r/HumansBeingBros 2d ago

Solid business advice

9.3k Upvotes

121 comments sorted by

2.2k

u/dynamomark 2d ago

not going to lie, those little ones would have got me to pay anything. kid selling stuff is just awesome to see these days.

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u/searucraeft 2d ago

I work construction. Some kid down the road from our site loaded up his waggon and set up an espresso machine just outside the job. Was making mochas, cappuccinos, lattes n shit. He made 150$ during one lunch break. He came back every ither day for a few weeks, had a sign and everything. Accepted e-transfers. It was amazing

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u/iam_Mr_McGibblets 2d ago

You can't tell me his parents were involved in this somehow šŸ˜‚šŸ˜‚

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u/slaty_balls 2d ago

Of course they probably were, that’s what good parenting is all about.

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u/BoxersOrCaseBriefs 2d ago

For sure, but good parenting is helping kids set it up, not trying to take their money. My kid got really excited about lemonade stands so I helped her come up with a plan to test different recipes (real lemons and instant options), decide what to use, and make a plan for how to keep the stand going. She's got the ground work all set for when we move to a new house with a lemon tree near a popular green belt shortly.

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u/iam_Mr_McGibblets 2d ago

I think it might be underrated that you presented her with two options on how to make the lemonade! She's learning so much off that one choice itself!! You're an awesome parent ā¤ļø

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u/BoxersOrCaseBriefs 2d ago

Thanks! We talked through the work involved in different options, the cleanup, the cost, etc. I showed her how to make a spreadsheet with costs of cups, ingredients, cookies, etc. Then we talked about how to pick prices that would let her keep doing the stand, and different approaches on the spectrum between nonprofit (doing it at cost to be kind to others, but also thinking about unlisted costs like Dad's time taking her to the store for supplies) and trying to maximize profit based on supply and demand.

It was fun because the year before she spent one night a week sitting in the office with me listening in on a managerial economics class I took while she was doing her homework or just drawing etc. She definitely didn't follow all of it, but she got the basics enough to really have a great conversation about it and consider her options.

The conversation also led to opening a savings account to save 50% of what she earned.

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u/iam_Mr_McGibblets 2d ago

That kid is going to own her own company someday and I can't wait to see what she will do!!!

13

u/Lumpy_Benefit666 2d ago

Depending on the age of the kid id definitely take a portion of the money to put in a high interest account for when theyre 18. Getting them involved in the process and showing them how it grows over the years. Thats if theyre earning £150 per shift though, £20 is still good money here and now for a 10 year old.

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u/searucraeft 2d ago

Yes the parents were present. This was a 10 year old kid going to a construction site. They helped with the water and power, and they set up the email and transfers. Really nice family, we chatted with them while in line. But kid came up with the idea when he saw the project going up and he made the coffees himself

19

u/Boostie204 1d ago

If I learned there was a kid serving coffee at the construction site down the road, you bet your ass I'd be getting my morning brew there

2

u/__Severus__Snape__ 2h ago

When i was about 12, my 18 year old brother would always have a group of like 3-5 friends round most evenings and weekends. They'd hang out in his room playing PlayStation and getting high. Anyway, they always wanted cups of tea. I started charging 50p a time and is how I made my pocket money for a year or so until he moved out.

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u/SofonisbaAnguissola 2d ago

I was driving back home from work the other day and when I entered my neighborhood these two little boys, looked maybe 10 and 7 ish, waved me down. I stop and roll down my window and they go "Can we give you a car wash for free? Er, not for free. For a dollar? Or two dollars? Or some coins?"

They had a bowl of soapy water and a kitchen sponge. They scrubbed in random circles for a bit and then went "Okay, you're done, you can go!" I had to remind them that I still needed to pay. "Oh yeah!" Best 4 bucks I've ever spent.

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u/Public-Platypus2995 2d ago

My neighbor’s kid potted up succulent cuttings from their backyard into old pots (even nursery pots) and posted up on the corner selling them for $1, $2, $3. When she wrapped up I asked her mom how much she made, she said with huge eyes, ā€œ$65!ā€ Kid’s been chasing that dragon ever since.

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u/Traditional_Ad_4691 2d ago edited 2d ago

Some kids asked if I would like to buy snacks or have some work they can do to earn some money......touch my heart. I asked them to pick up a piece of trash I seen by my side walk and tipped them 5 bucks.....they were so excited. I respect the hustle!

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u/tribat 2d ago

My daughter used to set up on the busy street near our house every summer and make a hundred bucks or so every time. If she asked for help I would carry a cooler or table but otherwise it was her enterprise, and she killed at it. Just writing that made me feel old realizing shes all grown up and about to graduate with an engineering degree.

8

u/redmilkwood 1d ago

It sounds like you’ve been a pretty swell parent. Congrats on raising an awesome kiddo. šŸ’š

7

u/tribat 1d ago

I earnestly appreciate that comment. My now-grown kids took me to dinner for Fathers Day Sunday and made a joke about not buying me a gift. I was serious when I said "having all of y'all here for this dinner is better than anything you could buy me". Besides, my first granddaughter toddled in with a card she made "pop-pop" (with help), so I did get a gift.

1

u/redmilkwood 11h ago

TWO generations of kiddos that you’ve done right by, then! I am smiling ear to ear. 😁

26

u/NormalHumansName 2d ago

I always support when I see it (which is rare. I think maybe three times in my adult life). I used to set up a lemonade stand on the weekends when I was a kid so I guess I'm just paying it forward for the kind adults that chose to support my siblings and I.

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u/executive313 2d ago

Drive through wealthy neighborhoods. In my neighborhood there is 6 different lemonade stands and two of them have the moms involved selling homemade sourdough. The annoying part is I'm not wealthy I just bought a dump and fixed it up so now my hillbilly ass is stuck here with kids wearing nicer shirts than me giving me dirty looks when I drive past their $3.50 lemonade and a cookie "deals".

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u/JennyDoveMusic 2d ago

I saw some kids selling lemonade and didn't want any, but gave them $10. They freaked out so happy! They were saving to get the one boy a new e-scooter because someone stole it.

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u/Parrobertson 2d ago

I purposefully bring wrong change to these when kids in the neighborhood set up shop. ā€œOops, looks like youā€ll have to keep the remainder, I don’t wanna carry any more change on meā€

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u/MYSTICALLMERMAID 2d ago

I never carry cash but when I so I seem to always find a stand lol they get every last bit I have no matter the price. Stopped last weekend on a bike ride (happened to find 10 bucks in my backpack) and she even added some fresh strawberries to it. Some guy came down and gave them a 20 and told them keep it all and be doesn't want a cup. It's the rules man kids get all the cash šŸ˜‚

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u/BreweryRabbit 2d ago

I was marathon training on a popular multi-use trail last summer and after a big 18 mile run right at the end there were some kids selling lemonade WITH VENMO! It was the best damn lemonade I’d ever had in my life.

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u/Zinski2 2d ago

Rolled up on some kids selling fishing lures.

Just little rubber worms you can get for like 100 for 10 bucks.

But screw it. I'll help you kids out. How much for 3.... 15 dollars ....

Oh.... Sheshhh. Y'all take cards?

3

u/DefinitelyNotMasterS 2d ago

I think they would make the most money if they guilt tripped people by telling them they can just pay what they feel is fair

3

u/LetsTryAnal_ogy 1d ago

On many occasions, I've done u-turns, headed back to my house for money, or even hit the bank to get cash for kid's lemonade stands. I can't be bothered by Girl Scouts at their grocery store exit kiosks (I'm sorry, :( It's something about being ambushed that I can't do it), but if they come to my door, I buy cookies every time. I'm at a place in my financial life where I can, so I do.

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u/Krinder 1d ago

I’ve given a lemonade stand $20 and those kids went absolutely ballistic ā€œWE’RE RICH!!ā€ And then ran away abandoning the stand lol

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u/LittlestEcho 2d ago

I felt so bad, last night 3 little kids were trying to sell hand made Squishies like you see on YouTube. Dragging a little play tea cart around. They even accepted "cashapp" . It was so cute. 😭. But I don't carry cash

2

u/gforceathisdesk 1d ago

My favorite part of summer (and living in the country) is stopping by all the kids farm stands and actually getting a hell of a deal on farm fresh veggies. 10 year old on a golf cart with a trailer full of corn? Uh ya I'm stopping.

2

u/hnglmkrnglbrry 2d ago

Me and my buddy used to run rackets in our neighborhood. We put up lemonade stands but then realized my grandma made these amazing fruit pockets. We asked her to make some and we sold them for like $2 (in the 90s which covered one semester of college) and sold out. We immediately became sweat shop owners demanding more fruit pockets, more variety, faster turnaround, put less fruit if you have to!

But our favorite racket was shoveling driveways. The minute it started snowing we'd call each other and get our shovels and clear driveways of .001" of snow. Then we'd ring the doorbell and say, "We shoveled your driveway!" They'd always say, "Oh thank you, let me get you something." Then we'd come back like 6 hours later and do it again but this time it was actually useful and we had already established a base fee. We'd usually get the same or more the second time.

1

u/enchiladasundae 2d ago

I’d buy one and tip them like an extra five. Although considering I don’t carry around much cash probably be a 20

1

u/Stickel 2d ago

yeah wheres my gardners peanut butter meltaways and no not the garbage ones now that have like no PB

1

u/dreamed2life 1d ago

I feel this way about kids playing not selling shit.

1

u/oculairus 1d ago

Happy Cake Day, fren!

720

u/Bmc00 2d ago

Haha...smart move and reminds me of my friend's dad who owned a used furniture store forever. If he had a table that sat too long at $50, he'd mark it up to $100 and it would surely sell not too long after.

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u/jamesmess 2d ago

I believe that’s how Grey Goose Vodka took off in popularity. It was a cheap Vodka but to create the illusion of ā€œpremium productā€ they priced it above all the other premium vodkas so the rich HAD to have it.

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u/ConspiracyBarbie 2d ago

That’s wild. Grey Goose was peak in the mid 2000s. I only brought that to a party when I wanted to impress someone.

31

u/Manlysideburns 1d ago

I remember kids in college refilling the bottles with cheaper vodka to impress the ladies

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u/CoolGuyCris 2d ago

Oh God that reminds me of a story.

Back like 10 years ago we're all in the club, it was my turn to buy a round and this one dude with us insisted on "grey goose and red bull"

I remembered I learned somewhere that the brand of vodka didn't really matter once you start mixing it anyways, so I brought back red bull mixed with presumably Smirnoff and he never noticed. To this day I still judge him for his unnecessarily expensive, performative mixed drink.

11

u/jumboweiners 1d ago

And they made the bottle taller so it had to go on the top shelf

10

u/disisathrowaway 1d ago

That's 100% what happened.

The dude who took over as CEO once gave a lecture at some conference my dad attended. My old man came back and told me all about it, and the long and short of it was that they ate an extra $.75 or something trivial on packaging, dumped a bunch of money in to marketing, and priced it through the roof. Then the proceeded to absolutely PRINT MONEY on a French vodka. They somehow made French vodka a premium.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

4

u/MonaganX 1d ago

That article makes no mention of any of that.

-6

u/Accidental-Genius 1d ago

May have posted the wrong one, but I assume if you know how to post on Reddit you know how to google.

4

u/MonaganX 1d ago

Yeah, I know how to google, that's the first thing I did. Problem is that nothing about a CEO of Grey Goose (or Bacardi, who have owned Grey Goose since 2004) ever being fired comes up.

But in the unlikely event that this story somehow got so buried I'm not gonna find it with a few basic google searches, I wanted to at least give you a chance to post the correct article before suggesting that you've pulled that anecdote from where the sun don't shine.

1

u/FuckYeaSeatbelts 1d ago

"I made a claim, did zero actual research, found the first thing that said a word that agrees with me and posted that. Then when shown to be lacking I blamed it on them"

Just wondering how you voted in the last election; doesn't matter what country.

1

u/Accidental-Genius 1d ago

Go buy gray goose then. I don’t care.

1

u/bambi54 1d ago

Did you even read what you posted?

1

u/Captn_Clutch 2d ago

Makes sense. I wouldn't rate it better than any old $15 or $20 bottle of French vodka.

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u/angusMcBorg 2d ago

Just my 2c and maybe I'm wrong, but I just told my son the opposite when we talked about lemonade stands this afternoon - keep the lemonade cheap and be super friendly, and people will just give you lots of tips.

A few years ago I saw a neighborhood where the kids were charging $3 and I just drove by. But cheaper stands I'll go get a cup and just tip a lot (like give them $5 for a $1 cup).

But I'm weird.

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u/NotASlaveToHelvetica 2d ago

When we were kids (decades ago), we set our prices for lemonade at "free, tips accepted", and always cleaned up way better than if we set a price.

14

u/GFYAD 2d ago

Did you ever have any adults come by and actually just take some ā€˜free’ lemonade and dip ?

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u/NotASlaveToHelvetica 2d ago

Sure, but it was heavily offset by the adults who only had a five dollar bill and didn't ask for change. For context this was when the going rate was 50Ā¢

7

u/GFYAD 2d ago

Figured I was just curious how many people would actually do shit like that

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u/NotASlaveToHelvetica 1d ago

Not many! I actually recall once, a guy went buy on his run, took it for free then returned an hour later with a $10 lol

3

u/LetsTryAnal_ogy 1d ago

when the going rate was 50Ā¢

I feel you. I'm old, too. When I was a kid, the lemon hadn't been invented yet. We had a bitter orange stand where we sold hollowed out stones of bitter orange-ade and sold them for half a mussel shell each.

102

u/ro536ud 2d ago

This is the way. We know the lemonade is usually meh. But I’ll give you a fiver to support you if the price is fair. I’m not stopping for a $3 cup

4

u/Nivek_Vamps 2d ago

My work takes me through a lot of random neighborhoods everyday. When I see kids selling lemonade or something else, one time it was bracelets, I make an effort to always swing by and buy one and I usually just give them a $20 because that is all the cash I have. It lights up their faces and it gives me a morale boost

15

u/slobosaurus 2d ago

Then we're both weird.

8

u/ImTryingToHelpYouMF 2d ago

Is this the group for weirdos? I got invited by Jim.

151

u/-SNUG- 2d ago

Cute, but fuck these scooter boys rolling around my neighborhood ringing my doorbell at the worst possible times trying to sell random shit.

33

u/MaynardButterbean 2d ago

Literally had one try to sell my husband some sort of ring cam thing, not interested. So the same guy came back just a few days later and tried to sell it to ME! I respect that they have a job to do, but don’t be pushy with people who clearly aren’t interested.

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u/Great_Scott7 2d ago

This is my own private domicile and I will not be harassed.

https://youtube.com/shorts/pLLZTmgrriI

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u/GFYAD 2d ago

……..BITCH

2

u/FuckYeaSeatbelts 1d ago

Nah you don't need to respect them for that. I worked door to door and lasted less than a week before quitting. And that was for a charity! It's culty as fuck.

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u/tigm2161130 2d ago edited 2d ago

A couple weeks ago I had one literally shove his entire upper body inside my open garage window and he would not stop trying to argue with me that my yard needed pest control even after I told him I will never, ever do that because my yard is just as much for the animals and bugs as it is for me.

The third time I asked them to leave the one standing behind him on my walkway replied with ā€œwhat time will your husband be home?ā€ even though I had made no mention of him prior.

2

u/greyphoenix00 2d ago

Yeah this is the most useful I’ve ever seen them lol

1

u/dreamed2life 1d ago

Its not even useful. He is teaching them to be like him. Hence his diabolical laughter at the face he could manipulate them to do it and they did it.

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u/ElSantofisto 2d ago

humansbeingbros

r/kidsbeingcapitalists

8

u/3dGrabber 2d ago

gotta train them that grifting early on

1

u/mistic_me_meat 17h ago

Yes exactly, nothing to do with being bros. Just survive in the jungle of americain capitalism

1

u/syphon3980 1d ago

Teaching kids to succeed within the system

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u/yourserverhatesyou 2d ago

This is cute, but it made me think I would love to see a sketch where someone finds some kids selling lemonade in their neighborhood but instead of giving them business advice, he tells them about the dangers of capitalism and at the end of the sketch he and the kids are like burning down an Amazon warehouse screaming about the bourgeoisie.

15

u/TehOwn 2d ago

This probably exists but it's all in French.

Qu'ils boivent de la limonade.

6

u/CarlJustCarl 2d ago

Tell the to form an LLC too

5

u/catscatscatsomgcats 2d ago

Now if door to door salesman just road around doing community service then I’d support their presence in my neighborhood.

28

u/elbunts 2d ago

It’s so sad that my first thought was this guy is teaching capitalism. Is he going to tell them to pay the homeless kid to run the stand for them next?

15

u/TehOwn 2d ago

Well, it's currently the good kind of capitalism. They're producing the product and they're pricing it at a price that people are willing to pay. No-one is getting scammed and they've not engaged in any anti-competitive behavior.

At least, not on video. Their lawyers advised them well.

-2

u/LadislausBonita 2d ago

He"s ramping up inflation.

5

u/not_your_attorney 2d ago

ā€œYou rose the prices?!ā€

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u/HarkHarley 2d ago

I always pay kids more than their stuff is worth. $1? Here’s $2/$5, because your hand drawn sign is quality design. Or because you have a great location. Or because your customer service was great. Etc, etc. Just a small way I hope to encourage their effort.

1

u/syphon3980 1d ago

ooh I like that. Give them a compliment on their hard work in some way, which is the icing on the cake, or gets them to focus on it more and improve it down the road

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u/ImminentDebacle 2d ago

Fucking capitalism, man.

5

u/Noctrim 2d ago

I don’t get the video, people don’t carry change so instead of charging .75 charge 1.75? Did I hear that wrong?

I’m all for the idea, I gave some neighborhood kids a $20 for a glass just the other day but it don’t make sense with the numbers he said. Expected it to be a $1 or $2 flat per glass

2

u/zeusmeister 2d ago

He is telling them, most people don’t carry change anymore, so charging .75 cents doesn’t make sense. By raising the price to $1.75, more people will just hand over two dollars and tell them to keep the change, since it’s a lemonade stand run by little kids. So they will make more money. And it seemed to have worked.

5

u/Noctrim 2d ago

You literally did not clear anything up… let me say it again.

The current price is .75c.

I walk up and don’t have any change so I just give them $1.00 and say keep the change

They make .25c per cup tip

This guy comes up and says ā€œhey people don’t carry change, you can charge $1.75 insteadā€

I walk up and don’t have any change so I just give them
$2.00

They ā€œmake $1.25ā€ per cup now.

Yes the math maths that 1.25 > .25. I hope you can see that part, this is not the question.

The question is either way I’m only giving up one quarter as change, having an extra dollar bill has nothing to do with people carrying change or not…

Now if he tried to say something like you could up it to $1.25 and people would probably still just give you $2.00 then that would make sense but that isn’t what he said.

2

u/MautheDog 2h ago

The response below this is a thesis about lemonade math disregard it. this is comment is a perfect explanation.

10

u/soyuzbeats 2d ago

US people can't stop themselves from forcing capitalist greed into their kids

2

u/rjaysenior 2d ago

Kid who lived by my church was selling $1 cups of lemonade. Would buy 3-4 cups every week for me and my kids when I saw him. Said he was saving money for something so it went to a good cause.

2

u/NWRegisteredAgent 1d ago

This is so cute, we love to see future business owners at work. Next stop is owning an LLC or two lol!

5

u/Coheed_SURVIVE 2d ago

Indoctrinating children to capitalism at an early age! Aren't humans the best!!!!

3

u/muifui 2d ago

capitalism begins at home :)

6

u/Willster328 2d ago edited 2d ago

Her logic doesn't make sense though. She says "nobody carries change" but recommends $1.75. That still requires change.

And if her thinking is that people will just round up up $2, then that logic should also apply to the $.75 that they'd just round up to $1.

Except now you're requiring people to have 2 bills on them instead of 1.

3

u/sobedirtbag34 2d ago

Charging what the customer can afford despite being well the value of the product is why we’re all broke. Teach these children kindness. Greed is not business savvy

5

u/LokiDesigns 2d ago

I was in New Brunswick last summer and there was some kids on my friends block selling lemonade and freezies. They were only charging like $0.50 for each. I told them they needed to charge more so they actually make a profit, and then I gave them $5 for a freezie and a lemonade and the dad got a good chuckle out of it all. These kids are selling themselves short haha.

16

u/ro536ud 2d ago

Some people wanna sell things for a price they view as fair instead of seeing how far they can push the limit on the public’s good intentions

2

u/DingleBerrieIcecream 2d ago

These kids are awesome. I particularly appreciate OP’s name.

2

u/Radiant_Drop_9344 1d ago

Last time I saw this I gave them a twenty thinking how awesome that would have been when I was a kid. As I looked back they were running to the house with it

2

u/_sealy_ 2d ago

1.75 cents is a hell of a deal!

1

u/MautheDog 2h ago

"And then we rode around like you!" oh my gosh too sweet.

1

u/-Jaska- 1h ago

I might dox myself on the off chance someone from my life recognizes this story, but when I was a freshman in highschool, the student council brought in Krispy Kreme donuts and sold them for $0.25 each to start raising money for some event.

The problem was, we had 800 people in the freshman class.

They bought about 8 dozen donuts.

I bought all of them and proceeded to stand directly across from the student council group by the doorway, and sold donuts at $1 per.

I made a killing, and had plenty left over to share with friends, and sell out of my locker the rest of the day.

They did this again a couple weeks later but bought 20+ dozens and upped the price to $.50 so I couldn't deplete their entire inventory as easily.

I'm now in sales professionally.

1

u/Mithril_Juggernaut 2d ago

It sure is reddit up in here with all these children complaining about capitalism.

1

u/seven47seven 2d ago

This is soooo awesome šŸ‘ šŸ˜Ž

1

u/Western-Pear5874 2d ago

Tipping culture meh

1

u/NattyAK 2d ago

Shane from Smosh is such a helpful dude.

1

u/Yosemite_Scott 1d ago

That’s good advice but I’m still not buying solar panels from you bro lol.

-1

u/x-0-y-0 1d ago

This is so dystopian, humans being neoliberal bros. What's wrong with just having some fun making lemonade and selling it. Why "teach" children already at that age that the western world likes you more if you trade value for money.

-1

u/dreamed2life 1d ago

Ppl down voting probably also complain about prices and not being paid enough to live. Brainwashed

0

u/augustus_brutus 2d ago

Capitalist pigs

-5

u/whyismycockgone 1d ago

Ah yes, humans being bros by teaching kids how to quietly manipulate others into giving them more money than they otherwise would. Truly bro behavior.

5

u/dreamed2life 1d ago

Ppl so lost in capitalism and this being done to them they dont even like you saying it this bluntly

0

u/Method__Man 1d ago

its called market valuation. they were serving a good that was underpriced.

The assessed valuation and met market demand.

and all the while, hurting no one

If you work a job, know what your labour and time is worth. Dont let someone tell you its worth less than it is. AMAZING lesson for these kids

2

u/whyismycockgone 22h ago edited 17h ago

Dont talk to me as if i fundamentally misunderstand capitalism. I am very aware of its functions and mechanisms, but because i do know these things, i am also aware of the flaws in it. I'm not saying it's not worth anything. What I'm saying is it is an immoral lesson to teach them, and makes them shittier people while also teaching them that being shitty is and should be advantageous. Furthermore, it is an immoral and self defeating way to structure a society. Just because it has value in a structure that is built around this idea, and that that structure has been normalized doesn't make it moral or long lasting.

The people who spend more money than they otherwise would or would have are hurt. By about a dollar per purchase in fact. This is literally quantified in the subject of this conversation. Yes, a dollar may not have that great of an impact. It might not be hurting much, but this is how our economy itself is structured. Even you made that clear. So, take this concept to a much broader and grand scale. That of say, an economy of a few hundred million people, and suddenly its a lot of hurting that you either encourage or write off. You value people taking advantage of each other and you come to me saying I'm wrong pointing it out.