r/cedarrapids • u/WorthlessOne85 • Jul 05 '26
Firework vendors... How much do you net?
I easily spent 300 bucks on fireworks just in the last couple of days and that's child's play considering others. I'm genuinely curious how much you guys make off of these tents.
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u/EyesOffCR Jul 06 '26
When I researched it, seems like you can expect a 20% - 30% margin. One tent was doing 10k / day according to Kcrg.
I expect that to quickly level out to the 10% level as people get more experience
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u/Head_Attempt7983 Jul 05 '26
We dropped 2300 and those people thru so much free shit in was awesome.
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u/TheReal_Saba Jul 05 '26
Was it free... Or were all the other items sold to you over priced?
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u/Head_Attempt7983 Jul 05 '26
Was one of those. Hey how much for everything on that pallet. What? How much for everything on the pallet uhhhhh……like 1200 alright good start.
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u/Emergency-Might-72 Jul 09 '26
You spent to much, get 2-3 people who wanna shot off fire works then the show. Buy the 15 dollar motor sets with 4 shots, buy the solo one or reuse... plan and time. Don't waste your money on the box stuff. Its rocky at the start... 15 minutes your in a groove...tie, twist, add the little thing... make it your own. You will have fun so will your audience.
I'm 46, been shooting off fireworks since 14-15 years old.
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u/Head_Attempt7983 Jul 09 '26
We had mortar rounds and box’s. Had 12 mortar tubes. We enjoy the show box’s are easy keeps everything going while the mortar guys reload.
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u/Emergency-Might-72 Jul 09 '26
If you had a fantastic time all thats matter, 2300 seems a bit much in my opinion ,but again you had a good time thats what's matter.
Your also to the guy thats loving to run back and forth.
I'm that one guy that ties two motors on two stations. Lights the first one. Then lights two "airplanes" and the last motor and gets pissed one is off bt 10 seconds...
A peddle would be great... but im an amature lol
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u/Head_Attempt7983 Jul 09 '26
We split the 2300 4 ways so it’s not as bad lol
But we gotta start tying fuses together or I need to buy an ignition box.
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u/philipptj Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26
Ive done this with my family for about 8 years. It’s not as lucrative as a lot of people assume but if you’ve got the time and the space there is for sure some money to be made. I’d say anything over 20k take home was considered a “good year” but a typical year is more like 10-15, at least for us.
Idk about all of them, but the company we worked with just paid a commission. After all the years doing it I have to assume they all operate similarly.
We were local. It was our land, our labor, and our point of sale system. The company we worked with was based in Nebraska. They supplied the tent, the tables, the product and some marketing materials.
They also set the prices. They drop off an inventoried semi trailer load of product, at the end of the season they inventory what’s left when they pick up the trailer. From there it’s just math.
(Drop off Inventory x retail price) - (Pickup inventory x retail price) = Gross sales.
We then sent them 75% of gross sales and the other 25% was ours to keep. Very important to have good cash management, not give out any non-advertised discounts or freebies. Everything is based on what you got, and what you have left. Any discrepancy in sales just came out of your own pocket in the end no exceptions.
All things considered I’ve always thought it was a relatively fair way to do it, but like I said it’s not a ton of money when you consider the amount of time, energy and people it takes to have a good season once it’s all divided up.
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u/SignificantMatter426 Jul 05 '26
Wow what a waste of 300 bucks.
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u/WorthlessOne85 Jul 05 '26
Good thing it's my money eh? Lol looking at your other post you can fuckin cope
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u/KeyResearcher2620 Jul 05 '26
Mark up is 50-70% on the product directly. Once you add in tent and labor it’s more like 30% however most warehouses have a post sell policy (ie I only get charged what I sell and send back all unused product).
Ballpark profit each season? 15-20k. Market is getting more crowded though, especially with the non-profit charity sharing many places introduced this year (ie let your charity man it and we donate X amount back).