Daley Ponderings

Jonathan's new adventure in earning money is a lemonade stand.  He thought maybe he could call it "Lemon Daley" as part of the family theme.

At first, he had all sorts of grandiose ideas, including a frequent buyer's club, a toy day (when you get a toy with your purchase), and a fancy wood stand to sell from.  Jon and I encouraged him to start small.

We also believe in starting where you can afford.  He only had a few dollars in capital. So, even though the cheapest cost per lemon is to buy a bag of 14 lemons at Restaurant Depot for $5, he bought a single lemon for 79 cents.  I offered him a deal on half a bag of sugar for $1.  We also had some paper cups lying around that he got for free.

He made a pitcher of lemonade, and some signs on scrapwood, and set up a table and chairs.  He enlisted Noah's help for the set up and running of the stand.  He asked the neighbor's permission to put a sign in her yard (the cars need a good amount of lead time to slow down and stop - it still might not be enough.)  I helped him with the angles, so that the cars could actually see the signs.

Many cars went driving right on by, though I could see a few slow down a tiny bit as they read and looked.  Then it started sprinkling and the boys got out our biggest umbrella to hold over the stand.  Then I saw some lightning, so that was the signal to start packing up.  They'd only been out for about ten minutes.

Just then, the mail car came down the other side if the sterrt.  I told Jonathan it would be nice to give some to the lady, and that I'd buy it for her.  I ran across wth the cup, and she was very happy for it.  She said she had needed a drink and wanted to pay for it herself.  So Jonathan got his first real customer and he is encouraged about the endeavor.  He gave Noah half the revenue for being his helper.

Startup costs: $1 for sugar, $0.79 for a lemon.  Revenue: $0.50 for one small cup of lemonade.  Labor cost: $0.25 to Noah.

So he is still at a loss, but if he can sell the rest of the pitcher soon, he should recoup, plus get enough for more lemons.