Have you ever delivered...........?

Question

newspapers at night (route carrier)? What was your experience?

Answer 1

very challenging... its at night u have to collect the paper,
sort and fill split or arrange for your route delivery and put up
with vehicular traffic, parked cars blocking your route,then it
rains then u need to sleeve the paper in plastic...heard
enough?...2bz.

Answer 2

Yes when I was younger after school. Well I didnt like Thursdays as the job section was always in and Tuesdays was property night. (thus making the papers heavier!) If your looking to get a paper round then try and get one with houses that are near together. That way you deliver the main bulk all at once instead of lugging a weight for ages. I mean from one house on one street to one house on the next. Also limit the use of a bike as mine got nicked when I returned back to the shop to hand my bag in! I was only away from it for 20 seconds! (would be theives are always watching) Its crap when its raining but you can always dry off! I hope this helps whatever you are deciding to do!!! Take an I pod or walkman with you that will ease any boredom!

Answer 3

I haven't personally, but my mom did when we were young. She was going back to school to get her teaching degree. She was substituting during the day and did that at night. She said the money was decent. She had a little country route though and could do all that she needed in a couple of hours. Hope it helps! :) Have a great weekend! :)

Answer 4

Yes i used to deliver fliers. I was delivering one evening and our dog Peppy was with me. He decided to chase after a motor bike and when I called him he came back and was run over by a car that was going by. Til this day I wished I wouldn't have called him but I didn't see the car...
very sad day......

Answer 5

Yes, I did this for at least 10 years when I was a kid.

Answer 6

GOOD EXPERIENCE.... but I carry only one or two latest newspapers to reach home and read......lllll

Answer 7

No, I never did it myself, but have helped others. At that time I was a teenager and thought it was cool, and wanted to do it myself.

Answer 8

I am a newspaper carrier who just gave notice on a 500-paper route that I have carried for the last 4 years. It's not for everyone. I work graves 365-days each year, with days off only if I am willing to pay a substitute - usually at a premium above that day's gross income - it helps if you have a family member who can give you an occasional break. Most carriers are independent contractors like I am - They buy their papers wholesale from the publisher and re-sell them to the subscriber for an average gross of $.08 per paper per day. They also pay full social security taxes (15%?) and any additional liablity insurance. They are not covered by workers comp. They buy their own supplies, usually from the paper, including bags, rubber bands, and any special mounting hardware if they mount paper tubes. And of course, gasoline.

And of course, there's the car maintenance. I replace my oil and front break pads about every 5 weeks. I have over 100,000 miles on my car which is 2 years old. I have a pretty nice motor route, but gas prices have more than doubled over the last 4 years, so I am netting at least $6000.00 less annually than when I started.

I have 3 hours to drive 100 miles and deliver 500 papers. I have encountered every kind of aggressive, inattentive or threatening behavior from other drivers who are incensed that I am on the road and in their way.

Snow days are the hardest - my town freezes over for a week or two every time it snows. It takes me 8-14 hours to attempt to do what normally takes me 3 to complete. Depending on what areas are blocked by drifts and abandoned cars, I may only be able to reach 25% of my customers during the daylight hours, and I will not drive once it gets too dark or I start to become tired from the stress of that type of driving. It's funny, but if any of my customers would have shoveled to clear a path to their newspaper tubes, I could have saved an hour or 2 in bagging papers alone. Sigh.

This has been a useful job for me primarily because of the alternate hours and (past) reasonable profitability.

Unfortunately, most folks don't realize that more and more routes are moving toward low to no profitablility. If newspaper delivery is not to become a thing of the past, prices either need to increase, or folks need to understand that paper carriers are contracted to deliver to their address at wages that have not increased in years. I am contracted by the publisher to deliver papers 'in a timely and readable fashion'. Unless you have ever worked without ANY time off, it is hard to realize just how grueling this can be. About 20% of my customers tip - averaging from $5 - $20/year. They are usually the same ones who leave out baked goods after I send out Christmas cards. Most customers don't realize how little of their subscription cost actually goes to the driver. Even a $1.00 tip per month from each customer (Less than you pay a wait server who spends less time on you) makes a huge difference in whether a paper carrier makes enough money to cover their expenses, especially when gas prices are rising and staying high.

It is not a bad job if you can keep a profit and a thick skin. The only feedback you normally receive outside of Christmas cards back from customers are route changes - folks starting or stopping, and complaints. I have less than a 1/4 of 1% complaint rate, but those can be vicious and denigrating. You can't let it affect you. I really appreciate the customer who bakes me cookies once a month, it reminds me that some folks do understand how hard it is to get up at 1:00 am each day, set up 3 kids in the back of the car, pick up full load of papers, and start the daily grind.

It has worked for me to have a job where the money I was making didn't all just go to cover daycare. But profits are dropping and I don't know how much longer home newspaper delivery has left.

Newspapers used to be afternoon delivery and kids or moms could see their customers and have time to allow for special delivery requests. With CNN and the internet making news constantly available, everybody want their paper ASAP by the time they wake up each morning. If they are an early riser, they may even call to complain if you are still within contracted delivery times. If papers are delivered by 4:30 am to you address every day without fail for a year and you have never mentioned that you want some additional service - cancelling for 'poor service' only makes your carrier frustrated and does nothing to improve their psychic skills.

The biggest complaint I see online about newspaper carriers is that they:
1. Are lazy because they don't porch deliver: So, it's lazy to provide 365-day service without time off.
2. Don't deserve tips if paper is not on the porch: So, if a carrier is providing daily service as per their contract - with no breaks and on a graveyard schedule most folks can't handle, then let's penalize them because their publisher has scheduled a route that is too large to service in both a timely and personal fashion.
3. Doesn't go the extra distance because your papers were erratic during snow season: Please, I spent a cumulative 20 days at 8-14 hours each day last year driving in knuckle-whitening snow and ice. I spent at least 4 hours digging out of snow drifts trying to get as little behind as possible while the weather evened out. I suffered $2000 in body damage to my car with 4 foot drifts and huge ice 'boulders'. Your carrier is usually a lot more commited to you than you are to them.

I've decided to stop because this is no longer the job for me. It is making me cynical about human patience, gas prices are becoming prohibitive, and then there's the unfortunate bonus that 4 years of repetitive motion has caused physical damage to my arms and I need to try to let them recover.

So, right job at the right time, but I wouldn't recommend anyone going into it without a lot of understanding of what's involved.

Answer 9

I did with my son and it was weird at night...the people we met!

Answer 10

hated it was the worst job I ever had!