- People are paid $40 per hour to wait for others side by side –and Robert Samuelthe owner of the same OLE line man in New York has 45 staff members taking on the gig. Samuel, who has been waiting for everything from Sean’s “Diddy” combs case to selling high fashion samples, usually appears between $25 and $37.50, and people want to join his business.
There are many unconventional ways to turn a dime into a dollar. And one entrepreneur hit the money by taking on the everyday nuisance of others.
Robert Samuel runs a line sitting business in New York City Man with the same ole lineCustomers will call and request that they keep spots for themselves, with hourly rates lined up, typically ranging from $25 to $37.50 on request. The 49-year-old business began with “Cronut” Frenzy in 2013, and now Samuel and his 45 employees are waiting for hours for criminal trials, sneaker launches, Broadway tickets, sample sales and restaurants.
In cities with new passing trends each week, this means stable business rolling all year round. Currently, requests for Sean “Diddy” Combs trials are skyrocketing. New York Times, Washington Post, News blogger. Samuel’s hourly wage for that trial is $32 per hour.
Line-sitting may be a profession that few people exist, but Samuel took a bright idea and turned it into a successful company and a 13-year career. With business booming, people have the opportunity to line up others and roll them up for $40 an hour.
“Always observe around everything around you. When people complain, put on a cap of your thoughts and see if there is a solution to what they are complaining,” says Samuel. luck. “You’re probably shocking yourself and on the verge of the next step.”
You can make up for over $40 per hour at work
Samuel said he has always had a steady stream of interested applicants. And the size of his employee base depends on events in New York. But even when the “Diddy” trial was wrapped, he said he was rounding the corner, like Shakespeare, a very popular summer event in the park.
The same all-line guy charges a minimum of $50 for a minimum of two hours, plus an additional $25 per hour. Additionally, businesses have a bad weather fee of $3 per hour for rain, snow or severe temperatures. A $15 fee will be added for line requests between midnight and 7am, and a $20 rush fee will be charged for inquiries on the same day. During the holiday season, hourly rates are 1.5 times higher, like Supreme for “hype” sneaker drops. At $37.50 per hour, these shoe events are wild and very unpredictable in supply.
Samuel says he will make much more than he did with AT&T when setting his own price and dominating the NYC Line Cincitti scene. Plus, he becomes his own boss. However, if you can’t work with the same all-line guy, you will also have the opportunity to become a line sitter on your own terms.
Line sitters for popular employment websites TaskRabbit Fees For services, it costs between $20 and $40 or more per hour. Some of them have taken over dozens of these waits to dozens, indicating a steady flow of desire for service. With the extra dollars raised for something like the weather, these taskers advertise that they are lined up for 24 hours to meet client requests. At independently set rates, these long jobs mean pay close to $1,000 for just one time.
From AT&T salesmen to launching a line sitting business
Samuel’s business journey all began in the middle of his final 9-5 gigs as an AT&T sales representative.
It was 2012 and he embarrassed that he was going to miss a check on his committee due to the timing of the new iPhone 5 release. To make him feel good, he posts ads on Craigslist and lines up to wait for him to get a very popular phone. Someone hired him for three hours and after Samuel was in front of the line to pay his salary, his client informed him that he had placed an online order instead.
Unsure what to do next, he turned around and sold his spots lined up for $100. Samuel immediately recognized the exchange as a money maker and went back to queue to sell another location for the same price. Along with money from Craigslist ads, he left for $300 that day.
“I said, ‘Well, what can I do? Wait a minute. I’ve made hundreds of people sitting on the sidewalk,” Samuel said. “So I created a social media account and gradually took off from there.”
For the first nine months, Samuel ran a business solo. He took on all the line-sitting gigs that came his way in 2013 when the media covered his story, and eventually went into funding to hire workers. It always sold out in the blink of an eye, so Samuel waits in line for hours, picks up pastries and delivers them to people. The same all-line guy can still be hired to pick up sweets today for $65 for two cronuts.
Now, Samuel and his employees are doing a lot of work. They covered the trial of Sam Bankman Fried, the Githlane Maxwell case, and the arrest of Donald Trump in New York City. Most of his business revolves around attracting clients from around the world and keeping a lined up place for popular sample sales. He jumped out to Warren Buffett’s latest Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting earlier this month in Omaha, Nebraska.
Samuel’s enquiries love his work, from strictly business to a lifelong desire to watch a Broadway show.
“It’s the beauty of bringing joy to people by doing something as simple as waiting in line,” says Samuel.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com.
