charge more outside of my usual 8am-6pm hours! It does sound a lot but it would do and you deserve the money for working for such a long time with 1 family. Maybe have a look at what nanny costs would be in your area - they are most likely to be more and then you know they are getting a good deal from you.

[ChocolateChip]

The only discount I give is that I charge £150 for a full timer per week instead of £166.25 (not that I have any, lol)
I work 8-5.30 so I would be charging her the 150 plus the hour at premium rate (£6) to cover the early start and late finish, totalling £180.
I wouldn't want to do it for less, that is a long day and you deserve to get paid for doing it, so no I wouldn't offer a discount.
But your business, your call, hunny