Ever have a paper route?

S

SLS

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When I was around 12 years old, my father came home home and announced that he had a surprise for me. I was elated. Bike? Ball glove? Nope. Paper route. Character builder, and I guess I needed it. 60 customers and I made $6 a week when a pop was dime and a candy bar a nickel. Dad set me up with a bank account and checked my bankboook every week to make sure I didn't blow it all. Anybody else deliver papers out there?
 
 
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I had a Plain Dealer paper route and it was a love hate relationship. The love was it taught me that hard work pays off in that I too set up a savings account and got a lesson in interest, remember in the mid to late '70s interest was high and that couple $s a week grew quickly and before I knew it had a nice nest egg I could use for college. I also read the product I was delivering and gave me an early appreciation for journalism. The hate was the collections side, we lived in a nice neighborhood and most customers were very generous with a weekly tip as well as a Holiday bonus when I delivered the next year's calendar but on the down side some customers took weeks to get their $s and had to go off hours to finally track them down. Did give me a lesson that there are a lot of deadbeats out there. Also delivering papers in bad weather really stunk.
 
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Had a job delivering a sales flyer for the local grocery store one day a week in jr. hi.

Then had a Sunday edition only paper route for a couple of years. Mostly The Blade, a few Plain Dealers.
 
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Zunardo said:
Thought about signing up to deliver Grit back in the today. My father wisely advised against it.
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Good call. Neighbor and I tried for a while but, had only one lady customer who was excited to get it (the paper). Sold a few more. As I recall, it was a weekly with the news was at least that old. On the plus side, it had color pictures ala today's USA Today - something unique at that time.

Neighbor gave up and my brother took his place. I don't remember how much longer we tried before we got our 125 paper Vindicator route.
 
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Auggie said:
...but on the down side some customers took weeks to get their $s and had to go off hours to finally track them down.
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john cusack film GIF
 
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1976 delivered a local paper once a week. $8 month paid in cash once month. Moved on to Citizen Journal route. That was a morning paper. One year of that then moved to Columbus Dispatch. 2 years of that and my sister took it over. Collecting for the Route took more time than delivering. Christmas tips were awesome.
 
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Helped the neighbor deliver the local free paper 2x a week. He eventually outgrew it when he was old enough to work a real job. I took it over from him. It was 285 papers. Not all papers got delivered as some residents didn't want it, but as long as I had the paper deliver all 285 to me, I got paid for them. Pay was 2 cents a paper and 1 cent for each insert. Shortly after I took over the route, the coordinator offered me a 2nd route of an additional 285 papers which I took. I eventually got cut back to 1 day a week (they wanted it delivered on Sat, but I often delivered on Sun. due to other commitments), and the pay changed to 3 cents a paper and .55 cents per insert. Unfortunately, the inserts became fewer and farther between. Kept those routes until I graduated HS and got a real job at a bakery (bread mass production facility, not a donut and cake shop). Paper went under a few months after I gave up my routes. It was about 8 miles of walking to deliver the entire route, and due to the volume of papers and proximity of the houses, delivering via bicycle was not a good option. Like the rest of you, I had to put at least 1/2 of each paycheck in the bank. This was the mid-late '90s, so I wasn't making very good money for the time it took to fold, stuff into those thin plastic bags, and deliver the papers, but there was no alternative for me. My parents weren't going to let me have a real job while in HS.
 
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Mr. Slippery said:
Helped the neighbor deliver the local free paper 2x a week. He eventually outgrew it when he was old enough to work a real job. I took it over from him. It was 285 papers. Not all papers got delivered as some customers didn't want it, but as long as I had the paper deliver all 285, I got paid for them. Pay was 2 cents a paper and 1 cent for each insert. I took a 2nd route of an additional 285 papers. I eventually got cut back to 1 day a week (they wanted it delivered on Sat, but I often delivered on Sun. due to other commitments), and the pay changed to 3 cents a paper and .55 cents per insert. Unfortunately, the inserts became fewer and farther between. Kept those routes until I graduated HS and got a real job at a bakery (bread mass production facility, not a donut and cake shop). Paper went under a few months after I gave up my routes. It was about 8 miles of walking to deliver the entire route, and due to the volume of papers and proximity of the houses, delivering via bicycle was not a good option. Like the rest of you, I had to put at least 1/2 of each paycheck in the bank. This was the mid-late '90s, so I wasn't making very good money for the time it took to fold and deliver the papers, but there was no alternative for me. My parents weren't going to let me have a real job while in HS.
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I forgot about inserts. Wow. Sundays sucked
 
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Delivered the Akron Beacon Journal. Actually enjoyed it. People were nice and the pay was good. Only bad thing was Sundays. Delivered about 80 daily papers which could fit in the bag and not be too heavy. Sunday papers were HUGE. Usually could get 20 in the bag and would have to come back to the drop off area multiple times. Rubber bands were almost useless on those giant papers as they would snap when trying to put them on.
 
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Yappi said:
Delivered the Akron Beacon Journal. Actually enjoyed it. People were nice and the pay was good. Only bad thing was Sundays. Delivered about 80 daily papers which could fit in the bag and not be too heavy. Sunday papers were HUGE. Usually could get 20 in the bag and would have to come back to the drop off area multiple times. Rubber bands were almost useless on those giant papers as they would snap when trying to put them on.
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My pop helped me early Sunday Mornings. Made drops for me on Sunday. Bad weather he would drive me. I would buy pizza on Friday for all of us for help. He would grin.
 
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I enjoy wrestling said:
How do you think the routes impacted our work ethic?
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That may be where our real pay came into play. Responsibility, dedication, perseverance (collecting), and customer service come to mind.

Sunday papers: I think Saturday should have come after Sunday as a reward. Saturday's bag felt like a feather, and then Sunday's YIKES!
 
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Mr. Slippery said:
Helped the neighbor deliver the local free paper 2x a week. He eventually outgrew it when he was old enough to work a real job. I took it over from him. It was 285 papers. Not all papers got delivered as some residents didn't want it, but as long as I had the paper deliver all 285 to me, I got paid for them. Pay was 2 cents a paper and 1 cent for each insert.......My parents weren't going to let me have a real job while in HS.
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Closest I came to a newspaper route was similar to this - delivering the monthly civic assocation newsletter in our housing area - 900 homes divided into four quadrants, each took about 2 hours to deliver. I got two bucks to deliver one quadrant, $5 for two, $10 for all four. And I got another $10 if I took the stack of printed sheets and collated and stapled them first.

Found out one of my 8th grade classmates was quite the entrepreneur. He had created his own "company" called Boy Power, had some of us on his list to mow lawns, delivering newsletters,etc - he was getting a cut of the money for each job he sent someone out to do. Yes, he's a successful businessman today.
 
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Mr. Slippery said:
My work ethic is OK, but the paper route may have worked against me in the long run in that I have a chronic habit of underestimating what my time is worth.
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Hmmm
Old Bull and Young Bull are at the top of a hill. The Young Bull gets all excited about seeing a herd of cows. He ask the Old Bull if he wants to run down with him to have a cow. The Old Bull ask the Young Bull if he wants to walk down with him and have the whole herd.
 
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I was 11 years old in 1972 when I got a route for the Columbus Citizen Journal. Woke up at 3am and carried my route, came home at 5am for a 2 hour nap then off to school. I enjoyed the money so much I got greedy and got an evening route with the Columbus Dispatch. So, I'm doing morning and evening routes while play all 3 sports and competition speed skating to boot. It was fun to open a bank account as a kid and pay for my own clothes, sports equipment and have money in my pocket at all times. Mom warned about burning the candle at both ends. I did. It's a shame that kids can't have the experience of a paper route. It builds great work ethic. I had a route with some of my friends and we would read the comics and grab a donut at the Grove City Bakery before getting to work. I doubt you see that happening anymore. Crime now plays a big part.
 
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80greyhound said:
I was 11 years old in 1972 when I got a route for the Columbus Citizen Journal. Woke up at 3am and carried my route, came home at 5am for a 2 hour nap then off to school. I enjoyed the money so much I got greedy and got an evening route with the Columbus Dispatch. So, I'm doing morning and evening routes while play all 3 sports and competition speed skating to boot. It was fun to open a bank account as a kid and pay for my own clothes, sports equipment and have money in my pocket at all times. Mom warned about burning the candle at both ends. I did. It's a shame that kids can't have the experience of a paper route. It builds great work ethic. I had a route with some of my friends and we would read the comics and grab a donut at the Grove City Bakery before getting to work. I doubt you see that happening anymore. Crime now plays a big part.
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Sadly I'm not sure it's possible.
 
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Raymo said:
In'55 I did anything possible to make cash in hand,today's youth don't have the desire we had back then...BAM!
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I think that last BAM! hit you in the head. Seriously, you think every kid on the block had a paper route? There were maybe a dozen kids working out of the building that served our entire side of Toledo. Those jobs don't exist anymore. It was only a few kids walking around with shovels in winter or that even had lawn mowers, don't kid yourself just because you were one of them.

Gone through a drive-through lately? Seen who's stocking shelves at the Menards?
 
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Grew up in the 70's, my brother had a route for years. I think the appeal at one time for kids was that it was one of only a few job kids could do. Heck, now adays with minor labor laws they can't operate anything with an engine (mowers/ weed wackers) until they are 16+.
Worked for a newspaper most of my life and the battle to attract and retain carriers has been constant and ongoing. It really evolved from a kids job 40-50 years ago to just about all adults now. Many reason for it, many parents don't want their kids out alone at 4-5 AM, of course it doesn't pay much. You really need to have a route with 200+ papers to even make it worth it. Many drive now and the wear and tear on vehicles and gas prices affect that. It's like most other industries. People may even want to get the paper, but they aren't going to pay much for it. We have this weird concept in this country that we want to live like kings and spend like paupers. We expect everyone to make a "livable" wage (what is that?), but we want to get all our goods and services for next to nothing. A logical thinker should know this isn't possible.
 
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irish_buffalo said:
Still are. 😁
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That's not far off. Liberals would feel that the newspaper should just deliver a newspaper to every home in town for free. Make it like a shopper. Could you ever get ad rates high enough to cover the costs?? Who knows. I'm pretty sure newspaper carries probably understand business more than the average bear.
 
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