A newspaper round¹ is a job in which you deliver newspapers, magazines or, in fact, almost any publication to particular houses, within a specific area allotted to the deliverer.

Types of Paper Round

Leaflet Delivery

This type of round involves delivering one type of leaflet, pamphlet or flyer. This will take place on an irregular basis, so you will deliver whenever you are called upon.

Weekly Magazine/Other Publication Delivery

This round will involve delivering between 100 and 200 small circulation, free magazines every week. The magazines will be delivered directly to your home every week and your equipment should include a shoulder bag. Expect to make about £5 per week. This is the least popular type of paper round as you can expect to work for a couple of hours on a Friday night, or Saturday morning.

Weekly Newspaper Delivery

This involves delivering between 100 and 200 free, local newspapers every week. You should be equipped with a shoulder bag (hardly every used in this type of round) and a metal folding trolley with bag. You put the papers in the bag, put the bag on the trolley, and wheel it around to each house on your round. Simple. The papers will be delivered directly to your home every week.

Expect to earn between £5 and £15 per week for this sort of round. The pay varies depending on the number of papers and, more importantly, the number of leaflets that you are asked to deliver. With this type of paper round you can expect to have to deliver between three and 13 leaflets with each paper. Bigger leaflets, with more pages, will obviously earn you more money. The size of the leaflets is calculated to the inch/centimetre, and pay per batch of leaflets is often calculated to three decimal points. You will get a different number and different types of leaflets each week. Expect to work for a couple of hours on a Friday night.

Daily Newspaper Delivery

This involves delivering about 20 large circulation newspapers per day, five days a week. Your equipment will be just a shoulder bag. You'll have to go to a newsagents and pick up your papers from there. This is the highest paid type of paper round; expect to make around £10 per week. You will only have to deliver to subscribers' homes. Expect to work around half an hour to 45 minutes per day.

Weather

Weather is a very important factor in the paper round business:

• Sun - Doing a paper round can make you very hot - in any weather!

• Rain - Rain can be a real pain - both you and your precious cargo will get wet.

• Snow - Is slippery, but at least it makes a change.

General Advice

• Take a walkman or something else to entertain you, paper rounds are usually very boring after the first few times.

• Try not to walk on people's gardens.

• Be polite to people.

• Pay attention to the weather and dress accordingly.

• Your hands will turn black from the newspaper print that rubs off on your hands. Warning - do not touch your face!

• In cold weather gloves can be useful, but they make handling the papers difficult. Wear old gloves because the ink gets everywhere.

• Listen to your employer and try to follow the advice he/she gives you, though some of it you will be impossible to follow.