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Doesn't add up (discuss.online)
submitted 3 months ago by to c/workreform@lemmy.world
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[–] 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (5 children)

Assuming a 9hr work day to cover another persons workday... Likely closer to 10hr due to commute... but I wouldn't know.

200/9hr=22/hr

BSing utils at 300/mo is a mere 0.40/hr

BSing rent/mortgage at 1200/MO is 1.64/hr

So basically she's getting $20/hr assuming she does all 3 jobs just within that 9hr.

Not terrible but it does raise more questions and definitely doesn't scale well. Like presumably these are older kids that can be ignored while cooking and cleaning or that 9hr estimate is low.... And prob isn't carrying insurance for this? Doesn't include additional supplies - anything from extra paper towels to defibs. And utils, rent/mortgage is quite possibly off considerably...

Comparing someone doing it out their house vs an actual business is always going to be silly.

E: Oof... Lunch and snack.. each kid prob consumes $4 in food... 16/9... pushing down to 18/hr.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 months ago (4 children)

    There’s absolutely tradeoffs. Yet, the parents that take their kids to my sister have a different kind of tradeoff: don’t go to work, or find affordable childcare. My sister winds up in this halfway point, servicing those people.

    It’s true she doesn’t stock a defib. She watches those kids well enough, though, and has a cell phone to call 911 in case of emergency.

    It’s not the picture perfect setup. It is making sure plenty of families can continue putting food on their table, though. Sometimes that’s what’s important (imo).

    It doesn’t scale. But, you could have a lot of nonscalable businesses — a “gig economy” as they call it. A gig economy can scale even if the independent pieces don’t.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 months ago* (2 children)

    As counterpoint, I know at least a couple home daycares, which were more convenient and less expensive for their customers but:

    • my aunt had an unhealthy basement rec room after multiple floods, and was not very mobile
    • an old college friend had gone conservative and refused to either get Covid vaccinations or to require any vaccinations of their customers. Can you imagine if you found out you were sending your kids to a germ factory where any kid could have anything? Or could you imagine something happening and then to find that out?

    I’m more confident that a larger daycare at least has someone actively watching and comply with health mandates

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  • [–] 1 point 3 months ago* (1 child)

    Yeah, I don’t really disagree.

    We could have nice things, but logistically it’s not feasible at an affordable cost. So a gig economy steps up to fill those gaps. Yes, that comes with risks. You will find horror stories, they’re valid. Nonetheless, this is closer to how childcare had been done for centuries. It’s a regression from the modern liberal way, but it certainly isn’t unfamiliar.

    In a sense, you can say trust has replaced expense. Pay less, require more trust. In fairness, my sister knows her clients pretty well. She’s not running ads or anything like that.

    What would be more ideal is if the state could partner with gig workers to ensure adequate resources. Perhaps there’s a way to redraw the lines here, so that we don’t find ourselves in a situation where you work to afford childcare and are otherwise broke. That’s also not a way to live.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago

    So true. When we had our second kid, we found the cost of daycare for two younger ones was approaching her salary as a teacher. That’s ridiculous. Luckily I made enough to support us and she always said she didn’t mind staying home to care for them, but most people probably can’t afford that

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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago

    Yes there are tradeoffs.

    Your "yet somehow a struggling mother can take on babysitting" is wholly because of these tradeoffs.. and depending on specifics, may be getting paid less than minimum wage.

    She effectively is operating in the gig economy. That's a whole can of worms itself.

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