Always Late High School Student

It sounds like there isn't really a consequence for his lateness so maybe if and when there is, he might respond differently. 

Is this just in his school life or is he late meeting friends, etc?

I believe some people are just habitually late - but as to whether it's something people around him have to accept, that depends. At some stage he might have a wake up call when someone doesn't accept it and he misses out on an appointment, an interview or a flight. It'll either change him or it won't I guess.

What time does his school day start? Is he just having trouble getting to school on time, or is he late to other things that start later in the day?

Teenagers are not wired to get up early. They just aren’t. I wouldn’t characterize this as being a personality trait necessarily. Teenagers are made to go to school too early in the day in most places, IMHO.

I had that kid (my oldest) and she served plenty of detention for her tardies. Consequences didn’t seem to help. She still struggles with getting to work on time at age almost 23, apparently, but seems able to do so when she has a meeting or something where her bosses would notice her lateness.

I don’t know what to tell you. She gets this from my husband and it drives me nuts in both cases as I am one of those aggravatingly punctual people.

My mother was late to everything she ever attended. Sometimes it was because she wouldn't get out of bed on time and sometimes just because she was piddling around instead of getting dressed to go. I remember as a kid my dad, my sister and I were always sitting in the car waiting for her to get her shit together every time we went somewhere. I used to tell my dad to just leave when she wasn't ready but he wouldn't do it, he'd just bitch and complain to us. She put everyone out by being late, even her friends.

When I got married the first time that I went to pick her up to go someplace she made me wait on her couch for 45 minutes because she couldn’t get it together. I was so pissed because she made me late and I am NEVER late. At that time I told her that she was incredibly rude and thinking of no one but herself and that the next time she pulled that late crap I would leave her.

The next time I went to get her she was late again so I just left her. She could not believe that I wouldn't wait because everyone else had always put up with her nonsense. However, she was never, ever late with me again. She still held everyone else up but never again did she make me wait.

Being late is so disrespectful to others who have to wait on the late person. Anyone can be unavoidably late on occasion but that chronic lateness is completely unacceptable.

If it were my school age child I would talk to them, explaining how their chronic lateness was rude and disrespectful to those around them and how their lateness was going to affect them later in life through problems at work and problems with friends or a spouse. I would offer to help them get up and get going. I would give them a little grace and then I would warn them that if they could not be a responsible person they were going to receive a rude awakening much earlier than they would normally have to get up.

Until they stopped being late around five in the morning they would get ice water dripped on their face and a metal pot banged with a wooden spoon right over their head. Those consequences would escalate until they learned it was to their advantage to get going on time. I would then tell them that it was in their control to never have that happen again. Just get up on time, quit putting others out and start acting like a competent young adult. You do no one a favor by putting up with that behavior. They do it because there are no consequences.

Disclaimer: I have no children.

I am curious...do you know what is causing him to be late?
Won't get out of bad...he's sleeping, wasting time on a device in the morning before School- staying up late on devices(not getting enough sleep), dilly-dallying around.......all of it, etc...?

My kid truly has time blindness. It's a hard thing for me to understand, but you can tell her she needs to leave in 5 minutes and she has no comprehension of what that means. She has gotten better (she is now a junior) but it's still a problem. She does have diagnosed issues that involve executive function, so I assume that for her, that's a part of it all. We try to help her without giving her the equivalent of a motorized wheelchair when all she needs are crutches.

My oldest was like that in high school. FWIW, they were able to get everywhere else on time (and didn't run late between classes at school); it was just getting up for school in the morning as a teenager. Multiple alarms, parent reminders, you name it. I blamed myself, I blamed them, I got mad -- really, nothing helped.

Now that they are in college they start class a little later (9 rather than 7:50, which was the HS start time at the time), and when they are home for the summer, they are never late for work in the AM, ever. I really am convinced that the early HS start time combined with normal teen development/growth/sleep patterns is, for a segment of kids, a complete disaster (FWIW I have three teenagers now and none of them have any issues getting up and to school, and/but school for them starts at 8:50 rather than 7:50, because my district moved the start times back).

I would implement serious consequences at home for everyday he is late to school. My boys STRUGGLED getting up on time for almost a year and finally I lost my s**t on them. Every day they were late, they lost their phone, computer, and friends that day after school until bedtime. They use their phones as alarms and if they woke up on time the next morning, they kept their phone/computer/friends for the day. If they overslept, I would take their phones/computers/friends that day after school until bedtime. Repeat, repeat, repeat. It took a good month for them to finally figure it out and now they are rarely late. It was a PITA to monitor it every day, but the "before school" routine is so much better now. My boys' high school starts EARLY (first bell is 7:00am/late bell is 7:05am) and it was a tough transition from middle school to high school.

I agree with epeanymous, it may have to do with teenagers natural sleep patterns and school starting time. And if that’s the case, I’m not sure how I would handle school, probably discuss with his doctor or a sleep doctor actually.

But with everything else that impacts other people? I feel like as he’s in school and living at home, even at his age, it’s still within your scope to teach him as best you can. After a frank discussion and a short time to get used to it, I’d stop giving leeway and start implementing natural consequences. If you say you’re leaving at a certain time, leave exactly when you say you will. If it’s a family dinner out and he can drive himself, only get a table that will seat the exact number of everyone else and when he shows up do not allow him to join you. If he’s late for other type of things, like you need to know what he needs added to the grocery list by a certain time do not get anything he requests after that time. He can use his own time and money to go get it. Does he pay for his own insurance or other bills? Tickets? Allow for whatever natural consequences occur instead of bailing him out. Do you do laundry? If it’s not exactly where it’s supposed to be when it’s supposed to be take note and don’t wash it, make sure it doesn’t get into the next load either. Being on time, doing things on time is an important life skill.

I get what you’re saying, and normally I’d agree. But for an ongoing issue that will have such a big impact on their life, where they are not attempting to make the needed changes and at an age where it’s hard to find natural consequences you can enforce that they would care about, I would make this one of them. When thinking of ideas for me at that age, I tried to determine what natural consequences my parents could have enforced that would affect me enough to initiate change, and this was one of the few. I was fairly independent doing things like my own laundry, servicing my own vehicle, cleaning my room/bathroom and helping a lot around the house, and getting a lot of my own items from the grocery store. But I didn’t spend much time at home with the whole family so this would have had a big impact on me. Not only because I didn’t spend much time doing fun things with them, but also because we rarely ate out so it was a real treat. I certainly couldn’t afford it much. 

Obviously, if there are other issues where this could cause problems or really hurt feelings, it wouldn’t be a good idea. But for a lot of kids this age I think they’ll mostly be mad or upset, not hurt. That would have been me, for sure. My sister had family issues so this would have been a terrible idea for her. Also, if they’re really trying I wouldn’t go this far. Each kid and situation is different. 

Honestly, thousands amd thousands of high school kids manage to get up and get to school on time, even if it starts "too early".
Also, truancy becomes the parents problem very quickly. As a parent, you (generic you) are responsible for making sure your child attends school and is there on time. The consequences are not just the child's.

So, talk to him about what he needs in order to get up and get to school on time. Go to bed earlier? An alarm clock that shakes the bed? A louder alarm? Coffee? He needs to participate in figuring this out.

How timely. I was coming here to complain about someone ....

I am OCD about being ON TIME, and usually arrive at least 5 minutes early so that I am in place when it is time for the appointment or event or whatever.

Today's event: 3 friends are meeting a fourth person for lunch. We are to be at the location for lunch at 12:30.
#1 person lives the furthermost from the restaurant. She has offered to PU the rest of us and go. If we go by distance, #1 should leave, PU #2 and then PU me (#3). Last night she texted me to say, "Is it OK to pick you up at 12:30? I replied, "NO. The restaurant is at least 20 minutes from my house."

I am appalled, but I can't comprehend how she would think this was OK. We told #4, we would meet her at 12:30, how could she think picking me up at the appointed hour would be OK?

A second story related to time, from many years ago. DIL was/is known to be habitually late. She heard me say I wanted to see the musical Cats, which was coming to Dallas. She asked to go with me. At that time, an organization had a chartered bus to take those attending to the theater. I got tickets for DIL and myself. As the day approached, I told DIL that I would not be late and miss the bus and she had to be here on time. The day and time came. She was not here. I tried to call to inquire how close she was to the house and she would not answer the phone. I gave her a few more minutes, seething all the time. Finally, I left home and went to the bus. I left her ticket with DH. I was on the bus and a few stragglers were getting on when DIL and DS pulled up. She got on the bus, livid with me. She said something about me leaving the house without her and my only reply was, "I told you I would NOT be late." She didn't say any more. However for the last 25 years, when we are going somewhere with her, she arrives on time.