First of all, 3 hours per day commute for kids in insane. Something needs to change.

But if you insist on going this route, you should pay hourly and pay at least $20/hr. Most likely more.

I hired a 20 something to pick my teen up from school occasionally before she could drive. We paid her hourly at $20/hr. The drive was usually 30ish min but we paid a full hour. This was for a fully self sufficient 14 year old.

You really need a new daycare situation.

You can't be serious. But in case you are serious: hire a nanny, ditch daycare/preschool. You will save money, and your kids won't have a 3 hour daily commute.

Hi OP,

I did this for 4 years - In Texas, not DC at the time. Arrived at 7am, left a few minutes later to drop kids to their school that was 15 miles from the family home by 7:40 usually. Was paid $25, so $125/week, plus $40 for gas reimbursement. I lived 5 miles away from the family and worked two miles from the kids' school at 8am, so 90% of the time, this worked out very well for me.

Anonymous wrote:I would be very particular about the person that drives a preschooler alone. I would want to know them personally.

Why a preschooler specifically?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$72 per day is a wild underestimate. No one will do this for $15/hour. You want someone to work, with their own car, from say 7:30-9 am and then again from 3-4:30 pm? The only possible person who might be willing to do this reliably would be a senior citizen neighbor with no one and no activities in their life.

Realistically, you'd be better off hiring a full-time housekeeper/nanny and paying them $25/hour + mileage. And then asking them to do other errands or housekeeping or whatever else you need during the 5 hours they aren't driving to/from school.

IME, rich people like us tend to say this all too reflexively, but it's just not the case.

I hired someone to do this for $15/hr for both of my kids. We provided the car. She drove to our house, picked up the car, then picked up the kids. She also cleaned during the PT hours (we only needed pick up). Started at $15/hr anyway, she did this for several years. That was in 2012. Hard to imagine the rates haven't changed.

1. Cleaning is more labor intensive than driving.
2. It's statistically unlikely that $15 was the best you might have negotiated for this arrangement.
3. $15 in 2012 is only worth $17.84 today. It hasn't changed *that* much.

Depending on age of your kid(s), you might be better off hiring a full or near full time housekeeper who will also do the pick up and drop off.

I would be very particular about the person that drives a preschooler alone. I would want to know them personally.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$72 per day is a wild underestimate. No one will do this for $15/hour. You want someone to work, with their own car, from say 7:30-9 am and then again from 3-4:30 pm? The only possible person who might be willing to do this reliably would be a senior citizen neighbor with no one and no activities in their life.

Realistically, you'd be better off hiring a full-time housekeeper/nanny and paying them $25/hour + mileage. And then asking them to do other errands or housekeeping or whatever else you need during the 5 hours they aren't driving to/from school.

IME, rich people like us tend to say this all too reflexively, but it's just not the case.

I hired someone to do this for $15/hr for both of my kids. We provided the car. She drove to our house, picked up the car, then picked up the kids. She also cleaned during the PT hours (we only needed pick up). Started at $15/hr anyway, she did this for several years. That was in 2012. Hard to imagine the rates haven't changed.

We are using Rubirides this year for one of the school pickups for our 12 year old. They have been charging me about $30 for the 15-minn drive on average. Typically parents tip $5-$8. The carpool lane this year is running about 30 min just to wait in line due to so many parents picking up during the pandemic, so I am tipping $40 per day right now. I feel like it is fair given the situation. So, yeah, as PP calculated it is about $70 per day.

Consider moving your childcare?? I can not imagine why anyone would put their kid in the car for even the one way trip for daycare!

Anonymous wrote:$72 per day is a wild underestimate. No one will do this for $15/hour. You want someone to work, with their own car, from say 7:30-9 am and then again from 3-4:30 pm? The only possible person who might be willing to do this reliably would be a senior citizen neighbor with no one and no activities in their life.

Realistically, you'd be better off hiring a full-time housekeeper/nanny and paying them $25/hour + mileage. And then asking them to do other errands or housekeeping or whatever else you need during the 5 hours they aren't driving to/from school.

IME, rich people like us tend to say this all too reflexively, but it's just not the case.

$72 per day is a wild underestimate. No one will do this for $15/hour. You want someone to work, with their own car, from say 7:30-9 am and then again from 3-4:30 pm? The only possible person who might be willing to do this reliably would be a senior citizen neighbor with no one and no activities in their life.

Realistically, you'd be better off hiring a full-time housekeeper/nanny and paying them $25/hour + mileage. And then asking them to do other errands or housekeeping or whatever else you need during the 5 hours they aren't driving to/from school.

Yikes! I would try to find a parent who is already doing it so it is not an extra burden and then offer ?? 50 a day now seems like a bargain but if I were the other parent I would never take that much.

to come up with a reasonable number, I would start with an hourly rate for the labor, then add the IRS rate for mileage reimbursement, which is something like 55 cents per mile. So that's like $27 per day for the miles, plus if you're going to pay $15 per hour for driving, 45 for that for 3 hours, plus 27, carry the one,

$72 per day.

Hubby is heading back to office and can no longer do drop off and pick up. We need to hire someone. From our house to school, it is 13 miles and takes 1.5 hours to complete. So ideally if we hired someone nearby, they would be spending 3 hours per day and driving approximately 50 miles each day. What would be a fair $ to pay someone to do this?