Stopping at all Lemonade Stands
You don’t see many Lemonade stands around much anymore. Kids don’t seem to be interested in them as much as they used to. Kids come up with these business plans to earn their own money for some scheme they are cooking up. They put the effort into setting up their stand and to sit out in the heat. Mom or Grandma has bank-rolled the operation providing the product, the pitcher and the glasses. This is particularly good for the kids because it keeps their overhead extremely low.
Sometimes they don’t know that they are in a bad area for lemonade stands. Along a highway the traffic passes before they are even seen. These are the ones you should target as priority stops.
You can reflect back on your own experiences and remember what probably goes through their minds. These kids are going into this one-day business venture with absolute optimism. You can always tell when you stop at them they are gung-ho about their idea. It is the responsibility of adults to stop at these “here today-gone tomorrow” lemonade stands. It is our brief opportunities to insure that optimism is not turned into disappointment.
It’s been a policy of mine for the last 20+ years to stop
at all at all lemonade stands. I even go so far each summer to tell the
employees that work with me, without explanation that they should stop at a
lemonade stand if they see one. They look at me like I’m about to go off the
deep end.
Stopping at lemonade stands to buy lemonade or a glass of kool-aid is more than
just a business transaction and it has nothing to do with whether you actually
need the product to quench your thirst. It is about being a participant in what
will become a fond childhood memory. I’m not the only one that does this. There
are a lot of us out there and we all stop for the same reason. Most, probably
can’t put into words why they do. It is the responsibility of adults to insure
that their entrepreneurial spirit is not dampened by low sales. It’s our
responsibility to insure they are not disappointed. There is plenty more for
kids to be disappointed about in this day and age.
In my most recent lemonade/Kool-aid stand episode, I was
driving through Creole the other day and there were 3 girls probably under the
age of 12 that had a Kool-aid stand. They were along the highway and I almost
went by without seeing them. When they saw me slow down they all stood up
thinking they may just have a customer. When I turned around they started
jumping up and down with excitement and ran up and started trying to flag me down. When they saw
me pull in the driveway they ran and sat back down behind their stand, regained
their composure and became “all-business like”. They had m&m’s and kool-aid for
their product line. It looked like they had been out their for several hours.
The youngest girl, obviously the cashier, opened the box where the money was
kept in anticipation of my purchase. Inside the box was less than a dollar in
coins. All I had was a $10 & a $5 dollar bills and there was no way they could make change.
I asked the oldest girl how much and she said 25 cents. I said, No how much for
the whole pitcher, and I explained to her that I was getting some extra for my
co-workers, which was not all together accurate because I was the only one in
Cameron. With a puzzled look I explained to her that I wanted to buy the entire
pitcher for $10.00 including the pitcher. She said “that’s my mom’s pitcher”! I
replied “I know but it doesn’t look like her good one and I’ll give you $15.00
for it and you can throw in a bag of M&M’s. She looked over her shoulder as if
to see if Mom was looking out the window and with a big smile said “OK”!
The youngest girl started running back to the house to tell mom that sister just
sold her kool-aid pitcher, so I paid up my $15.00 bucks and made a B-line for my
truck with a pitcher full of Kool-aid. The cashier told me in her best customer
service voice, “Thank you and come back”. I passed back by an hour later going home and
they had already packed it in and called it a day. It must have been a
successful day.
When they are older they will remember back to the time they had a kool-aid
stand and they will remember the experience, and how lucrative it was and how
mom fussed at them for selling her pitcher. A fond childhood memory created of
which I had the pleasure of participating in. Hopefully they will encourage
their kids to set up their own lemonade or kool-aid stand so the tradition can
continue.
I would encourage all adults to create a policy for yourself, if you haven’t already done so, to stop at all lemonade stands. It is a fleeting opportunity for you to become an unknown participant in an educating experience and what will eventually become a fond childhood memory. You can also end up with a nice collection of mom’s pitchers.