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36% of my students are coming to lesson Saturdays because that is the only day the parents are free to bring them to lesson.
I start to wonder if I should charge more for Saturday students.
How many of you have done this?
If yes I should charge more, how much more I should charge to be fair??

Thanks

I don't see how you could charge more logically.

I do see some teachers provide discounts for times that aren't usually filled (ie, morning hours for home-school children at a 10% discount or the like), but to charge more for times that work for people because they are in demand anyway? Those times should be your regular price.

You can charge however you want. You are absolutely not obligated to charge all clients the same fee. If you charge the Saturday students more money--and they know about the different rates you're charging--they might go find other teachers. It's your call, ultimately.

Most employees expect time and a half pay when working weekends. I think it entirely reasonable to have a premium add-on for working hours you'd rather not work.

How much are your Saturdays worth to you? I would certainly charge more.

In all my years as a piano teacher I've never heard of something like this, ez. Either you are breaking new ground for our profession, or you're digging your studio into a hole, and giving all your colleagues in Orange County something to chuckle over. My vote is for the latter.

But what the heck, go ahead and double your rates for Saturdays starting next month and see what happens. Something certainly will.

Peter, I've never known any teacher to do it, either, but there's no logical reason why a premium shouldn't be charged for premium time. Alternately, you could set a base rate for Sat's, a slight discount for school day afternoon's, and yet greater discount for other times. The effect is the same, even if the name is different. I believe they call that marketing!

In the end, it all comes down to what the market will bear.

If the OP's market will bear a Saturday premium, then it would be remiss of her not to apply it.

Ditto. I liken it to teachers who travel to homes and charge more for the privilege. They aren't just covering their gas expense. What's the value of someone coming to the home? In my town of 100+ piano teachers only 2 travel to homes. The demand is great.

The same for teaching Saturdays. And if the market will bear it, go for it.

Nice!

Actually, there are all kinds of crazy stuff that happens in Orange County. Where do I begin? We have parents who are paying through their noses for inferior piano instruction, and parents who opt for more expensive piano instruction from a recent college grad when their previous teacher is a proven, experienced teacher who happened to charge less.

Must be something in the drinking water. Common sense is not so common around here.

To Peter:
I like to think innovative but act logically and with fairness.
If I am going to raise my rate for Saturdays, it is not going to be next month because the only time I raise my rate is during summer time, before school start.

Hi ezpiano,

I teach on Sundays and I when scheduling a new student I had a parent ask me if Sunday lessons cost more. So it wouldn't necessarily be a surprise to everyone if there were a higher weekend charge.

I do not charge more for Sunday lessons. I tend to only have 3 or 4 on Sundays and it works out great for me. I enjoy Sunday lessons.

If you decide to charge more for Saturdays, I would suggest a 10 percent increase. Or at least limit it to 15 percent.

Isn't that why we call it "La La Land?"

Don't confuse LA with OC!

Ez has now explained herself better. She is already thinking ahead to a different fee structure for next season, not for anytime soon. Good for her: I don't tend to think past the end of my nose, so perhaps I can learn something here.

I guess the main question is this? What is the goal of doing something as unusual as charging extra for Saturday lessons? Is it to teach less on Saturdays? Is it to have Saturdays off? Is it to punish the Saturday families in one's studio, because that is what it will feel like to them.

As an independent piano teacher in the US of A, one can do whatever one wishes. Well, you can't charge different rates for students of different ethnic backgrounds or religions or genders. But sure, there could be different rates for different days of the week. I just find it bizarre.

My main goal is to reduce Saturday's students and move them to weekdays. If they have to "feel" that they being punished, there is nothing I can do to change their feeling. But why would they feel that way? This kind of feeling sound bizarre to me.

If John can offer morning time at a slightly discounted price for home school students, his rate is not unify for 24 hour/ 7 days, right? That means if my rate of Saturdays and weekdays are different, it is the same concept as him.
We just called it differently.

You can charge whatever you want.

The 'business' type of sentiment is to charge more where more people want your service so that you can meet demands.

I.e. if you have too many people who want your product/service, then raise your prices to meet demands (sift out people who don't really want the product/service and give it to people who are willing to pay because they want it).

You can go either way because your service on Saturdays are technically the exact same as any other day, but you have a higher demand.

You know, as much as I enjoy visiting anywhere in California, most of it fits that description!

Peter, I just booked a rental car for Thanksgiving week; double the usual rate. This is not uncommon. What's uncommon is for piano teachers to take a business-like approach to running their business. I suspect that the OP will do just fine charging a premium on Saturdays, but to keep customers happy, I would rephrase it some way so that it makes sense to the clients. Such as weekend rates; weekday after school rates, mid-day rates, or something along this line.

Well, if you are looking for common sense, I have found it in rather short supply in my home state.