WWYD - teen running their own tuck shop in school

[PinkPansies]

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?

Awesome.

@Gonnagetgoing I’m sorry but I genuinely don’t know where to even start with that.

I’m happy that your brother has had no long-term consequences from his dealing. I hope the same is true for everyone who bought one of his tabs.

County lines dealers are bad people. They think nothing of threatening the safety of a young person’s family. I realise I probably made it sound like our boy said ‘no thank you’ and that was that but that’s not quite how it works.

Be less concerned with adhering to rules that are not designed to spare others from harm or suffering (what are they for then?) and give that kid a bigger rucksack and some seed money. Dragons Den - teen edition! He absolutely deserves your support, so many kids don’t have that spirit and he should be cultivated like the rare orchid he is.

Don't be daft, he's 14

Anybody of any age is liable to be taxed - child stars etc. - but the reality is that almost all, like this lad, will be well under the threshold.

He would probably be safer to move his operations to just off the school premises, but other than that, I really can't see what on earth he's doing wrong. It's sweets/chocolate/baked goods, not cigarettes, alcohol or drugs - and his mark-up isn't outrageous at all for a delivered-to-order service. As PP said, kids that age should know what allergies they have and buying/ordering is a choice they are free to make or not to make.

People pay extra for Deliveroo and similar services, where they could just go out to get stuff themselves and pay less, but they're happy to pay more for somebody else to fetch it and bring it to them. As long as nobody is forced or coerced into using an offered service, what's the problem?

As for getting caught and punished, that makes me think of the Enid Blyton school stories, where the idea was often to crush the children, thwart their creativity and force them into line, to 'know their place' - and tell them off for things that, objectively, could not really be judged as wrong at all.

Matron would confiscate sweets and goodies from them - usually to steal them for herself - by giving any spurious excuse; but it's definitely a 'down with this sort of thing' mindset, without actually stopping to think whether the 'sort of thing' is actually bad in any way. We've all known teachers and other adults whose default response to any attempt at a small freedom for children is to instantly say No to everything, rather than take the trouble to think if there's an actual reason why it should be a No.

Why would the school frown on it? Some kids always do this. And the teachers buy from them!

My son did this. Even the teachers bought from him. He was making about £90 a week by the time the head heard about it and made him stop.

I love it! My son who doesn't drink use to do the party lifts and McDonald's run too, £60 a night.
Still canny, just moved his pension today at 22. Viva le entrepreneur.

I was this kid.

At the end of school I used to sprint to the ice cream van and fill my pockets with sweets, chocolate & fizzy drinks. Then sprint to catch the bus and sell them to other kids on the way home.

It all changed when a class mate started under cutting me as their parent had a cash and carry card, so could get supplies much cheaper than I could from the ice cream van.

I think you should take him to the cash n carry to purchase his stock.

Keep good records, and when school catch him, ask them what the crime is, assuming the school rules have nothing in them about conducting business (and lets face it, they all invite in book fairs and pass round Usborne book catalogues and so on!)...

Currently his business model works on supplying something no one else is - so moving it outside school hours is less profitable, as presumably after school kids could go to a shop (unless they really can't unless their bus route passes one within walking distance)...

So reducing the price he pays for stock is a smart move anyway and i think he can still reasonably charge a premium for providing a 'mobile' service rather than a bricks n mortar store...

I got an almight bollocking at school for selling friendship bracelets, to this day I don't follow why, there was some guff about carrying around large amounts of cash but I wasn't, no more than a tenner! Some kids would bring in far more and the days they had to bring in payment for trips/holidays, some kids would have hundreds on them, albeit briefly!

I showed them my books (order list, accounts, cost of supplies, price list for various options), compared that to what we were doing in business studies and negotiated a deal where I'd donate a percentage to some school fund... and told to keep my head down and not do it in lessons (I was already complying with both of those).

He needs to find a cheaper source of supply

@RishiRich age means fuck all to hmrc when it comes to paying tax. Hmrc care about income not age, and if the OPs son earn over 1k in a year then he needs to refister

My DH did this. Massively entrepreneurial and successful now.
He got suspended from school for it because he’d branched out into a loan business for those who couldn’t pay on the day and was charging interest to 11 year olds

I’m with parent A, my brother did the exact same thing at that age and now makes a ridiculous amount of money running his own businesses.
I would just suggest that the child does an Asda shop on a weekend so hes spending less!
If parent b is concerned about school rules just wait until school approach you to say it’s happening.

I'm with parent B. Whilst I admire his entrepreneurism, he is selling to a captive audience at over inflated prices. Inevitably children will be handing over their lunch money (or their parents money) to buy chocolate instead of lunch. If he wants to do it properly, I would encourage him to go to a cash and carry and buy cheap in bulk and sell for a normal price rather than seeking to exploit other kids.

For all those laughing at the idea that he could possibly need to register with hmrc perhaps read up on the rules. If he has an income (not profit) of over £1000 in a tax year then he is required to register. Given the amount he is making, if this continues he may very well be above this threshold. He would likely get away with it as its all cash and such a low value but that doesn't change the law.

Good for him.

I'd be checking school rules in case they are specific about forbidding this. Also reminding him to sell only to peers/older students - he doesn't want to be perceived of fleecing the year 7s or worse, pinching their money.

Probably better done at the bus stop before school than on site

My DS did this too. I'd let it runs its course. For DS, in the end the school intervened because the company who ran school lunches noticed a huge hole in their takings. He did not get into trouble, but he was shut down after a couple of weeks.

Are the sweets all pre-wrapped? Would he have any comeback if anyone said they'd got ill from them?

I agree, allergies are also a potential problem. Someone would only need to claim allergens weren't made clear and you would have to deal with it.

@MaggieMooh

If he’s serious about it he’ll have to register and pay tax etc. You can’t just run a business illegally.

I'm fairly certain that HMRC has bigger fish to fry than a teenager selling sweeties.

This thread is an eye-opener, partly in terms of general naivety and how so many parents view schools as The Man.

And yet you'll still come to us and expect us to 'sort it out' when your kid has been beaten up for the cash they're carrying to buy from OP's DS.

Good for him. School will find out and stop it before long so let him make hay while the sun shines!

I'm with Parent A. Good for him. If school tells him to stop, he should. But until then, let him.

@Snoopsnoggysnog

My DH did this. Massively entrepreneurial and successful now. He got suspended from school for it because he’d branched out into a loan business for those who couldn’t pay on the day and was charging interest to 11 year olds

Awesome! Spectacular! Genius!

@MaggieMooh

If he’s serious about it he’ll have to register and pay tax etc. You can’t just run a business illegally.

What tax would he pay on £1800 profit.

Punting out sweets at school is as old as the hills
As is punting out weed
I never bought overpriced sweets as it seemed a poor deal when the shop was only down the road!