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With The Right Location, Street Vendors Make Mad Stacks
By
Nell Casey
Published Jul 22, 2013
Modified Jul 22, 2013
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By
Nell Casey
Published Jul 22, 2013
Modified Jul 22, 2013
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Just like a good staking, for New York City's street vendors it all comes down to one thing: location. The Post examined the incomes of well-placed street vendors around town, who revealed the "big" money they make by setting up in prime spots. 57-year-old vendor Peter Casimis earns between $250 and $400 a day from his hot dog cart, which he has parked outside Macy's on 35th and Broadway for years. Cemil Sag, who sells ice cream, says he banks $700 a day working on 37th Street and Fifth Avenue, though that figure must change when one's face is not in danger of melting.
Though each vendor pays $60 for a yearly vendor's license and $200 every two years for a tax identification number, they don't pay rent to occupy their corners. Where Casimis parks his hot dog cart, rents run about $600 a square foot per month; on Sag's corner, it's about $500.
It's tempting to bemoan your working stiff salary when you could be making more cash hawking hot dogs than filling out TPS reports. Yet as gleefully as the Post reports theses "high wages," street vendors face myriad issues just to stay afloat. When they're not battling over turf they're batting the City Council over the enormous fines received for things like improperly displaying their permit. And on top of all that: tourists. Ugh. We'll stick with what we got.
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Nell Casey
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