My Paper Route

911

911

Well-known Member
Location
USA
When I turned 13, I became eligible to deliver newspapers. Back in the day, we had two papers; one in the morning and one in the evening. The newspaper company called me about 2 months after I sent them my name and they said that the kid that had the evening paper wanted to give up his route and they were offering it to me.

My Mom and Dad agreed to let me take it on, but of course, they set down some rules as all parents did back in the day. I had about 90 customers. Thursday was the worse day because of all the ads. I used a paper bag that slung over my shoulder. It took me about an hour and half or so to get the route done. I made between $30 and $40.00 a month when I started. I did this job until I was almost 16 and went to work on the farm. I also worked at one of the gas stations in town on weekends, until I was 16 when the owner wanted me to work 4 days a week.

The newspaper job was actually fun, no matter what the weather. People were grateful when they got their paper on the days when it snowed. The worse part of the job was collection day. I don’t know how many people either didn’t have the money or would tell me to come back later or the next day, or even next week. The paper, when I started, only cost $1.95 per month. Today, the Sunday paper alone costs more than that.
 

Great memories 911. I had a paper route back in the early fifties. I remember the excuses for not having the money to pay too. Our paper was 7 cents, of which I got to keep a whole 2 cents of it. I had over a hundred paper deliveries so I could make a whole $2 or a little more a week. We carried a big metal ring with a months worth of tear off tabs we gave to the customer when they paid.
 
911 said:
When I turned 13, I became eligible to deliver newspapers. Back in the day, we had two papers; one in the morning and one in the evening. The newspaper company called me about 2 months after I sent them my name and they said that the kid that had the evening paper wanted to give up his route and they were offering it to me.

My Mom and Dad agreed to let me take it on, but of course, they set down some rules as all parents did back in the day. I had about 90 customers. Thursday was the worse day because of all the ads. I used a paper bag that slung over my shoulder. It took me about an hour and half or so to get the route done. I made between $30 and $40.00 a month when I started. I did this job until I was almost 16 and went to work on the farm. I also worked at one of the gas stations in town on weekends, until I was 16 when the owner wanted me to work 4 days a week.

The newspaper job was actually fun, no matter what the weather. People were grateful when they got their paper on the days when it snowed. The worse part of the job was collection day. I don’t know how many people either didn’t have the money or would tell me to come back later or the next day, or even next week. The paper, when I started, only cost $1.95 per month. Today, the Sunday paper alone costs more than that.
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Now I remember the "collection" days. The paper boy just said "Collecting" and sometimes the mad dash to get the money and not keep him waiting. I'd forgotten all about that.
 

911 said:
When I turned 13, I became eligible to deliver newspapers. Back in the day, we had two papers; one in the morning and one in the evening. The newspaper company called me about 2 months after I sent them my name and they said that the kid that had the evening paper wanted to give up his route and they were offering it to me.

My Mom and Dad agreed to let me take it on, but of course, they set down some rules as all parents did back in the day. I had about 90 customers. Thursday was the worse day because of all the ads. I used a paper bag that slung over my shoulder. It took me about an hour and half or so to get the route done. I made between $30 and $40.00 a month when I started. I did this job until I was almost 16 and went to work on the farm. I also worked at one of the gas stations in town on weekends, until I was 16 when the owner wanted me to work 4 days a week.

The newspaper job was actually fun, no matter what the weather. People were grateful when they got their paper on the days when it snowed. The worse part of the job was collection day. I don’t know how many people either didn’t have the money or would tell me to come back later or the next day, or even next week. The paper, when I started, only cost $1.95 per month. Today, the Sunday paper alone costs more than that.
Click to expand...
We lived in the country and our paper was deliver by car one day late as this was an evening publication. When the paper arrived it was split into pages so everyone had something to read, mum always got the front page. Those were the good ole days.
 
Oh yeah, my best friend had a route and his family pitched in to roll the papers. He worked his but off because his family was poor. I recall once in a wile we would get a delivery boy that made little effort to hit the porch when he threw them. Those kids never lasted. We had three papers, the Chicago American, The Chicago Sun Times and the Chicago Tribune. My dad liked the American. I buy papers only during football season. It's laughable now how skinny the papers are today compared to pre-internet days. I always loved the Sunday paper.
 
fmdog44 said:
Oh yeah, my best friend had a route and his family pitched in to roll the papers. He worked his but off because his family was poor. I recall once in a wile we would get a delivery boy that made little effort to hit the porch when he threw them. Those kids never lasted. We had three papers, the Chicago American, The Chicago Sun Times and the Chicago Tribune. My dad liked the American. I buy papers only during football season. It's laughable now how skinny the papers are today compared to pre-internet days. I always loved the Sunday paper.
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I know some delivery guys would roll the paper and then put a rubber band around it. I did like I was showed by the previous delivery boy. I took the paper and folded it horizontally tucking the one side into the other. It made for good tossing the paper onto the porch. I used to try to hit the storm door or whatever door was there to make the person inside aware that the paper was delivered. I had an older lady that was 92 on my route and the first day that I threw the paper and hit the door, it must have scared the B-Jesus out of her. The next day, her 70 y/o son told me not to do that anymore. I was very apologetic. They were nice people. He even tipped me. The son lived with his Mom at 92. I thought that was really nice of him, even though it probably benefited both of them.

For rainy days, my mom made me a piece of canvas that I laid over my bag, so the papers would stay 'mostly' dry. For collection, each patron had a punch card that when they paid, I would punch their card and initial the punch. I was responsible for the payment of the papers. For example; each month I would receive a bill for "X" amount of papers. It didn't matter how much I collected, I had to pay the bill by the 10th of each month. So, if I received 90 papers each day for 24 days, I would have to pay the bill for those papers. I forget how much it came to. What was left over was my booty. So, I had to make sure people paid. I never went into the red, but close to it a few times.

I would mostly get a few free papers thrown in besides my 90. It wasn't unusual that a driver would pull over and ask me if I had any extra papers for sale. I would charge the cover price and put that to my monthly take. I even had a few customers that would tip me from time to time. At Christmas, I would usually get a tip from most all of my customers. All in all, it was a good job.
 
I had a local paper route here in town. I delivered once a day, six days a week, to around 102 houses, on my bicycle. I'd come home from school and the papers would be waiting for me to roll up and deliver. I tried folding them the square way by tucking one side in like 911 wrote about. I thought it looked cool, but I was faster just rolling them up with a rubber band.

At the end of the month I'd get my collection book. I would tear out the receipt stub for that month and give it to the customer when they paid the bill of $1.75. (I always made sure I had a bunch of quarters when I went collecting.) I also would get a bill for that month's papers and whatever I had left over after paying it would be for me.

It was a good job and I had it for quite a while. Plus they always gave me two extra papers which my folks enjoyed reading.
 
I sold papers but I didn't have a route. I stood on the corner of 8th and Scott Street, downtown Wichita Falls, my bagged newspapers sitting on the sidewalk, me in a raised voice, read all about it, get your morning news news right here. We also had a morning and evening The Record and the Times.
I remember several time with traffic was slow, I'd wish something dramatic would happen in the world, so I could yell, "Extra, extra, read all about it." Of course, selling papers on the corning was as good as a route.
 
drifter said:
I sold papers but I didn't have a route. I stood on the corner of 8th and Scott Street, downtown Wichita Falls, my bagged newspapers sitting on the sidewalk, me in a raised voice, read all about it, get your morning news news right here. We also had a morning and evening The Record and the Times.
I remember several time with traffic was slow, I'd wish something dramatic would happen in the world, so I could yell, "Extra, extra, read all about it." Of course, selling papers on the corning was as good as a route.
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@Bonnie, Thank you. I like your like.
 
On my paper route, I had this one strange household. When I went to collect, I knock on the door and an "older" guy ( 30-40) would just open the door a bit. While he always stayed behind the door, I got the feeling he wasn't wearing pants, or he was totally naked. I kind of got a glimpse of that, once?? His wife and kids were walking around. It was just that he never let the door open more than a few inches. It was hard giving him the newspaper and getting paid. He always sounded drunk. When he wasn't there, the door opened wide.
 
One of the close neighbor kids had a paper route and I would help him with it occasionally. Basically just for something to do. Yep, we would fold the paper in on itself to get it to the doorways. One time he let me go with him to collect and a couple of the customers thought I was cute and gave me the tips instead of him. That was the one and only time he let me go with him to collect. :(

It was always paper boys; I don't remember seeing any girls doing this. Maybe helping like I did, but not their own route.
 


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