Paying for CPSafety services?

How much would you be willing to pay for CPSafety services?

  • FREE!

    Votes: 4 16.0%
  • $10

    Votes: 6 24.0%
  • $25

    Votes: 7 28.0%
  • $50

    Votes: 1 4.0%
  • Sliding Scale

    Votes: 7 28.0%

  • Total voters
    25

Victorious4

Senior Community Member
This is to help me in contacting OBGYNs, hospitals, brithing clinics, Planned Parenthood, Adovcacy Centers, YWCA, Childcare Councils, stores, dealerships, etc. :) THANKS!
 
ADS

SafeDad

CPSDarren - Admin
Staff member
I charge $25 for the first seat in every vehicle. I end up referring most inquiries to free fitting stations, so I rarely do more than a couple a month. If I did any advertising and didn't refer most callers, I could probably be doing a few a week or more.
 

Victorious4

Senior Community Member
Yeah ... I'll probably be working it into the Childbirth classes most often & other than that as a door-to-door type service, which might make it easier for parents with a few kids/seats or multiple vehicles :eek:
 

Jeanum

Admin - CPS Technician Emeritus
Staff member
There is a tech in NYC named Alisa Baer, aka the Carseat Lady, who charges $45 to do a house call according to an article about her in the New Yorker last year.
 

griffinmom

Moderator - CPST Instructor
Paying techs has been a hot topic lately on the CPS list. I strongly believe techs should be paid. But that isn't the reality for most people. I live in an affluent county and people of all income ranges have come to see car seat checks as a free service. I think it would be difficult now to convince them to pay.

What CPS services are offered in your area? In other words, what is your competition? Are there free check up events? How well accepted is the idea of CPS in your community? If people don't value it, it will make for a hard sell.

Alisa Baer always make me smile. I think it is great that she does what she does. But what most people don't realize is that there are several permanent Safe Kids inspection sites in midtown Manhattan (located in car dealerships so you don't have to park on the street) where you can go to get your seat checked for free. I think people think of Manhattan as a wasteland with no opportunities to get your seat checked when there really are services you don't have to pay.

I certainly wish you the best of luck. I really would like to see society valuing what techs do.

Take care.
 

Victorious4

Senior Community Member
Thanks, Emily ... it would be great to meet Alisa sometime -- my niece is "Alissa" :)

In our immediate area people have to travel 20+ minutes for free checks & at the hospital they only ask if new babies HAVE seats (not what type & they don't actually see the seat, etc.) ... if I can "sell" the medical community on the fact that we have ~98% misuse rate around here then hopefully things should go OK :confused: :eek:

Even $5 would make it worthwhile for me to walk the block to the hospital for a seatcheck, LOL!
 

ZephyrBlue

New member
I voted sliding scale- although I'm not sure how you'd work that without having some sort of proof of income? I can afford to have my seats checked, and would happily pay whatever the cost was, but I think that people who can't afford it should have the same opportunity to have theirs checked, too. OTOH, I think that techs should be paid for their services. Not sure who should have to pay them in the case of low-income families, though.
 

SafeDad

CPSDarren - Admin
Staff member
There is always a cost involved. "Free" inspections done by police and fire departments can easily add up to $50 on average, depending on the salary, overtime and overhead of the department. Granted, that's spread out across taxpayers. It's similar for hospitals, though the costs are paid by their other services.

The problem we see in our fairly affluent county is that many of these fittings stations are being closed due to lack of funds for supplies and salaries. That results in other departments being overloaded and restricting services to residents or doing cutbacks of their own. Personally, I'd much rather see them charge $10 or $20 than cut their programs altogether.

I'd love to be able to charge as much as a tradesperson like a plumber or electrician. Many charge more than $80 just to appear at your door. I think my service is just as important as theirs, but not in the mindset of many parents. That's fine as long as free inspections are readily available, but it's kind of a shame if they're not.
 

Victorious4

Senior Community Member
I dare say CPSafety is worth at least the same as a plumbing job :rolleyes: ;) But ... & honestly, I'd rather offer it free all the time just because you can't put a price tag on a child's life -- but, if anyone is willing/able to pay then I sure would appreciate it :cool:
 

SafeDad

CPSDarren - Admin
Staff member
If I offered it free, I'd be overwhelmed with checkups and I don't care to do that many. It's a nice way to reduce the number of clients to a level I want. Plus, in my area, the clients can easily afford it. They're the ones charging me 3x, 5x or 10x as much per hour for their services.
 
U

Unregistered

Guest
"It's not about laws.....it's about lives"

How about - "It's not about money.....it's about lives."

I guess it all comes down to why are you getting trained to be a CPST?
If it truly is about saving lives, then that is a 'community service.'

I have seen too many posts on this board where people can barely afford a car seat, and yet to answer all of their car seat questions you tell them to " Go see your local CPST." I know that my DH would rather wrestle with a seat himself (and risk that it is improperly installed) than pay $25 that could be used for food for our kids.
 

SafeDad

CPSDarren - Admin
Staff member
Unregistered said:
"It's not about laws.....it's about lives"

How about - "It's not about money.....it's about lives."

In an ideal world, that would be true.

I guess it all comes down to why are you getting trained to be a CPST? If it truly is about saving lives, then that is a 'community service.'

Doctors save lives, yet they command a lot more than $10 or $25 a visit. Maybe you don't see that cost because of a co-pay, but it's no different than paying a policeman or fireman through your property and sales taxes. Some doctors do free clinics, but I'm guessing most people prefer to pay for office visits to a doctor they trust. Services exist to child proof your house, too. Sure, you can take the time to learn and do it yourself, but it's a lot easier and more thorough to hire an expert to do it. They charge a lot more for their labor than $10 or $25. If only your free community service ideal applied to everything related to saving lives!

Many people at police and fire stations get trained to be a CPST because their commander instructed them to do so. They don't get paid overtime, learn the bare minimum needed to pass a test once every two years and rarely get involved in any additional training. Would you rather have a free check from someone like this who is in a hurry to get you out of the door so they can get back to their main duties, or pay $10 for a very experienced volunteer who needs to recoup some of their costs to be able to buy food for their own kids? To each their own, of course.


I have seen too many posts on this board where people can barely afford a car seat, and yet to answer all of their car seat questions you tell them to " Go see your local CPST." I know that my DH would rather wrestle with a seat himself (and risk that it is improperly installed) than pay $25 that could be used for food for our kids.

These forums are another great example. You don't see any ads or pop-ups. You didn't register, yet you can still post questions and participate in discussions. The costs are being paid by someone, and I can guarantee that the amount of donations that are sent don't cover a fraction of them. In the real world, that usually means that services like this often disappear over time.

The old addages apply. Nothing is free. You get what you pay for. It's great that we have free inspections in most areas of the country. Don't fault those of us who try to recoup some of our costs. You can be sure that very few techs, if any, make anything substantial after insurance, supplies, babysitters and other costs. I barely break even in the two tax years I've done inspections for a fee and that doesn't include the hours I also spend doing free inspection events as a volunteer.
 

Victorious4

Senior Community Member
I believe many things in life should be free & they aren't; I also believe that teachers & CPSTechs & others like us deserve a whole lot more in return!

As I've mentioned, I want to offer my services FOC but at the risk of bankruptcy I also need to charge temporarily....

So far, it seems likely I'll be able to bill insurance companies when services are offered through the medical practice (so the client won't pay out of pocket) & my suggested donation amount will be $25 the rest of the time, with a sort of sliding scale fee & if the client qualifies for free services then that's what they shall have!

:)
 

griffinmom

Moderator - CPST Instructor
Unregistered said:
"It's not about laws.....it's about lives"

How about - "It's not about money.....it's about lives."

I guess it all comes down to why are you getting trained to be a CPST?
If it truly is about saving lives, then that is a 'community service.'

I have seen too many posts on this board where people can barely afford a car seat, and yet to answer all of their car seat questions you tell them to " Go see your local CPST." I know that my DH would rather wrestle with a seat himself (and risk that it is improperly installed) than pay $25 that could be used for food for our kids.


Wow. As Darren mentioned, nothing is truly free.

You could easily save millions of dollars for local governments by asking police, firefighters, EMT's/paramedics to do their jobs for free. Maybe you should suggest that to your local county government. After all it is about saving lives and it is "community service."

CPS techs and instructors spend a great deal of time training and learning how to do their jobs correctly. It isn't insignificant in terms of time or money.

I'm truly sorry to hear that you would rather risk your children's lives by improperly installing their carseats rather than going to a check. Many checks are still free. Yes, FREE. Some techs charge, most do not. And you won't need that extra $25 for food if your child dies in a crash while using an improperly installed seat.

ETA: Most techs want to help people. That is why they do what they do. I'd be hard pressed to come up with the name of a tech who charges for his/her services to not donate their time for a low income family who truly needs help. Or to help that family find a no cost seat check event.
 
U

Unregistered

Guest
I've always been willing to pay and never had to. My priorty is keeping my kids safe. Even if that means I have to do without something I wanted for a bit.
I think techs should be paid. It's nice of them to do it for free, but most of them do it one at a time, and drive to your house to do it. if your pipes busted, you'd have a plumber out there. If you air conditioner broke, you'd have someone fix it. If CPS checks were the law, you'd fine a way to do it. But if your priorty is not keepig your kids safe, then no amount of free services can change that.
 

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