July 19, 2018

Late pickup

This summer, we put my 8yo in karate camp for two weeks. It was a day camp (not sleep over) and the schedule ran weekdays from 9am to 3pm. For parents who couldn’t get to the school to pick up their kid by 3pm, they offered late pick up for an additional $5 per day.

This was our first experience with day camp and we weren’t sure how it was going to fit into our schedule, so when I registered I paid the extra fee for late pickup, just in case.

By the end of the first week, we hadn’t had to take advantage of the late pickup once. The program director pulled me aside and pointed this out, offering to refund the late pickup fee since we hadn’t used it.

But he was wrong.

I HAD used it!

Without a flexible pickup time, I would have been super stressed out. Not having to worry all day, every day, about getting to the school exactly at 3pm was extremely valuable to me.

Well worth the $5.

So I politely refused the refund. And paid for it again for the second week, just in case.

Moral of the story?

What the school was selling was not what I was paying for!

They thought they were selling labor... and since they hadn’t had to do the labor, the director offered me a refund.

But what I was actually paying for was flexibility. I was paying for peace of mind. I was paying to not be freaking out in traffic.

Question for you:

Do you know for sure what your clients are paying you for?

(Hint: if you think they’re paying you for code, you’re wrong)

Yours,

—J