Newspaper routes.......

[Stoner4Life]

so how many of you old timers had one as a kid, or do you have one now as they're still worth good money.

I worked for 'The Reporters Dispatch' in Westchester county NY back in the early 70s.

it was great during good weather but for a kid bad weather delivery just sucked, hate to say it but it was all about the tips that made it worthwhile.

 

[BPJR]

I hated this job. It was hard enough waking up for school but getting up at 5 am to deliver papers flat out sucked. I didn't last very long.

I remember getting my Father to assist me one time by driving me on my route. He actually ran over my foot with the car. That was the last time I delivered a paper.

 

[trichrider]

my paper route provided the means of beating feet out of the nest as it were.
wasn't long before realizing what a fuck-up that turned out to be...a 16 year old with a backpack in SF in the 60s, couldn't wait to go home...

 

[Eatatjoes]

I had a couple different routes as a kid, it was an ok job because the weekday paper was delivered in the afternoon, weekend early mornings sucked though. My best money came from sales, I'd go around and offer people the deal and would make about $70 in a few hours.

 

[kannubis]

Sunday mornings sucked ass, especially in the rain. My route took 2 trips on Sundays.

 

[darkhorse]

my first paper round was 6 houses in the middle of no where about a 6-8 mile round trip
and the very last house used to leave a pound under the box at the door for me
on top of my £10 wages.
then i got a local weekday round where the papers got droped off and wages £25 posted through
my letter box.these papers got put staight into the bin untill they stopped sending my wages
and papers a good 6 months later.
that was my hash money for the weekend when i was 14-15 yrs old.

 

[Stoner4Life]

I guess mine was a bit easier than some of those yet, the Dispatch was an afternoon paper 6 days a week & Sundays were not delivered to the home, you had to go out and buy them in a shoppe.......

 

[wiseone]

Washington Post back around '72. I think I lasted about 3-4 months. Can't remember what I as paid, but I did make more $$ dropping off flyers door to door for a lawn company.

 

[fabvariousk]

I had a cake afternoon route that payed thirty dollars a week with no collection.
Kept it from fifth thru tenth grade and took about fifteen minutes.
Had to deliver the sunday paper in the morning it sucked.
I learned my freshman year that if you had twenty bucks to take a girl to the movies
few girls would decline the offer. Damn things have changed.

 

[rick shaw]

I bicycled a route of 97 deliveries,6 days a week for the Denton Record Chronicle in N.Texas.
$1.25 per customer profit each month,I loved it.

 

[Cheeb]

not in the 70s, but I've helped some routes in the early 90s.

Helped a friend a few mornings in the suburbs and will never offer up that help again....it was horrible.

I dont understand why old people gotta be so bossy about their paper w/ all kinds of special requests as to where to put it, etc.. The porch or mailbox should be sufficient.

threw the gate, Double bagged, around back, between this door and that door.. screw all that shit. My buddies route took forever due to all these asinine requests. You want us to come in and turn the pages for you while you eat breakfast?!?

- -

Helped by grandma' back in the day do a more rural country route. It was pretty fun and relaxing. Lots of scenery and good times.

We'd just pick up an assload of papers. I'd sit shotgun and fold em and band em - never had to get out of the car - just plug a box every stretch of road or so.

- -

All in all you'd never catch me waking up that early for those few of peanuts.

 

[darkhorse]

i used to think it would be cool to be one of the paper boys you see on American
movies chucking the papers into the garden from your bike,looked like the easiest
pocket money job.

does that actualy happen in most areas? i would imagine it would be the suburbs only.

 

[ddrew]

We had to be down at the shack at 5am to get our papers on sunday, and then put then damn things together(ads came in a separate stack) then load all those heavy MF'ers into your paper cart to drag through the deep snow and below zero temps of a MN winter.
Little slice of hell is what that was.

There were some good times too though, and it was about the only job you could get as a kid under 15 at that time too.
I had my route for a couple years.

We used to have to go door to door with our collection books to get the subscription money from our customers every month too.
I got a lot of good tips, especially at Christmas.
Scored a lot of left on the porch candy the day after Halloween too.

We put my buddys paper cart out in the busy street one sunday morning while he was in the shack stuffing his papers, Cop car comes flying over the hill and crashes right into it, thing crumples and goes under the car, sparks flying everywhere, we all ran and hid.
People got their papers late that morning because we had to wait for the cops to finally give up searching and leave before we could do our routes, lmao, good times.

 

[wiseone]

My buddies route took forever due to all these asinine requests. You want us to come in and turn the pages for you while you eat breakfast?!?

 

[nukklehead]

Tu fuckin shay!!!

 

[Piel]

I got a route when I was about 10 but my mom called the newspaper and said I was too young for the responsibility -bless her soul.

 

[Baba Ku]

I lied when I was 12 and started a route that required 13 year olds.
It was a large early morning route that included Sunday delivery.
I had an old Western Flyer with a huge front basket and two large side baskets. Just packing the bike up was quite a task, then trying to deliver the papers in the early morning (~5am) before school in the rain and snow was almost too much for a kid to handle. But I handled it somehow. The Sunday edition required I carry a bag full of papers over my shoulder for the first few tosses.
Through the week I delivered from the drop spot, but on Sunday I had to bring the whole thing back home and assemble the paper with all the adds and stuff. Quite a chore for a little kid.
I finally had an opportunity to carry a different paper that was an afternoon delivery and life was so much better.

Biggest problem I had was the Dad of another carrier that had a different route. His Dad always picked up his papers for him from the drop spot at a closed gas station, which is where all of us got our papers from. All our papers were wired up in bundles with our names all over them. Thing is, if it were raining or if any of this guys papers got scarred or wet, his dad would open up my bundle and make his own replacements for his kid.
This guy was a local baseball coach and folks thought he was one of the most upstanding citizens in the community. His kids sucked dicks and were basically spoiled dipshits, and their dad was a phony asshole that could care less about anyone else but himself and his worthless fucking kids.
I haven't seen these fucks in years, but I can only hope that they get theirs in life. In fact, I am certain they couldn't continue to live as they did without some serious bad karma following them.

I never see kids delivering papers anymore. All adults in cars. Times are bad, I'm tellin ya.

 

[el dub]

I took a job in a large pet shop when I was 10, back in 1973. Worked there until I was 16 and the owners made me choose between wrestling or work.

My cousin took a paper route when we were 12 or 13. I offered to help him on his first day. Turned out that we had one of the biggest blizzards on record for NW Iowa that day. I'll never forget dragging that bag of papers through drifts and howling winds pelting us with snow while my cousin tried to figure out his route. hahahahaha

I'm guessing that parents would get locked up today for letting their kids go out wandering in those conditions. I know that day sure made me appreciate my job in the pet shop with the squirrel monkey, kinkajous, coatimunde, boas, alligators, electric eel, hamsters, gerbils, mice, birds and salt water fish.

lw

 

[ddrew]

Biggest problem I had was the Dad of another carrier that had a different route. His Dad always picked up his papers for him from the drop spot at a closed gas station, which is where all of us got our papers from. All our papers were wired up in bundles with our names all over them. Thing is, if it were raining or if any of this guys papers got scarred or wet, his dad would open up my bundle and make his own replacements for his kid.

Haha Hoos, I hear you on that one.
You never got to the shack late on sunday for that very reason.
Everyone that was short would steal your papers and leave you screwed.
The trib would make us go to a paper machine if we were short and buy the replacements and then they would reimburse us for them.

I used to put money for one paper in the machine, and then open it and take them all.
And then bill the Trib for each one.


You're right about never seeing kids anymore, it's all adults in cars now, kinda sad.
Like one of the rites of childhood is gone

 

[burning_red]

used to hate the Sunday paper in Cherry Hill --the courier post.People on this side of the Atlantic have no idea how huge those newspapers were/are in the States.20 friggin sections all the size of the regular daily.I enjoyed the paper round--met some hot women and wish I'd been a little older really LOL.Won a trip to Florida thru my paper route too so that was a nice bonus
wish I'd been smart enough to deliver flyers like someone else suggested--i like that one