I have been assisting route owners/sellers & buyers on how best to prove the true worth of their business. If you are buying ask for the financials, Quickbooks or other data. If they are smart they are using a route accounting package that tracks sales, customer history and other key components to prove the business value. If you are selling then get a route accounting package to take the doubt out of any price you may be asking. Small investment pays huge dividends
Update: To make it short: My bro has decided not to do it for now. He is still searching for a route, but his wife was let go from her job and for now, he is the only bread winner. I told him that perhaps his better half could somehow get involved (financially as well as getting her hands dirty). So far he is still looking....... I am glad I started this thread. It provides some info. for those who do not want to be a slave to a corporation and at the same time do not have what it takes to trade with positive returns. Buying a route I think, is not a bad way to make a living and it sure beats going back to 9-5 gig (not that there are so many available nowadays). There are bread route that one can buy for as little as 19K down, all the way to 1 million routes where one is pulling 300 to 500K a year. Like I said,I have not purchased one but not because it is not a viable way to make money.
It seems like you still have interest. I have a few sellers that you may want to talk to. Let me know
I am interested in this as well. Looking at a FedEx route in Greenwich CT that is priced at 305K but net after expenses comes to 144K. Are these numbers real?
20 years ago I ran a pie route that my father had bought for me. I worked it after school 3 hours a day m-f and 8 to 10 hours every saturday distributing ~2000 pies. After expenses I think I cleared on average $150 a week. Minimum wage was around 4.25 back then. Keep in mind gas was around .80 a gallon at this time. The biggest problem is when you deal with a perishable good, it is often hard to find the correct amount to leave at each location. Too few and you hurt your bottom line and piss off the store owners, too many and you have to credit the expired product which eats into your profit. I'd have stores that one week would sell out after leaving 200 pies and the next they would only sell 50-75.
I can only add this. When you're in business, any business, know your hedge. Imo, a delivery truck is a rolling barrel of oil. Brush up on gasoline futures.
Hi. I know a guy who have 3 routes from FedEx here in NYC and he told me that he makes 500K a year. But getting a route is not a easy journey. He told me that Sometimes you can make a deal to sub-lease one route from the owners and you paid a royalty (usually $3 bucks per item for delivery).
This route is in greenwich ct. Cost is 305k, 275k cash and seller will hold note for balance. They broke down income/expenses and cash flow is144k a year
The seller is ready to sell the Greenwich Ct routes for 305k. On the financials the bottom line comes to 144k. Seems too good to be true but beats doing this ops shit for only 35per hour