Alright, I'm not sure how everyone is going to react to this, but...
I'm 13 years old, and need a crap load of money before the end of the summer to buy this. My idea: scam people out of hundreds of dollars really fast by selling ice-cream at suspiciously (but not unusually) high prices. I play the ice-cream-man theme song really loudly and drive slowly past neighborhoods of stay-at-home mom's with 3 kids each. It's GOLD!!!
1. I can get the ice cream at cost-co in mass-quantities for low, low, prices!
2. I have a bicycle with many, many gears for going up hills and down.
3. I live in a neighborhood that has TONS of communities events right near by.
4. I'm 5 minutes walk away from a neighborhood with HUGE houses and rich people.
5. I DON'T KNOW HOW TO CARRY THE ICE CREAM
All Ice-Cream-Men I've ever seen have cars... To avoid confusion, I will again mention at this point that I am 13 years old, therefore do not have a drivers license. However, I have a cooler, a bike, a hand-cart, and strong biking legs.
THE ACTUAL QUESTION: "How can I attach a cooler full of 25 or so ice-cream bars on a hand-truck along behind my bike? The cooler can be connected to the hand-truck with bungee cords, but I just need a way to pull the hand-truck along with me, or some other method of transporting Ice-Cream."
I've seen vendors with trikes that have large coolers on the front just for this purpose.
I'm sure they cost a bit though. But, you could get a used trike pretty cheap and mod it.
Here's some bike trailers I found with a quick search on Flickr. Some look factory made, others look homebuilt to some extent. Something like this may be affordable.
You might want to check with your city. There may be laws regarding street vendors and child labor. You might need some kind of permits.
Not sure if you plan is likely to work or not. As a parent, I'd cast a wary eye at you hawking ice cream bars to my kids. How about making your photography earn you some $$. Senior portraits, for instance? I believe LadyK has done pretty good making some money with her camera.
Selling photos = People just aren't interested in a 13 year old kid's photography
Ice Cream = Maybe selling Ice cream from packages that were bought at costco to neighborhood kids is a more traditional business in Oregon then in Texas.
To earn $1200 in 60 days (give or take), he plans to ride around the neighborhood on his bicycle annoying people with loud music and trying to sell melting ice-cream bars for exorbitant prices.
For me, the real issue here is the perishability of the stock. I mean, of all the things he might resell for a profit, he picks one of the few that will melt on him if he isn't really careful?
Still, what do I know? Not a lot, when it comes to being an ice-cream vendor :-)
i was thinking the same thing, a cooler isn't going to cut it, he needs a refrigerated cart. Besides he be competing with Mr. softee.
about the lawn crews, they have equipment that allows them to finish a lawn in 15 mins flat, yielding higher hourly earnings, a push mower wont cut it.
he could do other types of yard work, asphalt driveway sealing for one, i know its hot, but i paid a guy $80 (and that was a bargain for me) for 45 mins of his time and $40 in materials. $40 an hour isnt too shabby, he could make his target is 30 driveways or less.
heck get a pc, you'll pay half the price for an equal pc. you can get the same software on a pc (plus some) and if you really wanted to you could run OSX on the pc.
about the lawn crews, they have equipment that allows them to finish a lawn in 15 mins flat, yielding higher hourly earnings, a push mower wont cut it.
Forgot about that detail...
I don't know of an easy way for a teen to make a lot of money quickly. Just old fashioned hard work. What else are you good at Jackson?
heck get a pc, you'll pay half the price for an equal pc. you can get the same software on a pc (plus some) and if you really wanted to you could run OSX on the pc.
Ever have any teenagers yourself? One thing never changes; they get brand-obsessed, and once they've determined what it is they want, nothing else is good enough. That's my experience anyway. I remember being really cash-poor and having to buy the boy new shoes, and NOTHING would do but the latest Air Jordans at $125 a pop, and we weren't about to pay that, and it was like the end of the world. He was gonna be too ashamed to go to school if we bought him generic sneakers at the footwear outlet for 10 bux...
So I'm supposing our Jackson/Coleman guy has his mind made up and good luck changing it :-) Besides which, that aluminum chassis is just too cool for words. Makes me wish I was a Mac user :-)
If you are going to use a cooler you need to think about using dry ice, dry ice will keep things a lot colder for longer periods of time. Make sure you factor the cost of the ice into the cost of doing business.
Like others have said you should check out local vendor laws, not likely they would fine a 13 year old but they could shut you done leaving you with a lot of ice cream. Good luck, I like your work for it attitude!
Let the kid try his ice cream thing, you old geezers. You're even telling him to not want the thing he wants?! Way to kill the dream. Christ, if I had a bunch of old goons snarling about the way I should have done this and that, I'd.... Well, that's beside the point. I think it's a cool idea (ha ha).
You're even telling him to not want the thing he wants?!
It's only fair, since every time someone posts for advice on a new PC, a Mac fanboy jumps in with "get a Mac" as the ultimate solution to their question.
hey, im not an old geezer. im not even in my mid 30's... the kid asked for advice, and from someone whose been there trying to make an extra buck in the summer i think i know a little something... hell, my dad had me go from house to house painting house numbers on curbs for a buck each one summer (and most of those cheapskates wouldn't even pony up at that price).
besides he needs to be prepared.
he's going to sell ice to rich people at what price? $1.50 - $2 a piece? i don't think he's going to get very far above those prices. lets assume he can buy the ice cream at 50c each. that's between 800 and 1200 bars he needs to sell, that's 160 - 240 bars a week or 32 to 48 bars a day (weather permitting).
that's a lot of ice cream to sell. not to mention the cost of any supplies (ice, cooler, etc.). he can probably get away without permits because of his age.
buy the way, if he gets off the Macbook, that number drops significantly.
BTW: Dell has a core i3 laptop for $499 that would blow any macbook out of the water.
The real money is selling bottled water & soft pretzels at congested traffic areas. You can pick up a case of cheap water for about $3 for 24 bottles. Sell them for $2 a bottle where people are hot & stuck waiting. Pretzels can be picked up wholesale fairly cheap as well. When I was in high school I had a friend who went over to Philly every Saturday with a cooler full of water and about 10 dozen pretzels. He used to make about 5 grand every summer.
