IN MY SHOES: There’s No Business In Snow Business (Anymore)
Boston Globe columnist Scot Lehigh wants to know, “Don’t kids shovel anymore?”:
When I was a kid in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, a snowstorm was a great entrepreneurial opportunity. As soon as the flakes tailed off, you grabbed your shovel and headed out. You’d ring a doorbell, hope for an older person, and offer to clear the walk for a couple of bucks. The driveway might earn you another five or so.
In a good afternoon of shoveling, you could pocket more than a paperboy made in a month. …
Many decades later, I’ve arrived at the age where paying someone to shovel seems like a justifiable investment in preventive health care. So where are the earnest young guys eager to make a buck? As far as I can tell, they are all on Facebook or busy texting their pals.
Shovel snow? RUS? G1. LOLOLOLOL. ROFL!
Indeed, during my nearly three decades in Boston, exactly one kid has come by seeking a shoveling job. He worked for about 20 minutes on freeing my car from the snowplowed ridge that held it captive, whittling the wintry berm down to the point where you might possibly have extracted the vehicle if, say, you had a mammoth fork-lift at your disposal. When I noted same, he said he’d settle for half the agreed-on fee - and left me to finish the job.
Lehigh’s entrepreneurial spirit was no doubt inspired by the certainty that if he wanted something his parents considered an extravagance, he’d have to earn and save the money to buy it himself. But accustomed to instant gratification themselves, too many parents today obviate the need to work – and to save - by giving their kids whatever they want. One wonders whether the liberal Lehigh can extrapolate his experiences to, say, the zero down loans that fueled the housing bubble and recognize the moral hazard in bailing out upside down homeowners.
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