My doggie daycare[1] 'closes' at 7pm, but charges $25 per dog per 15 minutes that I'm late. After 7:30pm, they board the dog at the standard "no notice" rate (which is something like another $50).
There have been times when I ended up in SF or BART traffic. I misjudged my commute time and arrived late. (This doesn't happen a lot, maybe 1-2x/year)
Almost without fail, the staff were really negative about my lateness. Some have lectured me about how it messes up their schedule, makes it hard for them to board other dogs, finish cleanup, etc.
My thought on the matter is a simple economic one. If it's not worth it to the business to charge only $25-50 for a late pickup, they should think about what the "right" cost is. They actually have the power in this situation. Raising the cost would a) enable them to staff for this, and b) have a greater impact on habitual "late" arrivals.
As it is, I think,"Is it worth $25-50 to stay on this work call, knowing I may be late?" rather than,"I have to go, because I'll be inconveniencing the people that I trust to look after my dogs."
(Usually, it's more "I want to see my dogs," but you get the point.)
[1] Don't judge. I'd rather have them run around all day with a dozen people, a fountain to splash in, varied toys and 'playground' equipment, and a bunch of well-socialized dogs in their own size range than sit at home all day. :-)
Let's say once a week someone is late and there staff is paid 20$ an hour including all overheads. For that extra 30 minutes it's going to cost them 50$ a week which is about what they do. However, if they instead only pay people when there actually late that's 40$ a week in profit * 52 weeks = ~2k/year which for a low margin business may be significant.
There have been times when I ended up in SF or BART traffic. I misjudged my commute time and arrived late. (This doesn't happen a lot, maybe 1-2x/year)
Almost without fail, the staff were really negative about my lateness. Some have lectured me about how it messes up their schedule, makes it hard for them to board other dogs, finish cleanup, etc.
My thought on the matter is a simple economic one. If it's not worth it to the business to charge only $25-50 for a late pickup, they should think about what the "right" cost is. They actually have the power in this situation. Raising the cost would a) enable them to staff for this, and b) have a greater impact on habitual "late" arrivals.
As it is, I think,"Is it worth $25-50 to stay on this work call, knowing I may be late?" rather than,"I have to go, because I'll be inconveniencing the people that I trust to look after my dogs."
(Usually, it's more "I want to see my dogs," but you get the point.)
[1] Don't judge. I'd rather have them run around all day with a dozen people, a fountain to splash in, varied toys and 'playground' equipment, and a bunch of well-socialized dogs in their own size range than sit at home all day. :-)