Posted on 12/29/2008 5:59:33 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Five years ago, Lois O’Neill found herself at a dead end. Her life had come down to a divorce, an unrewarding office job and three children to put through college.
So, she took a small inheritance and bought a bread delivery route in Bergen County, New Jersey, for $18,000. She began going to work at 1:00 A.M., seven days a week, wearing a sweat suit rather than the high heels to which she was accustomed.
It paid off. By dint of hard work, she increased her number of stops to 45 from 20, thereby raising her annual income to $80,000 per year. She is now trying to sell the route for $110,000 so she can move to Arizona.
There has been just one drawback, the social one. “You don’t meet the president of I.B.M. delivering bread at night,” Ms. O’Neill says.
Big Business in Routes
Truth to tell, she may have made some wiser economic decisions than I.B.M., considering how fast things are changing in this crazy economy. Some of the most unlikely folks are popping up in this arcane precinct of entrepreneurship—the delivery of much of the merchandise you find on the shelves of grocery stores, delicatessens, and even auto body shops.
“With so many people laid off and so few new job opportunities, men and women are now clamoring for routes,” says Kenneth Sussman, president of Route Brokers, Inc. a Great Neck, L.I.-based company that has made a business of matching buyers and sellers of routes.
(Excerpt) Read more at query.nytimes.com ...
Two of my accounting clients did this, one each for Arnold Bread and Hostess/Misc. Both of them were in the top quarter of my clients each year, and I do accounting in a fairly prosperous area. It is not a job for somebody afraid of hard work though.
I posted this for those who have been laid off out there in these bad times, and considering some options other than full time employment.
What you said...
It’s good advice regardless. If you’re willing to do this type of work, you can typically do very well in any part of the country.
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