Miss Softee: “We Do Not Make $900 a Day!”
CNN’s “Best Jobs” video chronicling a day in the life of a Mister Softee truck sure did make the rounds on the old blogosphere yesterday! We were slightly suspicious of its awfully rosy portrait of what it’s like to run a Mister Softee truck, and this morning everybody’s favorite Midtown Mister Softee vendor “Miss Softee” checked in to let us know that our suspicions were justified.
I just watched the video and wanted to expand on what she says, plus share a little more detail with the readers because to think that we’re making almost a thousand dollars a day in our pay is a bit absurd and is totally misunderstood!! I think that she gives a decent explanation of the job, including the long hours, the specifics of working for Softee (that they give you a route, a tune, and you have to use all of their product), but the whole ‘making 900 a day’ thing seems like it’s being misunderstood in this report. The TRUCK may pull in $900 on a really GOOD DAY. But, out of that sum, in addition to the truck startup fees (90K) there’s the ongoing costs: the products, the commissary/depot fee, the franchise fee, gas, incurred tickets, as well as any repairs of the truck, so, while $900/day in your pocket sounds great, that’s NOT what is actually going in!!
But wait, there’s more…
Plus, listen to what she says, it’s very weather dependent — when it’s over 90 degrees, no one buys. when it’s below 70 degrees, no one buys. So, that $900/day is only on optimal, prime days where nothing goes wrong and the weather is stunning. When it’s a bad day, you could be making $200-400, and with the expenses, that’s not really ‘making a lot of money’ as she says. I talked to another friend of mine who’s been doing this a lot longer, and the route that this lady drives is a very popular one, so i think that’s really what she’s saying when she ends with, ‘I make a lot of money’. What is clear is that she is clearly one of us drivers who does the job because she loves it and she’s proud of the service that she provides. And for that, I think she’s spot on about the Mister Softee experience!!
Related:
PROFILE: Midtown Lunch’er “Chrissy” (aka Miss Softee)
Liveblogging: City Council Anti-Food Truck Hearing
Posted by Zach Brooks at 1:30 pm, June 23rd, 2010 under Miss Softee, Mister Softee.
10 Comments | RSS comments feed for this post
Ice cream + champagne room = profit.