Late Charge Per Minute

[BigLittleHomeDaycare]

What do you charge for early drop off or late pickup by the minute.

I was thinking $3.00 per minute. Any opinions?

Some other owners I talked in my area suggested somewhere between $2 and $5 per minute! Several said that when it is $1 per minute, people just pay it and still come late or drop off really early.

[NightOwl]

Mine is $1, but I believe it was BlackCat that has the best one I've heard of so far. I'm sure she'll chime in. Something like a minimum flat fee charged instantly, plus a per minute charge on top of that?

[midaycare]

I think I must be one of the most lenient daycare providers. I allow parents up to 15 minutes early drop off and up to 15 minutes late pickup. After that I charge $5 for each 15 minutes parents are late.

But ... I have great parents and I haven't even had to deal with early or late pickups yet. If anything, parents pickup early here.

[Blackcat31]

Mine is $1, but I believe it was BlackCat that has the best one I've heard of so far. I'm sure she'll chime in. Something like a minimum flat fee charged instantly, plus a per minute charge on top of that?

My late fee is $20 automatically for being late and a $1 for each minute they are late.

The second late offense doubles ALL fees.

The third late offense equates to termination or double the fees again (which consequence I enact is at MY discretion)


The point of a late fee isn't so I can make an extra $1. It's to detour parents being late. period.

MY time is just as valuable as the next persons and I believe the contracted times parents submit to me should be respected as much, if not more than the parents work schedule.

[NightOwl]

My late fee is $20 automatically for being late and a $1 for each minute they are late.

The second late offense doubles ALL fees.

The third late offense equates to termination or double the fees again (which consequence I enact is at MY discretion)


The point of a late fee isn't so I can make an extra $1. It's to detour parents being late. period.

MY time is just as valuable as the next persons and I believe the contracted times parents submit to me should be respected as much, if not more than the parents work schedule.

Yep, that's the one!

[BigLittleHomeDaycare]

Thats amazing BlackCat! I agree that the point is to have punctual parents, not make an extra few dollars.