Surely you are joking?? Why would you agree to such a thing?

There's a lot of things we as adults agree to where the consequences can be steep. This is one of the easier ones: we just show up on time. We plan accordingly and we, as responsible adults, manage to pull it off. That's not hard: so why not agree to such a thing?

Another perspective on this is why should we expect someone else to bear the consequences of our failing to meet our responsibilities? If we're late picking up our kid, they staff at the day care leave late to see their own families, they incur higher operational costs, etc.

Their request that we show up prior to their closing time is completely reasonable and that there are stern consequences for failing to meet our responsibilities doesn't seem unreasonable either... especially in light of the comment I was responding to.... I assure you the day care really doesn't want to collect that fee.

So you're in a car accident on the way and wake up in the hospital with a few thousand dollars in fines. Or better yet, pass out at home (in spite of being in good health; blood pressure can do weird things) with no witnesses and come to a few hours later.

If you were in a car accident, chances are that the day care would waive the fee. The fee doesn't exist to be needlessly cruel, it's there to encourage parents to pick up their children before closing.

As far as passing out in your home for a few hours. If that were really an issue for you, then potentially paying $600 might motivate you to actually go see a doctor. Otherwise there could come a day when you pass out and never wake up (and your children never get picked up by you or see you alive again)...

Even if there are no extreme cases like this, the stress of $10*num_of_min fine is not worth it. It seems disproportionate by a huge margin, and may contribute to bad health issues (e.g. blood pressure).

I imagine the daycare will make an exception in the case of a family emergency.

If you know you can show up on time, why not?

My guess is that day cares do this to basically mean "show up on time, we're not f'ing around."

And here I thought the $90/hour late fee that my child's school imposes was steep (they charge $15 for every 5 minutes after 5:45 PM).

Can I ask where you live?

> See, my kid's day care charges a mere $600 per hour late (billed in 1 minute increments).

WOW, I'm in the wrong business I think. What else charges that much per hour? I don't even think a neurosurgeon could command that sort of rate!

The point is that you're not expecting people to ever pay it, because you've set it high enough to be a solid disincentive. If people are actually paying it regularly, you obviously haven't set it high enough.

This is also common when quoting freelance projects you don't really want to do.

This. I'm an independent consultant, too. There are things clients want me to do that I don't want to do and on terms that I don't want to do it on. However, if there's a real pinch and they have no other choice than hire me for that kind of gig: I'll do it, but you'll pay me my "I really don't want you to hire me for this" price. I'd rather they not hire me in those cases, but just telling them no is more alienating than telling them in advance here's my "don't hire me for this price".

(and with that... I better pick up the kid... ;-) )

British builders call this a "fuck off quote".