Second-Grader Earned $37,000 by Selling Cheerios to His Classmates

Summary

An eight-year-old boy named Matthew Riverwater ingeniously leveraged his TV commercial appearance to sell Cheerios at inflated prices to his classmates, earning $37,000 before his scheme was discovered.

Abstract

Matthew Riverwater, a second-grader with a knack for business, cleverly capitalized on his appearance in a Cheerios commercial. Instead of accepting payment for the commercial in cash, he opted for a lifetime subscription to the cereal. He then crafted a narrative about his love for Cheerios and his daily routine of eating them on his way to school, which fueled jealousy among his peers. Matthew struck a deal with a local shop owner to exchange his subscription boxes for a 50% profit cut, knowing his classmates would pay premium prices for the boxes, driven by envy and the desire for revenge. For three months, Matthew's classmates bought the overpriced Cheerios, unaware of the scheme, until it was eventually exposed. Despite the scam's eventual unraveling, Matthew's entrepreneurial spirit and strategic thinking at such a young age suggest he is likely to continue making headlines in the business world.

Opinions

Matthew's decision to forgo traditional payment for a lifetime Cheerios subscription was strategic and demonstrated his understanding of his classmates' jealousy.
The shop owner's initial doubts were overridden by the profitability of Matthew's plan, highlighting the power of consumer psychology and the influence of social status among peers.
Matthew's ability to maintain his role in the scam without revealing his true intentions shows remarkable self-control for an eight-year-old.
The article implies a critical view of the lengths people will go to for social status, as the children were willing to pay exorbitant prices for Cheerios to emulate Matthew's perceived lifestyle.
The author, Smillew, seems to admire Matthew's business acumen while also critiquing the societal dynamics

Second-Grader Earned $37,000 by Selling Cheerios to His Classmates

Kuanish Reymbaev, one of Matthew’s schoolmate.

Matthew Riverwater is an exception in the business world.

At eight, he got featured in a TV commercial for Cheerios and refused to be paid in dollars. He asked for a lifetime Cheerios subscription instead.

His parents were disappointed but respected his choice. As it turned out, Matthew knew what he was doing. He didn’t particularly like Cheerios but was very well aware that several of his classmates would be bonkers jealous of his appearance on TV and willing to get back at him.

During recess, Matthew propagated the legend that he loved cheerios so much as to eat a whole box during his walk to school. He explained in detail how he enjoyed buying the box at the shop conveniently located next door to his house; and how happy he was each day to wake up at the idea of having his walking breakfast time, as he called it. And to top all that, he had been a feature on TV in a commercial. His life was a dream.

Matthew made sure his classmates knew all the details.

He then made a deal with the shop owner. Matthew would give him the boxes from his lifetime subscription in exchange for a 50% cut on the profit margin. Matthew explained to the owner that the boxes would sell in a matter of minutes and that he could easily triple the usual price.

People would buy no matter what because they weren’t buying food with the boxes; they were buying jealousy and revenge.

The owner had doubts, but it worked.

During the three months before they discovered the scam, Matthew’s schoolmates would wake up at impossible times. The kids wanted to make sure they would be at the shop and buy all the Cheerios boxes before Matthew could get his hands on any of them.

Every day, Matthew would come to the shop, looking despondently at the shelves empty of Cheerios, and walk with sad eyes to the school entrance. His classmates would follow and mock him while eating Cheerios from the overpriced boxes they had just bought.

Asked how he managed to stay in the role, Matthew explained he was counting the dollars each time one of the boys around him would gulp some cheerios. He wanted to laugh so hard, but thinking of money helped him keep a straight face.

After three months of this cash-making magic, Matthew decided to up his game but made a mistake.

If he hadn’t, we might never have heard of his story.

No matter what, we can be pretty sure this isn’t the last time we hear of Matthew Riverwater, the business genius.

Smillew is a Medium artist who writes mainly about social justice, his Medium newsletter, and his Medium referral link. No need to follow him, he’ll show up in your feed.