Anonymous wrote:Sure. Maybe it'll break just when she needs it most. How cheap is it?

Presumably the nanny does have a personal cell phone, OP just doesn't want to tie up her minutes with day to day "work" stuff. In a true emergency, if the Walmart phone did break, surely the nanny would just use her personal cell.

In today's day and age i'm shocked that people still count minutes. Everyone I no has unlimited talk, text and Internet for $50/$60 per month.

Maybe she's just using minutes as an excuse to milk you for a few pennies?

Anonymous wrote:We live closer to Costco, but isn't it just as bad as Walmart with all the made in China slave labor?

Come ON are you serious? I am willing to bet you have a few items in your house that a child in Honduras slaved over.

I think a "Walmart phone" is one of those pay as you go type Tracfones.

How considerate of you OP to respect your nanny's minutes, etc.

I think it's a great idea.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

I'm all for a living wage, tho I don't think signing on for the phone service involves slave labor. We aren't even buying anything from them, as we already have a phone they say we can connect. It's like adding another computer an already existing wireless plan.

we just don't have the money to sign up for some expensive new plan. Ours is already maxed out on the number of phones in our family plan.

She most likely already has a phone plan though. What the PPs were saying is that if she doesn't already have a plan that includes unlimited minutes, then have her upgrade her plan to one that does, and give her a stipend each month that covers that difference in cost. If she was paying $50/month for the plan with limited minutes and texts, and it will be $60-70 for the plan that has unlimited calling and texting, then offer her $10-20 a month towards her phone bill for her to upgrade it herself. If she ends up leaving your family at any time, you don't have to worry about anything on your end as it is still her phone and plan. She could then either drop back down to the previous plan, or have a new family take over the stipend to keep her going with that current unlimited plan.

OP here. Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

I'm all for a living wage, tho I don't think signing on for the phone service involves slave labor. We aren't even buying anything from them, as we already have a phone they say we can connect. It's like adding another computer an already existing wireless plan.

we just don't have the money to sign up for some expensive new plan. Ours is already maxed out on the number of phones in our family plan.

We live closer to Costco, but isn't it just as bad as Walmart with all the made in China slave labor?

No, do not shop at Walmart. If she doesn't have unlimited minutes, pay the difference to upgrade.

What is a "Walmart" phone?!

Sure. Maybe it'll break just when she needs it most. How cheap is it?

I think this is a great idea. It seems like a reasonable way to limit the expense to both of you!

We are considering a walmart phone for our nanny, it's so cheap! That way we aren't burning up
her minutes, or her phone. Anyone considered this?

TIA!