Paper routes

[Rusty Blade]

When I was a kid I had a newspaper route consisting of about 35 houses in our neighborhood. The job was both great and miserable at the same time. I was an income earning working man. The newspaper must be delivered same time every day regardless of weather...and I remember some terrible weather -- cold, rain, heat, snow. Having to leave a baseball or street hockey game to deliver the paper was a downer. The thick Saturday edition was always a back breaker. Ink stained hands. Collecting weekly subscription money was always a pain, though there was always the hope of getting a tip from some kind woman. I seem to recall men were terrible tippers. The occasional encounter with a foul tempered dog kept life interesting. And on the plus side there was the rewards of a small but tidy sum of a paycheck every week that went to a particular purchase, be it a new bicycle, new football or baseball glove or just bags of candy.

"Dad, I need a new baseball glove". "Well then what are you doing sitting around, go out and get a job and save up your money. Do you think money grows on trees?" Tough lessons at 12 years old. Delivering newspapers was a great introduction to some of the hard lessons in life and the benefits of hard work. I wouldn't trade the experience for anything.

 

[Toothpick]

Never had a paper route but I remember my brother having one. I don’t think he did a great job because It didn’t last long. My first “job” was washing dishes at the local bar/restaurant with my buddy. Small down of 800. We were...10 or 11? That was wild and fun.

 

[ajkel64]

No paper route here. When I was a teenager I used to play golf everyday. Bought and sold lots of golf clubs. The local Golf Pro at the time used to let me mind his golf shop while he played golf or gave lessons and we used to barter my time in his shop for repairs and clubs. I still have a Ping Putter that cost $49.95 when I was 15 and it took me 5 Saturday afternoons of minding his Pro Shop to pay it off. I also looked after the Pro Shop for him when he went to FIJI for a week to play in a tournament. We he came back I owed him $150.00 for a set of clubs at the time. We called it paid for. Great times back then.

 

[Bakker1964]

Had a paper route from 10 - 16 years old. Sucked to be a high school kid and have to leave school right at the bell, because my parents expected me home to "do the papers". I recognize EVERYTHING the OP mentions . . . tips at Christmas were great . . . I usually topped a $100.00 pretty easily, and this was from 74-80. Learned responsibility, value of a dollar, and the importance of "work".

Best tipper was the Parish priest . . . always a fiver at Christmas, and usually a couple quarters each week, too.

 

[Rushman2112]

We called them paper rounds in UK back in the 70s when I did one. I started doing one at 13 which was (I believe) the minimum age. 6 days a week, expected to be at the newsagent's by 06.30 to collect the paper sack. I knew my round, but the newsagent insisted on sorting each one into order before letting it go. I had a relatively small number compared with some of my mates' rounds, possibly only about 30 but in distance it was one of the longest, from one end of the village to the other. It used to take me 40 mins and then I had to cycle best part of 2 miles back home, and get ready for school.

Saturdays we collected the payments so that took most of the morning, then waiting while the shop tallied the cash, loafing around until we got a couple of quid in our greedy little paws.

 

[MichWR]

I had a paper route when I was probably 12 to 14. Sunday's were the worst because of the size of the paper. I probably had 30 to 40 customers on my route with more on Sunday. I made $20 - $30 a week. Also cut lawns for various neighbors and an elderly gentleman who's family was one of the founders of the community.

It's kind of sad that those jobs for young kids have been taken over by "professionals".

 

[nortac]

I had a paper route from a fairly young age up till I was 16 y.o. Great life lesson in responsibility and keeping to a schedule. Had to take my collections of money downtown every Saturday morning and "pay my bill" and deposit in the bank. I started off with evening paper routes at probably age 10 but soon graduated to morning paper routes. So I developed an early habit of becoming an early riser. It also made me develop a habit of situational awareness. I could tell if there was someone in a phone booth (remember those?) two blocks away from where I picked up my papers in the early morning. Walking around peoples homes in the dark you have to be aware of obstacles or loose dogs. I got to learn quickly if something had changed in and around the homes on my route, kids toys left in the yard to trip over, etc.

 

[emwolf]

I never had one of my own, had a girlfriend who I helped with hers. As an adult I recruited, trained and supervised youth carriers. This was still when they collected and you could make a decent profit in your own neighborhood. I left the newspaper industry this year, as it is doomed.

 

[k2clones29]

I had a paper route with my twin brother from age 11 - 15. In addition, I parlayed the route into mowing lawns for some paper customers and worked in my dad's laundry. I would echo a lot of the sentiments already said. I learned a lot of valuable life lessons, the most important of which was to show up every day. I still apply those lessons as an attorney and am amazed at how many of my colleagues don't have these basic skills. It really is sad that the opportunity for youngsters has disappeared. I wish my children had the same opportunity that I had. Alas, I will have to find other ways to teach them these skills.

 

[Mick]

Neighbor across the street had one. I would fill in for him when they went on vacation for a few weeks a year. His mom was a widow and his route was enormous (this was in Los Angeles in the 60's). I can't recall how many papers but it took 2 double sacks (over both wheels) and 2 refills of them. I had a lot of respect for his work ethic but I never wanted to do that after helping.

 

[RayClem]

When I was a teenager, I did earn money cutting grass and doing some babysitting for neighbors. A friend had a bicycle paper route in the neighborhood and I substituted for him when he could not do it.

The story I want to relate, however, has to do with my daughter. When she turned 16 and got her driver's license, she wanted us to buy her a car. We agreed, but told he that the car payments and insurance would significantly reduce the money we would have for her to buy shoes, clothes, go to the movies, etc. We purchased the car for her.

A couple of weeks later, she came home and told us that she had secured a job after school and on Saturday mornings. She did this entirely of her own initiative. She worked for a a local independent pharmacy whose owner we knew quite well. She started out sweeping the floors and keeping the cosmetic shelves, greeting card racks, etc. in good order. When she was older, she started serving customers- just not in the pharmacy itself. On holidays, when school was out, she worked full time. Even when she went off to college, she worked there on Christmas holiday and spring break. She kept that car all the way through high school, college and graduate school, only replacing it when she got a full time job and could assume the car payments and insurance costs. Thirty years later, married with a teenager of her own, she still shows this same sense of financial responsibility. I guess we did something right when she was growing up.

 

[Doc4]

My son has a job delivering YouTube videos. I think this summer I'll get him to deliver Tweets too.

Great resume builder.

 

[TBoner]

I had one from about 1988-1992. Small town, daily paper. I bought my first ten-speed bike with the proceeds, along with assorted other necessities (read: baseball cards, mostly). I was painfully shy as a kid, so learning to talk to people - and ask them for money! - was a great learning experience, as was managing the income I received. It was a source of pride and confidence for me to know that I was earning money and providing a service. Wouldn't trade the experience for anything.

 

[Bakker1964]

Weird thing is, it's been 40 years since I last delivered a newspaper, but I can remember most of my customers from that time, down to house number, siblings, and the name of the family dog, too. Funny what you hang onto in the memory files . . .

 

[Mr. Scruffy]

No paper route. My first job was sorting empty glass soda bottles which had been redeemed for deposit at the local grocery store. Simple job, but I wasn't very good at it. I was fired after stacking the crates of empties too high and they finally collapsed sending shards of broken glass throughout the warehouse.

Luckily I was told to leave before having to clean up the mess.

 

[Jim99]

I lied about my age to get my first paper route. I was 11, but 12 was the minimum age. After my father found out what I did, he spoke with the route manager to work things out and I kept my route. The paper was 5 cents each and I had 40 houses on my route. I think I made a whopping $3 a week and that included my tips. Winters, wind and rain made it a tough job at times, but it was a good experience. I delivered papers till I was 16 and then moved on to an indoors job.

 

[JWCowboy]

My mom drove a paper route in the late 1970s & early 80s and my older brother and I got to "help." We had this old green Ford sedan, a Galaxie maybe? and she drove around the neighborhood, her and my brother tossing the afternoon newspaper into driveways (youngsters, can you believe there were actually two daily newspapers then in our medium sized town? One in the morning and one in the afternoon?) When we delivered to some apartments, there was this one place where it was too far for them to throw it so I got to run the paper up to the door and drop it off on the stoop. I remember doing this around age 5-6. But what I always wanted to do was actually toss the papers out of the window while the car was moving like my older brother got to, I thought that would be the coolest thing ever. So one day, I just grabbed a paper and chucked it out. My mom slammed on the brakes, shouting "stop....run back there and get that paper!" I later of course learned that they had to count out the papers beforehand and each was allotted to a specific place. We later upgraded to a peach colored Fairmont (my father worked at the Ford plant for 39 years - and incidentally the neighborhood where we lived had all it's streets named after Ford automobiles) Good times and good memories. My brother mowed several yards in the neighborhood and then he went on to work at the local corner grocery store. I later inherited his yards to mow and then of course went on to work at the exact same corner grocery store, bagging groceries.

 

[JWCowboy]

One more quick paper route story if you'll indulge me. So one time my dad was driving mom on her paper route, I think because it had snowed and she didn't want to drive in it and they were running a little behind of course, well there's this one kind of loud mouthed, obnoxious neighbor, he's out in his bathrobe, looking for his paper that's not there yet. Mom is tossing out the papers and my dad says "I never have liked that guy, see if you can hit him" and she just so happens to hit the guy smack in the back of the head as he's turned around. She wasn't actually trying to, as my mom is of course one of the nicest people in the world, but we have laughed about that story for years.

 

[Rusty Blade]

One more quick paper route story if you'll indulge me. So one time my dad was driving mom on her paper route, I think because it had snowed and she didn't want to drive in it and they were running a little behind of course, well there's this one kind of loud mouthed, obnoxious neighbor, he's out in his bathrobe, looking for his paper that's not there yet. Mom is tossing out the papers and my dad says "I never have liked that guy, see if you can hit him" and she just so happens to hit the guy smack in the back of the head as he's turned around. She wasn't actually trying to, as my mom is of course one of the nicest people in the world, but we have laughed about that story for years.

Instant karma. Hilarious.

 

[cw62803]

I had a paper route for two years and that cheap Mrs. Mafucci didn't give me one tip.