How much do you pay the local kids to shovel your sidewalk? I've got one kid in the neighborhood that leads a group of kids (sometimes his sisters, sometimes his friends) to shovel the sidewalks of Waukesha.
I'm all for entrepeneurship and my wife is a sucker for anyone who comes to our door, so unless the snowblower is gassed up and ready to go (and I'm gassed up and ready to go) I always say, sure, why not?
This morning our young friend rang the doorbell at the unholy hour of 8:30am. Managing to find some clothes before answering the door, I let him talk me into shoveling the couple of inches on my walk and driveway. It took him and his two sisters between 45 minutes and an hour, including time spent hitting the other neighbors up and me finding a spare shovel for one of his sisters. I have a 1/4 acre lot on a corner and a very short driveway. I coughed up fifteen bucks.
Is fifteen a lot? A little? Too much? Too little? I started adding up in my head how much this kid is going to make (depending on the deal with his hired help) and almost grabbed a shovel myself. ("Excuse me, can I shovel your walk? I promise not to have a heart attack.") I think I'm going to have my friend Steve check to see if the kid is listed on the NYSE.
Unfortunately the kid has a monopoly in Waukesha, and I'm not sure what the going rate is outside my area.
