But parents should think twice about where they want their teens working over the summer. Each year about 70 teens are killed on the job in the United States. Another 70,000 are injured badly enough to require treatment in the emergency room. Sure your kid would like to buzz around town delivering pizzas, but aside from such risks as traffic accidents and hold-ups, there's a strong likelihood your insurance rates will skyrocket if you child uses his or her car for business use.
Every city is loaded with scam artists looking for ways to exploit kids.
Often these promoters claim to be affiliated with a charity. Crew leaders often have criminal records. Many teens have been killed, injured, molested and scammed by these organizations. In one especially notorious incident, a 1999 van crash near Janesville, Wis., killed seven people and left five others injured. The van was being operated by Youth Employment Services Inc. of DeWitt, Iowa, whose owner and manager was charged with 13 felonies in connection with the accident.