Newspaper Carriers and the Work They Do
How Much Do You Appreciate Your Paper Carrier?
How much thought have you given to your paper carrier, and the service they do for you? Does your carrier give you great service throughout the year? Is your paper always on time, delivered courteously, and always extra care given to insure the paper did not get wet. Does your carrier smile when you are out during their delivery, and ask how you are?
I know there are many carriers that do a horrible job, but I also know that there are a lot do fabulous jobs, and would bend over backwards to take care of their customers. Remember I was a carrier, and my husband and I took great pride in our work, and took care of our customers, and our customers showed their appreciation for all our hard work by tipping us. Many tipped monthly, with a bigger tip at Christmas time, but most tipped only at Christmas. Our average Christmas tip was $20.00, but many of our customers gave us $50.00, and one even gave us $100.00!
The above tips may sound extreme to many, but think about it this way. Paper carries must buy all of their supplies, they are not supplied by the paper company. The rubber bands that are used, plastic bags, billing envelopes, all these items are paid for by your paper carrier, not the paper office! For those who pay their carrier monthly for their subscription, when you don't pay your bill, your carrier has to pay it for you, they get no credit for non paying customers.
Paper carriers are not employed by the paper company, they are independent contractors, working for themselves, any supplies, or outstanding debts, come out of the carriers pocket, not the paper offices.
Now let's look at exactly what a carrier does each day to bring you that paper...
Auto cost - A motor carrier has the cost of brakes, tires, gas, and any other car repairs needed. Brakes generally last about 3 - 6 months. Tires last about 6 - 12 months on the passenger side, maybe a little longer. Gas is a huge cost, especially now that gas prices are so high. Think about how much you pay a month for your paper, now think about how much gas cost. Yeah, carriers lose a lot on gas.
Paper supplies, bags and rubber bands - Bags and bands are another expense the carrier must pay for. Bags cost about $1.30 per clip of 100 bags. When it is raining, a really good carrier will bag every paper they deliver, if they have 300 customers as we did, that is almost $4.00 a day just for bags! Rubber bands are much cheaper, they run about $1.50 for a bag of between 300 - 1200, the size of your paper determines the rubber band size.
Daily delivery and off time - Your carrier delivers your paper 6 - 7 days per week, never having a day off, no paid holidays, vacations, nothing. They deliver in the snow, the cold, the rain, even down pours. They deal with other motorist being rude and not paying attention. They deal with cranky customers, and they work in most cases, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, with no time off ever, doing a job most people would not even consider doing! Could you imagine never having any time off? If you missed a day you no longer had a job, unless you hired someone to do your route for you, and paid them, sometimes more than you were making.
This is the life of a paper carrier, they don't have a life, they live for the paper company, and they do it, in many cases because they are disabled, and the system failed them, so they have to deliver papers because although it is an every day job, it is only a few hours a day job, for close to the same pay they could make working at McDonald's for 40 hours a week.
What can you do for your carrier? - Tip them! First and foremost, tip them, and if you are in a position to tip them really well, do so, they deserve it, and they will give you the best service you could ever dream of. If you live where it gets cold in the winter, give them some gloves. In the summer when it is hot, a cold drink can be a great relief from the heat.
So next week after the turkey is put away and you start working on your Christmas cards, be sure to include one for your paper carrier, along with a check that shows how much you appreciate all their hard work throughout the year. Help your carrier have a nice Christmas, remember while you are off work on Christmas day, your carrier is making sure you have a paper to read when you get up. Thank them for always being there with your paper every day of the year.
Published by Carmella Mae Dunkin
Carmella Mae Dunkin is a photographer, writer, singer, artist, web designer, wife & mother of 8. Carmella loves singing, photographing everything she see s, writing, (including plays and skits), designin... View profile
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Paper carriers are underapreciated
38 Comments
Post a Commenti have been a carrier for 6 years in western ny. piles of snow 3 times my height in the winter. brutal conditions and terrible management in the warehouse. but i will tell you that if it wasnt for my customers i would have quit long ago. about 95 percent of them are some of the nicest people i have ever met. their generosity is unmatched and their kind words with the christmas gifts they send me inspire me to keep doing the job as best i can. they are what keeps me getting up every single nite without complaint while working 2 other jobs. get to know your customers and stay in contact with them. they will appreciate it and so will you come christmas.
I have been a carrier for the past 14 years and can't speak for all carriers around the world like some others are doing...It must be great to make 5000 a month to deliver for a couple hours a day like some do. I must say though that here in Georgia I have had 4 routes and not one of them have made a gross of over $1200 a month. We DO pay for our supplies (bags are $27 to 36 dollars and a case last maybe a week if you are lucky) and we pay the taxes out of our checks.. We are charged anywhere from $30 to $120 in taxes and supplies run about $60 a month if it does not rain alot. Some carriers get gas allowances but those that do run about 100 to 200 mile long routes. My net pay after repairs, supplies, etc is around $300 a month. The up side to route delivery is we don't work a 8 hour shift, you can take someone with you for company and you aren't stuck in one place under a microscope...ups and down as to any job...pay not great but over all an ok job....xoxo
continued from other post............. job in some cases.
I've NEVER taken a day off in 11yrs. I listened to both my children be born over the phone. Hell, I think one was conceived that way...lol I even delayed my mothers showing after she died so I could finish my route on time. No joke.
I'm not looking for tips, just a thank you every now and then. Believe it or not, with upwards of 800 customers, thank you's are few and far between.
I've been a carrier for almost 11yrs. We DO pay for bands, dots and bags. I don't use hotdots because I've always used a laptop to track customer vacations, starts and stops. I have a van I use only for the route and I have a laptop mounted in it with turn by turn route lists.
I have just over 500 daily cust. and about 800 sun. I make about $4-5,000 a month. At x-mas time I get about $900 in tips directly from the customers. We have a thing called "good service commission". The amount of this varied month to month. After some use of a calculator, I found the amount it varied was in line with the amount of tips customer sent it to the press. So please DON'T SEND YOUR TIPS WITH YOUR PAYMENT. THE CARRIER WILL LIKELY NEVER SEE IT.
Also, customers probably don't realize that when they want another set of coupons and complain that they didn't get a paper(just to get another free one) the carrier is charged for that complaint and it could cost them their j
Many thanks for making a truthful effort to explain this. I feel fairly strong about this and would like to read more.
If it’s OK, as you learn more in depth knowledge, would you mind posting more articles similar to this one with more information.
regard
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Many thanks for making a truthful effort to explain this. I feel fairly strong about this and would like to read more.
If it’s OK, as you learn more in depth knowledge, would you mind posting more articles similar to this one with more information.
regard
Share Tips
This blog Is very informative , I am really pleased to post my comment on this blog
regards
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I wanted to end my comment by stating that the notes that I receive MOTIVATE ME TO DO IT AGAIN THE NEXT NIGHT. I do a great job because if I was having my paper delivered, I wouldn't want to have canvas the neighborhood to find it... If you appreciate it, they'll appreciate you...trust me!!! GOOD LUCK!!!
The carrier from Woodbridge VA is right. Newspaper carriers can make money if they know what they are doing. If you just want to settle for what the company or whom ever pays you, you can go right ahead and receive yur charity. I've only been doing it for lil while and I like it. I like the freedom and I take it seriously. and I receive anywhere from 1000 - 1500 tips a month. How do I do it. I STUFF A SELF ADDRESSED ENVELOPE INSIDE OF EVERY PAPER THAT I DELIVER. The first week that I started delivering, with each paper a included a note introducing myself and I included my telephone number in case "they had any concerns." GET CREATED. ACT LIKE YOU WANT THE TIP AND MAYBE YOU'LL GET IT. Be as professional as you would be in any other job. The news paper company gives us about $200 dollars weekly which for me makes up for gas. my real pay come from my customer who by the way always include a note along with the tip expressing their gratitude for my good service. TH
;Well today i was reading the newspaper and i saw an add about being a newspaper carrier and i was thinking to myself is this an opportunity that i can accomplish or at least be something that i'm interested so i called the number on the add and i just left an outstanging ifo about myself i think that i can accomplish anything if i just keep trying never give up i can earn that extra money by doing my job juts like my little nephews and cousins they do a simple job and they get paid $5 bucks if they try and so they do i think that i can do it if i don't think about it and just go for it;;;