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Original poster

WWYD - teen running their own tuck shop in school

504 replies

PinkPansies · 08/02/2022 16:06

We've realised recently that ds1 aged 14 has become quite flush with cash (more so than his pocket money would allow anyway!).

On questioning we've discovered that he's quite the entrepreneur and has set up his own tuck shop in school on breaks and lunches. In short, he's been stopping at the local Coop on the way to school and buying sweets and chocolates then selling them to the kids in his year for double the price. Who are more than willing to pay.

From making the odd quid here and there his 'business' has expanded rapidly in the last 3 weeks and he's got quite a following in school - and he's currently making about ten quid A DAY in profit. I can't quite believe the amounts.

He's taking specific requests from kids that get the bus to school so don't have the opportunity to visit a shop and has a price/order list to show his customers and a book with a record of his sales and profits each day 🙈

He's taking it very seriously and is incredibly organised. He's explained to his parents that his profit is limited only by how much stuff he can physically fit in his bag - so he's currently looking at smaller, higher value sweets and sounding our his customers for interest levels.

Parent A and Parent B have different opinions.

Parent A is thrilled, has congratulated their son for his driven, entrepreneurial spirit and told him to crack on...but that he needs to be aware the school will probably give him a detention if he's caught. It's a risk ds is happy to take.

Parent B is amused and a bit impressed but thinks he should stop as obviously the school would frown on this. Haven't seen any specific school rules about this but obviously the school would probably want it stopped!

WWYD?

OP posts:
VelvetChairGirl · 09/02/2022 07:29

In my kids school he would be excluded and they do random bag searches to look for people like him, the fact he has log books of orders and stuff, isnt going to help him if he gets caught even if his bags empty.

arethereanyleftatall · 09/02/2022 07:34

Skim reading this thread, it seems this has been done plenty of times...but...nearly always by boys. There hasn't been any 'my dd does this'. I wonder why not. Already too submissive and stick to the rules? Too scared of bullies?

Canaloha · 09/02/2022 07:39

@arethereanyleftatall

Skim reading this thread, it seems this has been done plenty of times...but...nearly always by boys. There hasn't been any 'my dd does this'. I wonder why not. Already too submissive and stick to the rules? Too scared of bullies?
Better things to do with their time than charge people an excessive amount for junk food?
arethereanyleftatall · 09/02/2022 07:42

@Canaloha
Maybe. I'm thinking now that most wouldn't dare. Which is a shame.

cookiemonster2468 · 09/02/2022 07:49

Tell him to keep it outside of school time and outside of school premises.

It's good that he is showing initiative, learning about business etc. But shouldn't be encouraging him to do it in school or "under the radar". Most schools have healthy eating initiatives and presumably there's a reason the school aren't selling sweets to the kids.

If you encourage rule breaking then you can't exactly complain about all the dodginess and greed that exists in private corporations - this is only a microcosm of that!

toomuchlaundry · 09/02/2022 08:18

@arethereanyleftatall maybe they don't want to risk an exclusion on their record

Toanewstart23 · 09/02/2022 08:19

@VelvetChairGirl

In my kids school he would be excluded and they do random bag searches to look for people like him, the fact he has log books of orders and stuff, isnt going to help him if he gets caught even if his bags empty.
For him to be excluded There would need to be a explicit rule against this with the consequence of immediate exclusion Unlikely
HomeHomeInTheRange · 09/02/2022 08:20

Tell him to keep it outside of school time and outside of school premises

That undermines his whole business model though , which is to sell at inflated prices to those who come on buses with no access to buy out of school hours or off school premises, and whose parents have declined / neglected to stuff their lunch boxes with Snickers. If they can buy from him out of school, they would go to the shop!

Toanewstart23 · 09/02/2022 08:20

@arethereanyleftatall

Skim reading this thread, it seems this has been done plenty of times...but...nearly always by boys. There hasn't been any 'my dd does this'. I wonder why not. Already too submissive and stick to the rules? Too scared of bullies?
Can’t be arsed
Toanewstart23 · 09/02/2022 08:20

And there HAS been dds doing this on this very thread

Toanewstart23 · 09/02/2022 08:21

@HomeHomeInTheRange

Tell him to keep it outside of school time and outside of school premises

That undermines his whole business model though , which is to sell at inflated prices to those who come on buses with no access to buy out of school hours or off school premises, and whose parents have declined / neglected to stuff their lunch boxes with Snickers. If they can buy from him out of school, they would go to the shop!

Get to school early Before school starts And wait outside school premises for when they walk in
HomeHomeInTheRange · 09/02/2022 08:43

@Toanewstart23 True! Like a proppa dealer!

arethereanyleftatall · 09/02/2022 08:57

Whilst this is great of him, it only takes one parent in the following scenario to kick up a huge stink...- obese 11 year old, parents doing everything they can to limit/monitor their sweets intake, chose a school with no tuck shop, healthy pack lunch from home, pass no sweet shops on the way, etc etc buying a daily bag of haribo from your ds. Or nut allergy. Or dairy allergy. Or vegan. Whatever. It's a massive shame really that a school would have to quash this, but I think it would have to be far far harsher than the detention you detail in your op. Imagine if a peanut allergy kid bought a snickers?

Rivermonsters · 09/02/2022 09:03

@arethereanyleftatall excuse my naivety, shouldn’t the child with the peanut allergy by now know they have one?

arethereanyleftatall · 09/02/2022 10:09

Sure. But if they didn't realise. Risks are low, stakes are high.

neverornow · 09/02/2022 10:27

I'm parent A as long as he's not breaking any school rules.
I would insist he save half of his profits into a bank/savings account

VelvetChairGirl · 09/02/2022 12:12

For him to be excluded
There would need to be a explicit rule against this with the consequence of immediate exclusion
Unlikely

They are classed as prohibited items, they can take chocolate and sweets into the school but only enough for a snack for themselves not multiple items (so one bar, one pack of crisps, one drink etc, if that boy is making £10 a day he is taking a lot, there would be no excuse he would be out on his ear.

Toanewstart23 · 09/02/2022 12:14

@VelvetChairGirl

*For him to be excluded There would need to be a explicit rule against this with the consequence of immediate exclusion Unlikely*

They are classed as prohibited items, they can take chocolate and sweets into the school but only enough for a snack for themselves not multiple items (so one bar, one pack of crisps, one drink etc, if that boy is making £10 a day he is taking a lot, there would be no excuse he would be out on his ear.

Is that actually stayed in the rules though?
VelvetChairGirl · 09/02/2022 12:15

My son took a bag of mini croissants in once, I only put like 3 or 4 in a plastic bag for him, they murmured over that and then said it was OK because they were not individually wrapped and were very small.

Toanewstart23 · 09/02/2022 12:15

And £10 is very little… have you seen the price of confectionary these days?!

VelvetChairGirl · 09/02/2022 12:19

"Is that actually stayed in the rules though?"

not exactly its at the principles discretion but they do, do random bag searches since people were coming in with 6 packs of crisps and packs of 9 twix etc.

you can only bring in enough for you as a snack, its up to the teachers really what they think a snack is, to me it means, dont give him 2 bags of crisps, or two chocolate bars, give him one of each.

PinkSyCo · 09/02/2022 12:22

It turns out I'm parent B. Dd15 was selling vape refills and vapes to her class mates because she had a credit card.

I felt it would get her into trouble at school. V serious school that gets rid of anyone that might impact their reputation.

She does worry me. Overly strong entrepreneurial skills, not sure about her ethical boundaries.

Take the bloody credit card off her then. What’s a 15 year old doing with a credit card anyway?

VelvetChairGirl · 09/02/2022 12:23

@Toanewstart23

And £10 is very little… have you seen the price of confectionary these days?!
Yes I buy it all the time thats alot considering my son gets offered about a 50% hike on the price.

he went in with a pack of pepereo the other day (£1 a box) a boy he shared them with wanted him to bring some in for him and offered £1.50.

but if its things like cadbury you can buy a pack of 4 for £1, if its Mars its £1.25 for a pack of 4, you can get crisps for £1 for a pack of 6, you can get 4 boxes of hello panda for £1 in poundland etc. I know because I am always buying this stuff and a tight arse, so £10 thats a lot of stuff I am guessing £1 a bag of crisps or bar as a stand alone bar is normally 65p+ depending on what it is.

Toanewstart23 · 09/02/2022 12:24

@VelvetChairGirl

"Is that actually stayed in the rules though?"

not exactly its at the principles discretion but they do, do random bag searches since people were coming in with 6 packs of crisps and packs of 9 twix etc.

you can only bring in enough for you as a snack, its up to the teachers really what they think a snack is, to me it means, dont give him 2 bags of crisps, or two chocolate bars, give him one of each.

Not a chance he would be excluded then
Why? Because a tenner profit given todays confectionery prices is actually not much at alL So the school would have to prove that the amount he’d bought in was too much for one person And that is rather subjective!
Toanewstart23 · 09/02/2022 12:25

And those people previously bringing in large amounts

I’m guessing they weren’t excluded!

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