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Who here gives a sibling discount? And if it's not too much to ask, how much is it? I just gave one to one of my favorite families whose infants will be joining us very soon. I want to know whether I've cheaped out on them or offered too much or a good amount.
I tried to do some calling in the area but the daycares around me didn't want to give me any info . . . LOL:no:
I do give a discount but it's only 5$ a day but over a year it works out to $1300 .... Pretty significant although I'm debating on weather to take it out cause as most providers on here will tell you ... A spot is a spot and you still have to feed them, provide craft materials ect... And when they leave now you have two spots to fill
I totally screwed myself over with my sibling discount. My spots are $35/day and I gave a family with twins a rate of $50/day. I have had to terminate them now due to horrendous behaviours and now have 2 open spots...plus now that I think of all the money I technically lost per day/week/month its crazy. My new sibling rate will only be $5 off the regular rate for the second child. First child will pay full fee.
If a parent is insisting the most I will compromise is $1 a day which is $5 a week. After explaining the both will get everything explanation it is true that there are times when they will get only one such as I will only print one newsletter for the family or if I do something like make cookies for the parents again it will be one plate for the family not two - not saying I do that often but have augmented what the kids have made and decorated for special occasions with a few of my own so it is a gift for kids too but a sibling pair would get their cookies on one plate for parents with the same few extra cookies that an only child is getting, it means one less receipt per week, so there are little things that save on siblings but it is a risk for sure to take siblings so we should be banking the $1 a day not giving it back to the parents.
I did it once and will never do it again. Some of my wise friends said to me, 'Does it cost you less to feed one of the children? Are the crafts shared or do you have to pay for both?' They told me if I ever have a parent ask for a sibling discount again to ask the parents which one of their children they would like me to feed and teach because they are not paying me to feed and give crafts to the other one. Wise words.
I interviewed quite a few daycares after I had my second and every time I asked whether there was a sibling discount.
my family and friends assured me there would be such a thing once I had two kids
Well....it was like trying to find the abominable snowman - no such thing existed. In all my interviews not a single daycare offered me a discount when I asked.
I also do not offer a sibling discount now that I am on the other side of the fence
I ended up giving them $2.5 off a day. $600 at the end of the year was something I could live with and still was a significant amount of money for them. I felt cheap though. So, in my email offering it to them I mentioned the other discounts I give throughout the year such as not being paid for my vacations and not charging a full day if a child is sick or on vacation. She seemed happy with that. I've just been second guessing my self. Thanks everyone.
I learned about this the hard way... My first daycare clients ever were a set of 3 siblings. She paid full price for the youngest, 10% discount of the middle and then 15% discount on the third. Yes, I know, I am shaking my head too, LoL.
After that, I decided on doing 10% off of the least expensive (older) siblings.
I have since decided that I will not offer a sibling discount, not as a rule anyway. I am not offering any less care, food, supplies, etc. The nice thing about siblings, is when they are on vacation, etc you are down 2 kids, so easier days. Same with sick days, etc. But when they do leave, it's 2 spots to fill, which can be such a pain.
I MIGHT give a discount to a long-time client, who is coming off mat leave and bringing me their newest baby. But this would be more a loyalty thing, and at my discretion completely.
My long time families do sort of get a discount when they come off mat leave but they have to earn it. IF the older child stays in care full time while they are off then when the second one starts that child starts at the same rate as the older sibling and since I don't raise rates for families in care it can be $1-2 less than the new rate. IF the child goes part time then the old child stays at the lower rate and the new child comes in at that current rate so in a sense it is still a sibling discount as the price for one is lower than the other but this only works for families already in care. If a family of two came to fill two open spaces they would pay for two full time spaces unless I really really liked them, they came to me as friends of a family in care or I was somewhat desparate and got the sense it was the only way I would get them I might give the same $1-2 a day that a current family would get.
They're taking up 2 spaces, so no discount. This is my income!
No discount here either. A spot is a spot and they're more of a financial loss when/if they leave.