Posted by:
royerreptiles
at Wed Sep 21 20:29:24 2005 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by royerreptiles ]
wait- are you working a normal shift in the reptile dept for free? No way. Reptiles are not exactly hot sellers (fish and birds usually top animal sales), and the pet shops usually make most of their profits selling cages, supplies and food.
Say you buy 10 ball pythons at $20 ($200 shipped) and you sell them for $60 each all in one week. That is $600. If your "employer" is taking 30% "off the top", that means gross- so you have to fork over $180 to her. Subtract that and the original $200, and you have $220.
You mentioned you are going to college, so I'll assume this is part time- 20hrs/wk
$220/20 = $11/hr. If it's full time (40hrs) then that gets cut to $5.50/hr. Then again, you might not move a reptile for an entire week- then you worked for free, and still are out $200. Pet stores also don't like to set animals up properly. They tend to use pretty cage decor that is impossible to sanitize and like the animal to be in full view- which invariably stresses most animals. You could end up owning and housing animals that are stressed and faring poorly.
But this brings forth another question- what happens if someone else sells an animal when you are not working? Do you plan to offer replacements if the animal dies within a certain time period? If so, who eats that cost? Also, this scenario assumes you put no extra money into upkeep. Do you breed your own food, or will you be expected to pay retail for rodents from the pet store?
Ahh- and then there are taxes. If you are on the payroll, it will be a lighter load, but if not- you get to pay "self-employment" tax- which is just a fancy way of saying you get to pay what a normal employee pays the portions that the employer normally pays.
Find out the details- find out how many and what kind of reptiles usually sell at this store- or if they are just selling the wrong types of animals (feeding bps and beardies are hot pet sellers, and actually make decent pets) If reptiles were very profitable at this store, I doubt the manager would be so quick to offer up this deal. You could do well- but do yourself the favor of working out the details in advance and get it in writing! If you do decide to do it, I'd suggest a trial period of 4-6 weeks. Then you can decide if it works and possibly even re-negotiate.
good luck!
K. Royer
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Kassandra Royer
Royer Reptiles
[ Hide Replies ]
- I am given an opportunity - TSUSnakeGuy, Wed Sep 21 14:46:47 2005
- RE: I am given an opportunity - bps516, Wed Sep 21 15:07:02 2005
- RE: I am given an opportunity - toshamc, Wed Sep 21 15:08:23 2005
- RE: I am given an opportunity - zefdin, Wed Sep 21 16:01:54 2005
- RE: I am given an opportunity - zefdin, Wed Sep 21 16:11:25 2005
- RE: I am given an opportunity - matt_fl, Wed Sep 21 16:21:49 2005
- RE: I am given an opportunity - CJBianco, Wed Sep 21 16:36:35 2005
- From someone who worked and managed a petstore for 3 years...DO NOT DO THIS - Matt...Hennek, Wed Sep 21 18:10:51 2005
- Ive been where you are! - garycrain, Wed Sep 21 19:34:24 2005
- Ok this is what I do know about the situation - TSUSnakeGuy, Wed Sep 21 20:00:33 2005
 RE: I am given an opportunity - royerreptiles, Wed Sep 21 20:29:24 2005- I can tell you from experience, not a good idea. - coyotethug, Thu Sep 22 17:42:47 2005
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