Delivering Newspapers as a Job
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Delivering newspapers is a fastidious, tough, mind-bending challenge that few people can aspire to. The backbreaking labor, early weekends, and impossible customers make it even harder.
One bad part is crabby customers. No matter if I delivered their paper before 4:30 for four days, if I have to stay after school for some reason, one of my customers loves to crucify me about her paper being delivered at 5:30 when its supposed to be there by 5.
Another annoying part is the Sunday sales inserts. When I get them, they are managled, missing parts, have too many of certain parts, and are technically screwed up. After trying my best to get the inserts into a rough semblance of order, I spend an hour and a half trying to succesfully blend the three different inserts into a single concise packet that can be inserted into the Sunday papers when I recieve them Sunday morning.
That brings me to the worst part: delivering Sunday mornings. After grabbing 5 hours of sleep, I get up, shower quickly, dress, insert sales ads into the front pages, deliver for two hours, come home, grab a quick bite to eat, comb and brush my hair and teeth, and I'm out the door to mandatory Religious Ed. classes and mass. Usually about halfway through mass I'll fall asleep sitting down. One time, I actually dozed off standing up, and I started to fall, which woke me up, so I managed to catch myself. My parents were pretty shocked though, seeing me suddenly start to collapse and instantly spring up again, as were the people standing behind us, I'm sure.
The only good thing about delivering newspapers is the money involved. On my route, I make about $100 a week, not bad at all for a 13 year old. With money I saved, I bought myself an Apple iBook and some other things I've been wanting.
January the 7th, 2000 will mark the end of my first year of delivering newspapers.
One bad part is crabby customers. No matter if I delivered their paper before 4:30 for four days, if I have to stay after school for some reason, one of my customers loves to crucify me about her paper being delivered at 5:30 when its supposed to be there by 5.
Another annoying part is the Sunday sales inserts. When I get them, they are managled, missing parts, have too many of certain parts, and are technically screwed up. After trying my best to get the inserts into a rough semblance of order, I spend an hour and a half trying to succesfully blend the three different inserts into a single concise packet that can be inserted into the Sunday papers when I recieve them Sunday morning.
That brings me to the worst part: delivering Sunday mornings. After grabbing 5 hours of sleep, I get up, shower quickly, dress, insert sales ads into the front pages, deliver for two hours, come home, grab a quick bite to eat, comb and brush my hair and teeth, and I'm out the door to mandatory Religious Ed. classes and mass. Usually about halfway through mass I'll fall asleep sitting down. One time, I actually dozed off standing up, and I started to fall, which woke me up, so I managed to catch myself. My parents were pretty shocked though, seeing me suddenly start to collapse and instantly spring up again, as were the people standing behind us, I'm sure.
The only good thing about delivering newspapers is the money involved. On my route, I make about $100 a week, not bad at all for a 13 year old. With money I saved, I bought myself an Apple iBook and some other things I've been wanting.
January the 7th, 2000 will mark the end of my first year of delivering newspapers.
