Ice cream men/women, what do you do when the weather is too poor to sell ice cream?

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Breakwaterbot@reddit

ThEy SeLl DrUgS

In all seriousness, most of them have another job, they just do the ice cream thing as a "side hustle" or whatever the kids are calling it these days.

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Short-Shopping3197@reddit

I’m old enough to remember when they actually were in 1980’s Glasgow!

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MJLDat@reddit

The Glasgow Ice Cream wars are legendary.

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Short-Shopping3197@reddit

Did they ever make a television drama out of it? It’s dying for a Netflix limited series!

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cheltenhamcbt@reddit

UK- guy I knew sold ice cream in the summer & logs/firewood in the winter

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ramirezdoeverything@reddit

I think a lot of them are tradesmen types and are doing construction related jobs a lot of the year

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Individual_Car7850@reddit

Mr Softy Top sold porno tapes out the back of his van on the side.

I saw a documentary about it.

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CreativeAdeptness477@reddit

The ice cream is just a front for the drug delivery service so they still do their rounds.

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Sirlacker@reddit

If you're from round my end, still try and sell ice cream.

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New_Line4049@reddit

I love me a 99 when its pissing with rain!

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tcpukl@reddit

I resent buying them for my kid when it's about a fiver now!

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JCDU@reddit

I had to explain the 99 to a European friend, it's confusing now - "Well it's called a 99 because it's 99p except it's actually five quid"

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According to Cadbury, the Italian King's elite royal guard consisted of 99 men. To the immigrant Italian ice cream makers in the UK, the number 99 represented the ultimate symbol of top quality or first-class. There’s a few stories knocking about as to why they’re called 99’s but price is not one of them

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Sirlacker@reddit

It's because there is a 99% chance your kid is going to buy one and make a fucking mess and it's the one time you forgot to bring the wipes.

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jahathebrn@reddit

That's my charitable assumption as to why I still hear the jingles in December round these parts.

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MJLDat@reddit

I have heard they take a few months off, it’s quite the earner in the hot weather so they work hard then, then rest.

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JCDU@reddit

I've heard that getting into a festival like Glastonbury can almost buy you a new van in a weekend.

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MJLDat@reddit

I’d imagine they pay a few quid for the pitch, but yeah, they turn over some money.

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Norphus1@reddit

I live in southern Scotland, about 15 minutes out of Dumfries. There's a village by the sea called Rockcliffe. It's very nice.

Anyway, all year around, come rain or sunshine, there's an ice cream van sitting by the beach and it always seems to do a decent enough amount of business. My family and I have sat there on Boxing Day and ate ice cream from that van, and it's usually bloody freezing.

I think people buy from them if they're there.

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monkeymidd@reddit

I was there in October and bought two for the dogs every day …

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woodyeaye@reddit

Like chippies in hot weather. Roasting? Shall we have a salad? Nah I could really go some piping hot chips.

It's a seaside thing especially. Defending your chips and ice cream from gulls is essential for the nostalgic seaside experience.

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zoppaTheDim@reddit

In my part of America, they generally try to switch to hot beverages. Others just close down.

A number of ice cream franchise owners buy a cold weather franchise like Cinnabon to operate year round in the same space.

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AndrewHinds67@reddit

When I lived in King's Lynn many years ago, ice cream men would be round every single day, including winter. I remember one evening in December 1977 between Christmas and new year, an ice cream van outside in the snow. He always had customers. In fact, we had two ice cream men come round. One was Walls, and the other was Lyons Maid.

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tall-not-small@reddit

Just sell the drugs in bad weather

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woodyeaye@reddit

Round my way they still come round and sell sweeties instead. I'm told also vapes and weed, never checked but they certainly sold fags when I was young.