Was a great way to make money for me when i was young. Do you see it anymore?
Do kids walk around with shovels after a good snowstorm to make money anymore?
- Thread starter 81b&w
- Start date
Times have changed. Not only the kids but overall safety. Everyone being sue happy and not being able to trust anyone.
A few youngsters here but they just do not bother.Part of it may be snow blowers are common place anymore.
Here in suburban Massachusetts, I see it. I still like taking care of my own property (I'll shovel when I can, and leave the snowblower in the garage) if at all possible, while I still can, so I typically tell them no thanks, but give them each some cash for the offer, because I want to encourage such practices, but, really, everyone has their snowblowers and their property is cleared shortly after a storm is finished, so I'm not sure how much of a market remains.
A
anon_xdc8rmuek44eq
Guest
Yup. Mormon kid in my neighborhood has been doing it for years. He’s a senior now but five or six years ago he dropped off a ‘list’ of little chores he would do for a set price (clean trash cans for $1.00 for example). He’s president of his class now and dreams of going to BYU. Mormons will likely save this country I think.
Ah...the good, old days of hours of back breaking labor for maybe $30 per kid. But “righteous bucks” never felt so good.
Hmmm...even with (out) inflation, $1 for scrubbing trash cans is a steal. It may make financial sense to fly him to NorCal and put him in a hotel at those rates!
You need to remember that you are two (2) generations removed from parents telling their children “if you want X you need to earn it”.
“Modern Parents” are, at the core, the “coddling culprits”.
There is not one child in my neighborhood over age 16, that I know of, who has a “paying job”. The parents are so caught-up in “comparative wealth” that they forbid their children from taking such “socially demeaning undertakings” because it might “embarrass them”.
Last edited:
Nope. But they walk around with their cell phones and offer to google a plowing service and schedule the job for 20 bucks!
That's very cool you take care of the kids that do. I figured snowblowers had a lot to do with it but I occasionally see a couple little kids dragging shovels and I always get a smile looking back to those days.
I just got a paper flyer in my mailbox from a boy that lives up the street for snow shoveling. Pretty reasonable. I live in a section of Pittsburgh where the kids are pretty spoiled in general, so that was nice to see. Hope their are still services available in 10 or 15 years when I give up shoveling......
10-15 years ago my sons would head out with shovels after a big snow. My younger son, not as aggressive, would come back in a couple hours with $50 and get something to eat and go back to the video games. We would ask him where his brother was, and the answer was still shoveling. The older son would come back after dark with $150, but he wasn't much of a saver and it would be gone in a week anyway...........
But the boys would sometimes tell us that some of the people whose doors they knocked on were glad to have someone that would clear snow, saying that no one had come around to do so for years.....
My older son got one steady customer for shoveling that he continued to do each snow until he went off to college....
10-15 years ago my sons would head out with shovels after a big snow. My younger son, not as aggressive, would come back in a couple hours with $50 and get something to eat and go back to the video games. We would ask him where his brother was, and the answer was still shoveling. The older son would come back after dark with $150, but he wasn't much of a saver and it would be gone in a week anyway...........
But the boys would sometimes tell us that some of the people whose doors they knocked on were glad to have someone that would clear snow, saying that no one had come around to do so for years.....
My older son got one steady customer for shoveling that he continued to do each snow until he went off to college....
Last edited:
Apparently I've regressed mentally, as this past storm, my next door neighbors were away on a ski trip ... so I decided to shovel out their driveway, as well, since it was supposed to all turn to immovable ice overnight with an impending deep freeze following the snow/sleet, and I earned a very tasty bottle of 2014 red zin for my efforts.
My boys (recently 11 and 9) are creeping up to the age where they should be expected to go out and help others (I won't let them charge, but they can accept donations), but they still act as if snow shovels weigh 100 lbs and they just ran up the entirety of Mt. Everest carrying 1,000 lbs sacks.
I pay $250 an hour to have my snow shoveled. It takes all day.
I pay $250 an hour to have my snow shoveled. It takes all day.
Well, those 50 minute hot chocolate breaks every hour do make it a long day!
In my neighborhood they dont. I've lived in my house since 1995 and I've seen kids out shoveling twice, but not in the last 10+ years. As mentioned above, many teenagers no longer have Summer jobs. When I was 15, I got a Summer job as a dishwasher at Dantes in the Cedar Cliff Mall. May have made $1.70? an hour. Thought it was the greatest thing. Also was a fill in paper boy for The Patriot-sad to see what they've become.
I don't see them anymore. I did it as a kid in the late 70s. I even got the brilliant idea of not shoveling for houses, but going to the local train station at night and digging out cars for commuters. I got more customers in a shorter period of time and they paid better! No kids come to my commuter lot, I put a shovel in my car to dig myself out
It’s rare and I’ve only seen it once. A kid in my neighborhood actually started his own business doing it and made decent money. He went off to college and then his family moved, and no one else took his place.
Same goes for babysitters. My friend coaches highschoool girls sports. I asked him if he could recommend any of the girls to babysit. He said he didn’t think one of them would be interested because they are spoiled.
When I was 15 I hitch hiked to a golf club to caddy - $14 for a double 18 if your were an A caddy. When I think back to how far I had to go and the different roads I had to thumb-it, I wonder how I did it six days a week.
My daughter babysat a lot. She babysat for my boss and he paid her a small mint. When he needed a sitter and she couldn’t make it, her friends used to fight over who got to fill in for her because he paid so well. If you want a sitter, pay a lot and you will find them. I overpaid as well and never had a problem finding someone.
Did you offer him a nice espresso for his work in the cold?
No. In fact what you see now is grown adults driving their snowblowers around on their trucks and charging old folks $50+ to plow their small driveway when it only takes them 15-20 minutes to do.
I had a neighbor kid who would do it but he didnt walk around like you describe. I’m happy that he picked PSU for this year but sad I don’t have my snow plowed anymore.
I had a neighbor kid who would do it but he didnt walk around like you describe. I’m happy that he picked PSU for this year but sad I don’t have my snow plowed anymore.
A
anon_xdc8rmuek44eq
Guest
I wish we had kids in our neighborhood who wanted to shovel driveways. I always try to help out the elderly neighbors, if they were paying some teens to do it, I wouldn't have to do it for free!
We have no problem getting neighborhood girls to babysit. We don't limit our babysitters to those who identify as girls, it just seems to happen that way. But like you said, it's easy if you pay well, and it doesn't hurt if your kids are awesome and the sitters like spending time with them.
We have no problem getting neighborhood girls to babysit. We don't limit our babysitters to those who identify as girls, it just seems to happen that way. But like you said, it's easy if you pay well, and it doesn't hurt if your kids are awesome and the sitters like spending time with them.
My 16 yr old daughter babysits for $12 an hour.Sometimes she gets two moms that are friends going out and she gets paid almost double for watching both kids at the same time.She buys a lot of Lululemon stuff with the dough.
Both of my boys shovel in the neighborhood. When it gets too heavy/deep, I assist with the snow blower. They also pull weeds, rake leaves, get the mail when people are on vacation, etc. My oldest (12) wants to start mowing lawns this year. I am apprehensive but will probably let him begin with our lawn first.
There is an older boy who began mowing lawns in our neighborhood and is now about to graduate college. So yes, it does exists in our area, but is somewhat rare.
My friends and I would break into teams of two. It would always be Myself and my friend Josh. After our labor we would order a pizza with everything from Station Pizza and rent a movie from video village.(Busteltom Ave.) Good times; not for my back though
