To the kids who sold sweets at school, what are you up to now?
Posted by Livid-Indication-793@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 180 comments
I like to imagine you enterprising souls have cornered some other part of the economy or own your own jet.
BlueHornedUnicorn@reddit
Not quite sweets, but I used to take pre-lunch orders for the chippie. It was £1.50 for a lunchtime supper but I'd charge folks £2. Used to have a solid base of customers and also had a few teachers on the payroll also (mainly those teachers whose classes I had the period before lunch so they could let me out 10/15 mins early). Used to time it perfectly so that I was coming back into school with the goods as the lunch bell was ringing and I'd dish out the meals as customers came up to me. I'd also buy a few extra for those who wanted but didn't think to plan ahead, but those lunches were £2.50.
Usually made enough to fund my weekend alcohol binges and the occasional free lunch.
I'm now a software developer (unfortunately not for Ubereats) but I enjoy sitting all day because I did all the cardio I needed to do in my teenage years.
TelephoneOrnery1394@reddit
Also a software developer.
I used to chip PlayStations, I had the internet in 1995 and researched and bought a chip. I had learned some soldering in year 7, so I thought I would give it a go. Surprisingly easy, just 6 solder points.
I used to go to computer fares when a man sold every PSone game copied. I got his number as he was my supplier for individual games. I would buy one and then copy from that.
I bought my chips for £5 each and blank discs for £2. I used to do a deal of chip + 10 games for £75. I even took original games in exchange that I would sell at game shops. After that games were £8 each or 3 for £20.
In the end I did over 200 PlayStations and sold thousands of games. I had 4 CD writers at my peak. I even chipped a few teachers PlayStations. I was in year 8 as well and chipped the hardest bloke in the school (year 11’s) playstation as well. He loved me, as everybody did. When a big game would drop I could sell 30-40 copies of it that week.
Bruno241221@reddit
You ever mess a gaming system up accidently?
TelephoneOrnery1394@reddit
Yes. The PlayStation‘s that were made between 1995-1998 were easy to chip. 6 solder points and the solder point was large like the size of a match head. Sony released a new one in 98/99 that defeated the old mod chip and this needed 10 solder points that were less than half the size and you had to solder both sides of the circuit board. I did mess up one of these but I was able to clean up the solder and tell the customer that PlayStation was not possible to chip yet and it still worked fine.
MokausiLietuviu@reddit
Similar to me.
I used to sell salt packets when Jamie Oliver personally removed all the salt shakers from our school dinnertime tables before he removed the chips.
These days I do software.
Different_Fall1391@reddit
One guy in secondary school had a whole lunch meal deal service going. He went to Tesco each morning, bought baguettes, different fillings and sides. By the end of yr11 he had 2 big sports bags filled each day and he sold out.
He now works in the bakery at big Tesco.
Lopsided_Snower@reddit
How did he keep the fillings cool? He went from being an entrepreneur to being an employee in a supermarket? Did the school not sell sandwiches?
None of this adds up
Different_Fall1391@reddit
I don't think anything was kept cool, food safety was not considered.
I bought a bacon and ketchup baguette from him almost every day for 2 years. He was quite popular so it was cool to buy his food.
ClickerKnocker@reddit
How did he cook the bacon?
Different_Fall1391@reddit
George foreman at home before school.
ClickerKnocker@reddit
Weirdly specific.
Lopsided_Snower@reddit
Different_Fall1391@reddit
This was the 2000s when George foreman grill was the air fryer.
Jimmy90081@reddit
So, he went to Tesco before school, to get ingredients, then went home, cooked it all, then went to school…. Really… REALLY!?
Level-Courage6773@reddit
You know what they say, you never work as hard as when you're working for yourself. He probably made more than any of his paperboy mates, definitely worth the effort I reckon!
Lopsided_Snower@reddit
Yeah but to then to go on to work in a supermarket bakery raises questions
Level-Courage6773@reddit
Sounds like he stopped using his loaf.
Different_Fall1391@reddit
Yes. Because who would buy day old baguettes.
Jimmy90081@reddit
You know what…. Fair play. Fair play indeed.
LittleSadRufus@reddit
User drills into specifics
OP sets out the specifics
User states it's weird to be specific
RiceeeChrispies@reddit
it was secondary school, no fucker was asking him for his food hygiene score 😂
Lopsided_Snower@reddit
no but I can't see baguettes from the bottom of a random kid's sports bag being popular at my school, when the canteen sold amazing and cheap toasties and sandwiches.
I can understand sweets and cigs.
Also, setting up a sandwich shop from your bag, at school, seems far-fetched and extremely difficult to keep under the radar. The school would be on to this due to the very real chance of food poisoning.
ElectricalActivity@reddit
We don't know how old the commenter is though. I'm 38 and the school I went to wouldn't have been "on to it" as much as you might think. I used to buy dinner tickets from kids so I could have a cheap lunch and they would use the money for sweets or whatever. You would think the school would have cracked down on that.
Lopsided_Snower@reddit
I'm in the second half of my 40s, this seems extremely hard to believe from my schooling experience, that's all.
It's just a bit of fun really, I'm approaching a level of satisfactory belief from the user's replies at this stage. Peace.
Different_Fall1391@reddit
I'm 37. Our time at school was before Jamie Oliver took away turkey twizzlers.
Feelincheekyson@reddit
Honestly why would they lie and make up something like that?
Lopsided_Snower@reddit
oh yes, I forgot we were on the internet for second, the last bastion of truth
DiscussionOk1098@reddit
Erm excuse me sir, can I see your certificate before I purchase 😂
imalwayshungr@reddit
Aw, something seems sweet about this! He was making money, but it's like he just wanted everyone fed! 🥲
trippykitsy@reddit
his destiny was in baking, not dealing 😭
DiscussionOk1098@reddit
His destiny was Tesco
PsychoticJesusJugz@reddit
That’s good money too!!!
AutomaticInitiative@reddit
Love that!
According_Repeat6223@reddit
We had a lad who would pick mushrooms (edible, not magic) from the school fields and woods and sell them by the bag full. Amazingly, nobody died.
clickyclicky456@reddit
I sold sweets but I wasn't enterprising enough to make a profit on it 🤣🤣 I used to walk past a sweet shop on my journey to school and I would take people's orders and fulfil them the next day, but I only did it at cost.... I think I liked being useful and I liked buying sweets 🤣🤣
After a long career as a software engineer I'm now a senior manager in a tech company. And much more business savvy 🤣🤣
InsaneNutter@reddit
Haha thinking about it I was similar. I used to fix peoples computers back in School and never charge them for it. I enjoyed both messing about with them and helping people. I'm the sole IT guy for a small ish company in my hometown, so I guess I did eventually end up getting paid to do that and a lot more!
ExcitementKooky418@reddit
The kid at my school who sold sweets went in to be the CEO of majestic wines
liquidmini@reddit
Started as you say. Then his dad moved him up to helping with the family side business of selling Euro cigs and baccy they'd hauled over the channel. Not exactly hiding it, Sou-West tech college 2003, and you're driving a brand new 2003 206 GTi as your 1st car.
Far as I know he's now a plumbing and electrician general all-rounder. So, continuing the minimised tax tradition cash-in-hand.
kiddj1@reddit
I used to sell roll ups at school
25p a cig
People would charge 50p for a tailor made
I'm now a lead for a platform operations team
lgf92@reddit
In the days where you could buy fags at 16 I used to buy a sleeve of Lambert & Butler and sell them for 50p-£1 each.
I had a sideline of buying jam doughnuts from Sainsbury's for 55p (for 5) and selling them for 50p a go.
Luckily on the day I got caught by my head of year I'd ran out of snouts but had some doughnuts left so only got in trouble for those.
I'm now a solicitor, so make of that what you will.
g00gleb00gle@reddit
How long has home bargains been around. I feel old going odd those prices.
Aware-Rabbit-4330@reddit
Sold cigs at 12 years old. Had an old fella in the same development as my gran who lived in sheltered accommodation who would go and buy them for me. It was 1996. 20 number 1 was £3.24. Sold them at 40 pence each. Made about £20 profit a week.
My sister found out and told her head of year in confidemce as she was worried about me (she was in 6th form at 18 years old). Immediately got pulled out of class and my locker searched. They found nothing (our lockers were easy to break into so kept my stash in a light fitting in a classroom). Was angry at my sister for a few weeks but soon saw her perspective. Stopped selling soon after that and moved away from the area, ended up at a much nicer school. Would definitely have either been inside, dead, or a successful drug dealer had I stayed at that school.
Work as a head of a consultancy department head in Online Marketing.
mizcello@reddit
I was going to say damn I was ripping people, I charged 50p per cig. not rollies, they were stolen L&B (golds to be specific)
Lopsided_Snower@reddit
Platform operations... oil? trains? software?
Depending on how old you are, that's an incredible mark-up for a rollie, nice work
kiddj1@reddit
Software and I'm 34
Yeah back when 12.5g was ~£3.50 id sell around 15 cigs and had already made my money back
The best thing.. I rolled them as no one knew how to roll, everyone was getting a prison roll and were more then happy with it
Few_Scientist5381@reddit
I'm still selling, never really stopped, most of my jobs have been in sales, I just enjoy it.
RabbitRabbit77@reddit
I don’t have a sweet selling story but if anyone is listening to the great podcast ‘good bad billionaire’ a lot of billionaires started making money at school.
the_Athereon@reddit
Currently eating a steak
WrongInTheLionheart@reddit
Mental illness
SnooozeFezt@reddit
My nephew. He's still a hustler. Buys and sells EVERYTHING!
TwoValuable@reddit
Lad I know was the classic working class parents who'd done very well for themselves (nice house, holidays, and two cars, very different to most of kids I knew) and so he was raised solidly as a middle class mummies boy who got given good pocket money to afford the sweets and cigarettes. Moved on to selling/doing drugs in his late teens early twenties, cleaned himself up by his mid twenties when it got too real and he'd upset actual drug dealers by being a cocky little upstart. Now in his early 30s, he has a tradie job and sells cracked fire sticks and lives in an all grey everything house.
It feels stereotypical and it is. Most people reading this will know a bloke just like it.
WheresMyAbs98@reddit
Crikey, this is pretty much me…
WheresMyAbs98@reddit
I was a former sweet and fuzzy drink dealer back in secondary school.
Since then I trained and worked as a radiotherapist in the NHS and then pivoted to being a self employed inventory clerk.
What I’m trying to say is that it was all down hill from there…
Lopsided_Snower@reddit
One I know is unsurprisingly, a drug dealer
bluntnwuk@reddit
Yup. My mate who used to sell minimilks and walkers got promoted to full time powder shop within 5 years. Impressive, yet not recommended, career trajectory.
msully89@reddit
Similar story to a lad I went to school with. He's been doing it for 20 years now. Still never been caught.
Level-Courage6773@reddit
20 years on he's still selling minimilks to schoolchildren??
msully89@reddit
Having a rough night shift and this made me really chuckle!
Level-Courage6773@reddit
Yay! 🙃
liltrex94@reddit
I'm glad that my secondary school sold minimilks.
bluntnwuk@reddit
That’s the thing… so did ours! He used to buy them at lunch, keep them in a cool bag and sell them for a premium when the dinner hall closed.
liltrex94@reddit
Oh damn, he must have had other students working for him. The cafeteria staff would surely not let a single person buy like 25 minimilks 🤣
bluntnwuk@reddit
Work smarter, not harder!
CheshireCatastrophe@reddit
Yeah same here, mate I had left the park 5 minutes before a raid on the local park, he had a very illegal amount on him. I bet it was worth the risk considering he was making 200 pounds (I dont have the pound key on my laptop) a week selling grub in school. Imagine the jump in costs, going from selling fun size snickers to just fun.
KiwiShmiwi@reddit
No officer, it’s sherbert!
Livid-Indication-793@reddit (OP)
A transferable skillset I fear
missuseme@reddit
I sold sweets and also provided short term loans for kids who forgot money for lunch.
My general rates were that they give me the change from the purchase and then repay the full amount the next day.
So if they want to buy something that's £1.75, I'll loan them £2, they give me the 25p change, then the next day they pay me back the full £2.
I would use the money from the loans business to keep my sweet stock topped up and it let me sell for cheaper prices than any of my competitors.
I'm no longer in the loan shark/confectionery sales business.
raphamuffin@reddit
What if they wanted something that cost a round number? Free loan or were you rounding up?!
darkerthanmysoul@reddit
I work in a dental practice telling you all to cut down on the sweets while I keep a stash in the cupboard next to you.
Different_Insect_811@reddit
I'm now a paramedic. So not very good at sweet selling in the end...
RonnieThePurple@reddit
Genuinely, of my friends who sold sweets in like year 7-9, one is an accountant (sold hard boiled 'dummy' sweets with a ring) another a lawyer (penguins, kit kats etc), another an astrophysicist (galaxy bars and haribo), another doing statistics for man city (haribo and lucozade/cans). One mate sold stuff on RuneScape but idk what he is doing now.
There were others who sold cigs and sweets too but I don't think anything unexpected came of them really.
Upbeat_Map_348@reddit
I didn’t sell sweets but, in the late 80s my friend and I made our own cable that allowed us to hook 2 VHS recorders together and pirate films. We would then rent films from the local video rental, pirate them and sell them for £5 each. This was before they started to sell videos cheaply. Rocky, First Blood and Ghost Busters were our biggest sellers.
I also found a shop that sold Mexican jumping beans (the ones that have the little larvae in them) and sold them at school for a massive markup.
After Uni, I started my own business and never worked anywhere else.
Whole-Turnip-6938@reddit
Teaching.
HR wouldn’t be impressed if I kept up the old racket so i’m no longer slinging wrigleys extra’s on the playground 👎
Livid-Indication-793@reddit (OP)
Underrated comment.
I like the idea that the sweetie gig was so good you became a teacher to keep selling and will be retired in 5 years
(On a serious note, Teaching is hard, I owe a lot to a good couple, thanks for all you do!)
Total_HD@reddit
Retired at 47.
steelerfaye@reddit
I used to sell cigarettes. 50p each or 3 for a quid. Back in the day when a pack of 20 was less than a fiver.
I'm a nurse.
twiddlepipper@reddit
Back in the 70s I used to sell space cakes in secondary school - mini chocolate cup cakes with a tiny bit of weed in them. They were sold for about 50p, the cost was about 5p per cake. I only sold to the 6th form kids and I would sell up to 100 in a week. For context I was living in Hong Kong. When I left school I opened a bar, then a night club in Hong Kong. Sold them, made quite a bit of money and then spent it all in 2 years travelling around the world. Ended up working for local authorities in the UK, then the NHS and then retired at 50.
Downtown-Nectarine49@reddit
No comment
Capable_Tip7815@reddit
I sold cigarettes but haven't managed to surpass that in adulthood.
lodav22@reddit
There was a kid on my eldest son’s bus whose father owned a corner shop, every morning he would get on the bus with a slab of 24 monster drinks and sell them for £2 each. By the time he got to school he was £48 richer. The bus driver never said a word until someone told the parents and there was a complaint made. The kid said he stole them from the shop and his father was “horrified”. I know that man and I would bet a million quid he was giving his kid the cans for a cut of the profits. The kid now works in the shop.
ShinyHeadedCook@reddit
I work in a school !
My mates parents ran a corner shop. He would lend me a 20 pack of L&B. I'd sell each single one for 20p-50p, give my mate the money for the cigarettes and keep the profit
carpet_tart@reddit
Had a stint at shifting beak, clientele was a bit different. Funnily enough now I’m self employed so being my own boss must have stuck with me
Agitated-Honeydew-41@reddit
Not sweets but I used to go in for other kids who couldn’t get served cigs (I used to get served from the age of 14 back when it was 16 to buy cigarettes) and dock their packs by 2 cigs.
I’d always have an empty cig box and fill it up and then sell a cig for 50p to others. Zero overheads. 100% profit. Minimal time investment.
When my mum or anyone else in the family would go abroad and bring back cigs I used to make an absolute wedge 😂
I did this for two years and bought myself my first car haha.
Now I’m a Business Consultant and WFH.
BookWurm_90@reddit
unemployment and gay
_Lando_85@reddit
One I know, circa 2000ish, also used to run after school discos along with selling sweets etc at the age of 16/17, owns a thriving sweet and cake business and is now branching into some sort of lottery thing now too for the local county. Fair play to him. Still uses the nickname he had in school
StereotypicallBarbie@reddit
Not sweets.. but I was a free dinners kid.. and me and my best friend would sell our dinner tickets every lunch time to buy cigarettes!
The buyers were getting 80p for 60p and 10 lambert and butler would cost us just 92p in those days.
Not really surprising I’ve struggled with being an on/off smoker all my life!
I blame the smoking adverts in the Sunday magazine..
WitchyWoo9@reddit
I used to sell my dinner ticket too to buy cigs, it was £1.01 for 10 L&B, on a Friday tho my dinner ticket money went on a bottle of White Lightning to swig on the park.
StereotypicallBarbie@reddit
Ah good old white lightning… like drinking petrol!
Happy days!
WitchyWoo9@reddit
Foolish and carefree days, feels like a lifetime ago haha!
StereotypicallBarbie@reddit
Doesn’t it!
yorkspirate@reddit
Late 90's it wasn't sweets but copied PS1 games I was selling, another lad was charging £5 a game so I only charged £4 due to nicking blank discs from my dads office. I'd rent the game from blockbusters for £3, make 2 copies so I had one myself and then each subsequent order was 100% profit
Now a sparky and still like to make a few quid in cash on the side for small jobs
johnK12369@reddit
Did this for a couple years during my secondary school years with crisps, sweets and drinks. Was the first one in the school to really start it as the school was in a mostly residential area with very few if any shops nearby.
Currently a swe but always looking to escape the 9 - 5 grind 😉
kartoffeln44752@reddit
Out doing some business stuff in the Middle East
bluntnwuk@reddit
One time in school me and a couple of mates went round with POG containers yelling ‘pot fund’ and gesturing the containers into people’s faces. Remarkably, by the end of the day we had £60 in golden nugget pound coins and bought a half of skunk! To this day I can’t believe it worked! Whenever I see a homeless person or street zombie begging, but being honest and saying they want it for drink or drugs, I can’t help but chuck them a quid for nostalgia’s sake.
Tagtagdenied@reddit
Eating sweets. Turns out it was all for the love of sugar
PlasticSmile57@reddit
Opening a bakery in a couple months actually
LSforsaken3893@reddit
I know a friend of mine who was doing that when he was a kid and later he went to work for Coinbase (if you are not aware they are one of the largest crypto exchange platform). But yeah he became really successful. I was running a side hustle too back in college which was reselling, covered most of my Uni expenses and now I am full time in this business selling luxury second-hand clothing to folks around the globe
NumerousShallot9581@reddit
Messages, would love to know how you got from part time to full time as I’m also into reselling haha..
LSforsaken3893@reddit
sure, I'll see what I can do!
Nook-Incs-Pet@reddit
I used to sell roll ups for 50p at secondary school. I’m quite dexterous and my rollies (and other handmade smokables - prices variable) were known to be of the finest in the field.
I’m now a nurse.
xoxogossipoptom@reddit
In primary school I briefly ran a pencil borrowing scheme for classmates who had forgotten theirs (no charge/profit sadly) - I’m an optometrist now and don’t like locums touching my stuff 🤣
w1ckedw1ckedw1cked@reddit
Still work in sales at 40 with an overpriced product that for some reason people still stupidly buy
RubyLemon24@reddit
My son only (to my knowledge) sold his sweets on a short summer camp. I had sent bags of haribos with both children to share in their dormitories, which my daughter did. He is now a chartered accountant and auditor!
rictay44@reddit
A kid at our school did this, til they found out he was stealing them from Woolworth and other stores. Last I heard he's been in and out of prison most of his life.
NobDeRiro@reddit
Selling drugs in schools
x-ThatGirl-x@reddit
I remember at school I used to buy Lucosade from a nice lad, he always did 2 for 1 for me lol. He passed away in 2020.
Talkshift@reddit
My mum was the QC at a baking company and brought home hundreds of rejected muffins. I had a 9 month empire of selling while I was at school.
I'm now overweight and working in fraud 😂
TokuTheGreatCorso@reddit
Used to buy 10 b+h gold for £3 sell them for 2 quid each in school to the youngsters
Buy a 10 bag of weed after school and a new pack of b+h gold to repeat the next day. The rest of the profit usually went on chicken shop or kebab.
Now a facilities manager for a rather big European company.
Key_Produce2617@reddit
2 I knew at school are still wanted for gun and drug trafficking using Encrochat.
adreddit298@reddit
Selling sweets to my kids. It's the only thing I learned at school
megawoot@reddit
I sold pens in primary school.
From WH Smiths with a 'convenience' markup. Got swiftly shut down by the head master.
Anyway, 35 years later and I just exited my business (not stationary related)
itsfourinthemornin@reddit
I did this, mostly because I lived near the market that sold them ridiculously cheap so I made my money back and then some every day.
I ended up working with children from college onwards, been out of work for a few years now though due to health and care responsibilities. I run a "small business" in my (very little) free time, which is mostly selling art/design work for now but it's more for enjoyment than a full business/income.
anxiousthroway85@reddit
Had a profitable but short lived career selling homemade wooden pom-poms in the 90’s at school. I’d sit by the wall making them and charged £2.00 for a multicoloured one and £1.50 for a plain one. Then a teacher stopped me.
I run my own business now 😅
Haunting_Cell_8876@reddit
Plumbing and heating engineer.
PickleFridgeChildren@reddit
I did this. I'm now an aerospace engineering consultant. I help companies comply with DO178C and other design standards. I am nowhere near owning a plane but I do fly so much that airlines treat me like I'm worth a hell of a lot more than I actually am.
colonel_avocado@reddit
This was my brother. He's now an astrophysicist working at Rubin Observatory.
Even_Entrepreneur_58@reddit
I own my own business, in the medical cannabis industry, so drug dealing I guess just legally.
PhoenixBlaze123@reddit
Software Engineer, although I did run an ecommerce brand that did okay but I actually prefer coding over running a business.
AnonymousTimewaster@reddit
The two main guys I knew are now a PT and an independent tradie
Real-Box-7144@reddit
I’m working in the finance sector, pensions specifically. 🤓
EducationalRat@reddit
I used to sell moams and juicy fruit in primary school, I have a web dev business now but it's only me in it
Dissidant@reddit
There was no kid.
The school used to allow an ice cream van which also sold confectionery park up at break/lunch times.
Inside the grounds as well. Looking back it was pretty bad even for the 90's
sgryfn@reddit
Sound like my school, ice cream van at lunch and chip shop five mins away, Devonshire Road in Blackpool.
Dissidant@reddit
Someone had to have got a cut from that.
It was a fairly big school as well, 1500+ secondary/comp
LCFCJIM@reddit
I run a business selling automotive (leasing) finance . My dad used to buy me boxes of creme eggs from macro and id sell them at school, 100% profit 😅
kony2k17@reddit
I sell drugs! (In big pharma)
No-Blackberry-3945@reddit
Used to sell cigarettes at school, moved into DVDs, CDs and games but cigarettes were the core business.
My gran used to send me to the shop for her cigarettes so the shop keeper knew me and assumed I was buying for her.
Used to make a fortune and had pricing tiers if you were a regular or a bit of a prick. Best job I ever had.
Fast forward, worked in various sales jobs now work as a relationship manager in a really rewarding role which lets me meet loads of really interesting people and give back. Not a drug dealer.
GrabOk460@reddit
Gettin divorced and at homeless risk
I also sold cigs
Top_Mirror211@reddit
I own 2 businesses (still getting them off the ground) but yeah and I have a degree
incredibubblez@reddit
Sold the porn mags my mate confiscated from the younger years back to the same younger years until the merch was unusable. Now working in AI development so kind of still shilling a different but still naked emperor.
ScaleOfThings@reddit
I had a dinner card but my dear old mum used to give me a small amount of shrapnel which I used alongside savings to fund my sweet selling empire. I would have been 11 or 12. I’d sell out before first break most days. Eventually made about £400 before I had to pack it in due to a combo of being shaken down by bigger boys and then told to stop ‘dealing’ by the headteacher.
Ended up dropping out of university after my first year as I was making very good money via online poker (circa 2008) and beyond the social side I didn’t really enjoy academia. Did that for a decade alongside investing in BTC and I’m now effectively retired. Not all sunshine and roses however as due to lack of purpose and responsibility I managed to become an alcoholic, the irony! Alcoholism now largely in check but still working on the purpose part.
Roofless_@reddit
I'm currently at on my Mega Yacht..
/s
tommygunner91@reddit
I drive a lorry. Used to sell pop, ket, crisps, fags. Made £75-£100 a week whick was decent for a 16 year old in 2007.
marting04@reddit
Still selling but grown up "sweets" and running a couple of girls.
mizcello@reddit
I own by own businesses.
Amazing_Goal_8003@reddit
Fair play!
ReallyIntriguing@reddit
I sold cookies, sainsburys cookies, £1 a pack, 5 cookies, 50p each, £1.50 profit per pack, used to take in 5 packs and they'd sell out.
I now work as a Civil Servant in Home Office.
I miss the direct relationship to money though, getting paid straight away was cool
thickasabrick89@reddit
An old ex boyfriend of mine did this at school, he progressed to selling car wax stuff on eBay on the side.
He then proceeded to gamble all his money on the horses and went into serious debt so couldn't afford to pay bills/rent etc.
Don't know what happened to him after that as I found out and had enough and ended it (final nail in the coffin situation).
DiscussionOk1098@reddit
Wait.. you killed him?
thickasabrick89@reddit
Haha ended the relationship not his life🤣
DiscussionOk1098@reddit
Sorry, just needed the clarification 😂
Which_bear_is_best@reddit
That was me! I used to bulk buy penny sweets at the newsagents where I did my morning paper round and mark the sweets up by 100%. Selling them at break and lunch. I bought a new bike with the profits.
I run a staffing agency now. Arthur Agency Ltd. Based in the UK
AbjectGovernment1247@reddit
Working in sales! 😄
Unpatterns@reddit
Often sold bakes (birthday cakes, meringue towers) to my classmates. I work in sport now.
OldManChino@reddit
I sold whatever I could to fund my Warhammer as tween / early teen... Then I swapped to selling weed to fund my smoking weed
coinsntings@reddit
Nice stable 9-5 job, occasionally sell collectables online (Pokémon cards etc)
Muirgasm@reddit
I own a pub and a shop that does antiques, vinyl and retro video games. Life is awesome! TBH it was more stubby beers and my dad's specialist arthouse magazines that I sold in school. The sweet went straight in ma belly
geese_moe_howard@reddit
I used to steal stationery from home and sell it at school. Today I'm a terrible hoarder of things. Like a greedy little goblin.
My friend's brother was a relentless seller of sweets. Now he's a maths teacher.
TeriyakiNoodleBox@reddit
I now actually work in a school as a teacher.
I still have my old business and sell sweets to the kids, but only at the end of the day to send them home all hyped up. /s
Every_Needleworker27@reddit
It’s wild how those early hustles, whether it was sweets or full meal deals, really did lay the groundwork for an entrepreneurial mindset, even if the end game looks a little different.
Yournotworthy101@reddit
I used to do this to live, get toothpaste, clothes etc. I’m now a CEO of a successful company at 26.
Absolute ride and graft but we did it.
tomahawk66mtb@reddit
One I know graduated to dealing MDMA before we left school and then became a financial advisor - one of the commission based predatory ones...
No_Active3088@reddit
I sold sweets at school so I could make money to get food and clothes as kid. My parents didn't give a fuck. My dad who I lived with just didn't bothering working and has fuck all money. So I started selling sweets. Then the school put a stop to it. Having my short lived financial uplift taken away was cruel. The teachers at my school were nasty too. When I look back no chance was these issues I had not clocked. I left school and was earning straight away working for myself.
Outrageous-Dog5425@reddit
Doing a PhD (yes I do regret life decisions LOL)
NebCrushrr@reddit
I was good at art, and used to design and sell pictures of Nike trainers I invented! I'm in a pretty boring job in my early 50s but I'm insanely creative in my spare time, photography, writing, drawing, music...
SapphiraeLupa@reddit
I made and sold fudge in school. Now I'm a doctor, although not a diabetes doc. More fool me because I work for the NHS. Where did it all go wrong?
condosovarios@reddit
PR and Comms.
emj90@reddit
I was called the sweet machine in primary school 🤣 I'm a nurse now.
AyDerrr@reddit
I work in business development now. I tried my hand at cold calling sales, and it wasn’t for me.
loosellikeamoose@reddit
Ours is c suite at a major multinational
voluotuousaardvark@reddit
I didnt sell sweets but I had a monopoly on fish and chips from the local place because I was the first kid with a motorbike.
I'd take orders at lunchtime then buzz down to the fish and chips shop load up then scoot back.
I got caught and reprimanded for leaving school premises because all my customers form rooms stank of chip shop lmao.
Was making solid money too cuz back then a cod and chips didn't cost 20 fucking quid it cost a less than a 5er.
Standard_Homework854@reddit
Bought Sainsbury's cookies £1 for 5 (and sometimes BOGOF). Sold them for 50 each. Now a journalist
Successful-Deer3465@reddit
I published my own little xeroxed magazines and sold them in the playground. Was told off at the time but ended up working in publishing.
screeRCT@reddit
Brewing beer, didnt quite fall into the rat trap of drug dealing or Dubai trips with the missus.
JamOverCream@reddit
I didn’t sell sweets but did a roaring trade in flogging photoshoots for top-shelf mags in the late 90s, before internet was common.
Now I work in cybersecurity, albeit did extend my entrepreneurial adventures to co-founding and running a consultancy firm for 10 years.
ButteredNun@reddit
Kept my customer base sweet and now they’re on to all sorts of serious shit, licorice allsorts
bromabb@reddit
Hey bro keep it quiet
you got any sour patch kids? I need a hit man
will17blitz@reddit
Lost all my teeth. Lesson learnt: never sample your product.
VincentVan_Dough@reddit
I didn’t sell sweets. I sold those popping exploding packets at a ridiculous mark up because parents wouldn’t allow their kids to have them. I ended up in marketing selling everything from phones to financial products to soft drinks to beer and make 6 figures.
protectyourself1990@reddit
Still in school still selling sweets, looking weird as I’m quite a few years older
b-roc@reddit
I didn't sell sweets but the concept is the same - I sold porn mags from my parents shop.
I'm 47 and have been retired for about 15 years. Medicine to finance then bitcoin.
SuperPossible120@reddit
Working in an office as admin, gonna start a food business tho.
Unsurprisingly after school I was selling things outside of school for a while.
bentleybasher@reddit
Retired.
Different-Employ9651@reddit
Ours is still selling sweets. He has a stall on the prom.
Livid-Indication-793@reddit (OP)
Amazing, the hallmark movie we all actually want
Different_Bake_611@reddit
Our years lad is an electrician.
newtobitcoin111@reddit
selling sweets on the streets
LewisMileyCyrus@reddit
hey i sell drugs in schools, we should team up and dominate all markets
Livid-Indication-793@reddit (OP)
Oh no a true riches to rags story.
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