Thursday

Red Eye Rates

OPINION
I am looking for advice on what to charge parents going on vacation and me working every day, having an evening break, and then coming back for the evening when my charges will be asleep. I will also have 24 hours off on the weekend as well so I'm not overworked. I will obviously be paid my normal rate during waking hours but should I reduce my rate while they are sleeping? Thanks MPP for posting this and everyone who reads. - Anonymous

11 comments:

Village said...

$150 a night.

♥ Amy Darling ♥ said...

Wow...in #1, you are basically working for no pay, yet you only get 1-2 meals a day...great way to lose weight!

In #2, it says pay discussed at interview. I NEVER respond to these ads because I would hate to drive across town, waste my gas + time only to realize the job pays peanuts.

#5...wow she must have a hot date if she is so desperate to have a stranger in her home while she is out having a ball. I hope this stranger stays in the living room and watches T.V. like they should...however at five dollars an hour, I shudder to think who will be watching this poor, innocent and defenseless child.

These ads make me sick.

♥ Amy Darling ♥ said...

If the children are older and will sleep through the night and share your room, then you can charge a reduced fee for sleeping hours...perhaps 1/2 the regular rate.

However, if the children do not sleep all night and you have to get up either to give them a bottle or soothe their crying, I would charge my normal fee.

Hope this helps.

ericsmom said...

No no don't lower your rates. You are doing them a favor. Sounds like you will be stuck in for the entire nite. While parents live it up. Please do not lower your rate. In all honesty you should probably charge a little extra

PBJ said...

I usually charge the regular rate for the hours I'm working and $75 dollars per night!

Parent said...

Yeah Eric's mom the parents are on vacation and paying the nanny to work. So they can live it up all they want. Op charge your normal rate and a slightly reduced fee when they sleep. If kids wake up then keep a log of hours you are with them. If you are good with logging all the hours you are on or off then you will paid more accurately versus a flat rate. Our nanny was normally sixteen an hour and I think we did like ten per hour at night. Something like that....

Lyn said...

I always charge my regular rate for about 13 hours of the day, and then a set fixed rate for each night of about $150-200. But it really depends on where you are located. I do overnights all the time (at least 2-3 times a month) but if I were in, the midwest for example, there is no way my rates would fly. A good rule of thumb is regular pay for all awake hours and then about or just over half rate for the sleeping hours.

nycmom said...

As an employer I do almost exactly what PBJ describes, though have also done flat rate. With flat rate in NYC, I would have tons of qualified applicants at $250/24 hrs. Now in SF, I would pay $300-350/24 hrs easily.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
OP said...

Thank you all for taking the time to reply- MB has not even talked about the night rate yet, but I wanted to be prepared in case she did want to pay a lowered rate for the night hours. The charges sleep through the night for the most part, but on occasion wake up at 5 am and are up from then on.
To clear things up as well, MB and DB are going away for something they can not miss and I am staying at their house with my charges. Some family has offered to care for the charges but since I am always there they offered me to stay so the charges will be as comfortable as possible with M and D gone!

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.