I went along on a newspaper delivery route.

[Quantess]

My friend was going to learn a paper route starting that night. She has delivered newspapers before. I came along to see whether I wanted to take on a paper route for some extra cash. It pays about $1000 - $1200 per month, at this station. However, you are an I-9 “Independent Contractor”, so you have no employee rights, and you pay for your own gas for your own vehicle, including the wear and tear on your vehicle. You are expected to work 365 nights a year. You are expected to deliver a dry newspaper to every subscriber, either daily or just Sunday, depending on the subscription, before 5 am, every single time. Sounds easy?

We got to the distribution center at 1:30 am. We started by putting a grocery store “insert” into every newspaper, then rolling and bagging them. That part was easy! Most of the 450 papers went in the front passenger seat, but 60 dailies went into a knapsack.

The paper delivery man had us ride in the back of his mini-van as he took us on a fairly white-knuckle ride, for the purpose of teaching my friend her new route. He routinely drove on the opposite side of the street, made U-turns, drove inches close to obstacles, went in reverse at high speeds, into tiny, crooked alleys at high speeds, all with amazing accuracy. My friend said he drove like a NASCAR driver. I say he drove like a crazy bike messenger in a class C motor vehicle.

He knew which addresses had daily papers shoved into tubes, who had a Sunday paper tossed on the porch, and who was a disabled person who needed their paper placed just so. Some people complain when their paper lands at the wrong place. I was impressed that 450 papers manage to get to the proper places every single night with such few errors.

I thought I knew that part of town… as it turns out, I only really knew the major roads. I had no idea there were little shacks behind strip malls, tiny homes hidden behind garage mechanics, and weird hut-type residences clustered in between older farmhouses on dead-end streets. They all had addresses, but good luck if the addresses were posted or visible! There were narrow, crazy, little streets that zigged and zagged, up and down hills, close to sewage treatment plants, under railroad bridges, but we always seemed to be going in circles.

For the last part of the route, we followed the carrier on foot, as he put on the heavy knapsack and delivered papers to a huge retirement community of rows of apartments that all looked the same. We could barely keep up with him. Somehow, he was able to tell the rows of residences apart. Which to me all looked the same.

We finished the route at 5:30 am. As he drove us back to the station, he made a wake up call to his wife. “Honey, it’s time to wake up. Love you”. He took us back to my friend’s car, and he went on his way to work, maybe a little late.

My friend told me that he and his wife both have done paper routes for years, for extra income to support their family. They have two children, one who needs medical attention, and yet they have no health insurance. The paper delivery is their extra income, so that they can support their family.

This is a very hard working man, and I don’t know if he, or his wife, ever sleeps!

If you subscribe to a newspaper, you may want to consider how hard these people work to get the paper to your door.

[dmr]

1. Have you decided yet?

I have huge respect for our carrier, especially in the winter's hard storms & the icy roads.
:hi:

[political_Dem]

2. K and R. Thanks for the story. And yes, I admire our paper carrier as well.

It is truly hard work.