Another weekend of event sales by 3 aspiring "kids" trying to learn how to market themselves...
Minus the travel time, "S" pulled down less than $100 for 2 days, "D" made less than $100, and "Z" made about $150 in comissions for 5hrs Saturday, and 8hrs Sunday.  (note - we would not be doing Sunday events, but, curiously, around the DC area, that's when most of them are scheduled).

At 13hrs x $15per hr, none of them came close to $195 in sales.  If there was a minimum wage, I'd have to PAY them for the time standing around, waiting for customers - and when we did have plenty of customers waiting for service, they are too ineffecient to make up the difference.  I'd still go broke or be forced to lay off the ones who don't "earn their way" - ALL OF THEM.

Charge more - this is REALITY, and we're in a long lasting RECESSION, sales are down 20% from last year - what am I suppose to do, start demanding every potential customer BUY the products we manufacture, penalize them like Barak Obama does to us with "health care?"  I can't increase my margin (profitability) by reducing my costs, neither can I raise prices to offset the poor sales - the products are just starting to get-off-the-ground in popularity.  We're largely "unknown" - with word-of-mouth advertizing.

I'm in business ... if you wish to call it that, to teach these "kids" sales skills, and make money in the process, not to go absolutely broke.  I don't buy into this livable wage crap, either these "kids" make it, or wind up taking a HR job where they can sit in judgement of productive workers & write impossible company policies which benefit nobody, but make themselves "feel" better.  LOL

The Bitter Lesson From Seattle's Minimum Wage Hike

From  http://www.investors.com/politics/commentary/the-bitter-lesson-from-seattles-minimum-wage-hike/?ref=yfp

snip~
The Post recently highlighted a new study from a group of economists who were commissioned by the city of Seattle to look at that city's minimum wage hike from $9.96 an hour to $11.14 an hour. What they found was enlightening.

Good Call: Cleveland Rejects $15 Minimum Wage Proposal

Matt Vespa

Cleveland is not falling for it. The city recently rejected a $15 minimum wage proposal, not falling into the economic trap that Seattle fell into that saw its workers hours cut and less people employed. Nevertheless, it appears the pro-minimum wage cohort seems to be looking for ways to get this proposal on the November ballot, even though it will gut the city's economy.
<snip>
American Action Forum conducted a study where minimum wage increases actually hurt (shocker!) the very people it was meant to help, cutting 700,000 jobs in 2013 alone. They noted that for every $1 increase in wages accounted for a 1.48 percent spike in unemployment. Not good. Still, the politics of minimum wage increase is touchy territory for Republicans, as Democrats like to frame their opposition to such proposals as being anti-poor and lacking empathy.

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2016/08/12/good-call-cleveland-rejects-15-minimum-wage-proposal-n2204064

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Colorado has an initiative on the ballot to raise the minimum wage to $12/hr. Hopefully, that will go down in flames. 

Kids had a great weekend at the latest event, but still fall far short of earning a minimum wage.

A couple of noteworthy things...

One of the kids (yes, a teenager) was "coaching" a 30 something, fresh out of the Army on selling.
He started "demonstrating" his "slightly used" gear, and people got interested enough to buy some of it.
Same girl was asked to sell for another vendor (again), fat chance!

Next to us, also across the room, we had vendors on both sides of us, sitting there quietly & selling nothing, but watching us making change.  One guy packed it in, the guy on the other side started talking up a storm and stuff from his table started moving.

Across from us, was a guy with 2 teenage kids playing on their Iphones - literally two days.  The adult did all the selling, collecting, making change, and packing up.   So, being the nosey type... I had to ask.

Do you pay your kids a commission for selling?

Nope, I'm just babysitting, keeping them out of trouble.

(my 12yr old daughter, this was her 3rd event, outsold the more "seasoned" teenagers - we call it the "cute factor")
Have you thought of offering them a commission for sales as an incentive?
(I think I actually insulted the dude.)


Nope, they couldn't sell anything anyways.

(he was packing his van, the teenagers were watching him pack - not helping, just watching.  Meanwhile, I was sitting in our vehicle, while my teenagers were packing and joking around about the characters they met.)

Since he was sort of taking a break from packing, I started suggesting how valuable a life lesson it is for kids to learn how to talk to adults, and learning how to market yourself is especially useful.  I quit talking when he gave me this, "...are you kidding...?" look.

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I donno.  Wifey and I decided to raise our kids to be adults, not adult children.
The last thing we'd want is minimum wage for any of our kids.
..or worst than that, Socialism that penalizes achievement & rewards laziness.

Paying YOUR kid to house-sit and take care of the livestock might not sit well with some folks.  From my experience, the sooner the kids learn the concept of hard work has it's rewards, and they're more likely to engage their brain in the process.  I gave them a few tips, how to describe the products, how to present themselves & create a desire in the potential customer - now they're coaching each other to become better salespersons.  As an added bonus, they view work around the farm as a profitable thing - each owns a few animals, and will market them too.

Quote from: Hoofer on August 23, 2016, 06:38:37 PM
Kids had a great weekend at the latest event, but still fall far short of earning a minimum wage.

A couple of noteworthy things...

One of the kids (yes, a teenager) was "coaching" a 30 something, fresh out of the Army on selling.
He started "demonstrating" his "slightly used" gear, and people got interested enough to buy some of it.
Same girl was asked to sell for another vendor (again), fat chance!

Next to us, also across the room, we had vendors on both sides of us, sitting there quietly & selling nothing, but watching us making change.  One guy packed it in, the guy on the other side started talking up a storm and stuff from his table started moving.

Across from us, was a guy with 2 teenage kids playing on their Iphones - literally two days.  The adult did all the selling, collecting, making change, and packing up.   So, being the nosey type... I had to ask.

Do you pay your kids a commission for selling?

Nope, I'm just babysitting, keeping them out of trouble.

(my 12yr old daughter, this was her 3rd event, outsold the more "seasoned" teenagers - we call it the "cute factor")
Have you thought of offering them a commission for sales as an incentive?
(I think I actually insulted the dude.)


Nope, they couldn't sell anything anyways.

(he was packing his van, the teenagers were watching him pack - not helping, just watching.  Meanwhile, I was sitting in our vehicle, while my teenagers were packing and joking around about the characters they met.)

Since he was sort of taking a break from packing, I started suggesting how valuable a life lesson it is for kids to learn how to talk to adults, and learning how to market yourself is especially useful.  I quit talking when he gave me this, "...are you kidding...?" look.

----------------------------------------------

I donno.  Wifey and I decided to raise our kids to be adults, not adult children.
The last thing we'd want is minimum wage for any of our kids.
..or worst than that, Socialism that penalizes achievement & rewards laziness.

Paying YOUR kid to house-sit and take care of the livestock might not sit well with some folks.  From my experience, the sooner the kids learn the concept of hard work has it's rewards, and they're more likely to engage their brain in the process.  I gave them a few tips, how to describe the products, how to present themselves & create a desire in the potential customer - now they're coaching each other to become better salespersons.  As an added bonus, they view work around the farm as a profitable thing - each owns a few animals, and will market them too.

What you described is a microcosm of what our society has become. These "helicopter" parents have no idea what they are creating. When the kids become adults and can't get a job they will be first looking around looking for someone besides themselves to blame. Most become democrats because the dems will pander to their situation.

Quote from: supsalemgr on August 24, 2016, 04:26:23 AM
What you described is a microcosm of what our society has become. These "helicopter" parents have no idea what they are creating. When the kids become adults and can't get a job they will be first looking around looking for someone besides themselves to blame. Most become democrats because the dems will pander to their situation.

Precisely!  We need politicians preaching self-sufficiency and rugged individualism again.
If a candidate actually ran as a true job creator, minimum wage wouldn't be an issue at all.

Problem we face with these large companies - they get overrun with political correctness, and become useful idiots for the state.

A college student studying econ could've predicted this.  Markets are efficient and will adapt accordingly.