So, You Want To Make Some Money? 💲

🚙 🚗Deliver Newspapers!🚗 🚙

This Is The Adult Version That Pays 💲💲💲 Good Money, Even 💰.

Sure, you’re thinking it’s child’s-play. There’s no real scratch involved here. Well, you’re wrong! I’m here to tell you.

You can make some serious coin — some good $$ — working as a news carrier.

How can I say that definitively? Well, I did it. For more than a few months.

FYI:

That stack of seven newspaper bundles in the lead-in photo above is both a danger and an $$ accident waiting to happen, I’m telling ya. I also used to help my manager friends at the pick-up drop-sites.

Only the fool-hardy stacked higher than six bundles. Anything higher was a tipping hazard if bumped. On windy or wet nights, once a bundle was “unstrapped” you didn’t want to lose papers either.

I have seen stacks of 8 or 10. They don’t do it anymore though ….

The Money

Revenue

My revenue each month — before expenses — averaged out to CND$2300. Later on, that amount would become $2600, due to route changes.

Now to be exact, I was doing three large routes each night, 7 nights a week, every month, for four months. The hours had me working at nights and all routes had to be done by 6am Monday through Friday; 7am on weekends. The only night I would get off each month would be if the following day was a statutory holiday when papers would not be delivered.

Expenses

Notice the revenue amount. I was able to live comfortably off that — initially — even with the vehicle expenses I incurred doing the job. Here is a general break-down of vehicle expenses— no pun intended:

1. Vehicle Carrier Insurance — add $60 to most monthly plans where I live;
2. Fuel — this could add up, since I drove 100km round-trip each night, after leaving home to go engage in the work and return home;
3. Regular oil & lube service;
4. Road-side Assistance coverage, i.e. CAA — the Canadian version of “Triple A” for you Americans; and,
5. Vehicle maintenance.

Profit

Generally, after expenses were paid, when I initially used my Toyota 4Runner, on the first set of three “in-town” routes I did for the distributor, I calculated that my take-home profit averaged out to $1600 a month from that $2300. Yeah; $700 a month, was my expenses. Want to know why?

Fuel & Vehicle maintenance

1. My fuel expenses cost me, initially, $80 to fill a tank — every five nights. Yes; every 5 nights! Multiply that by 6 on average for a month and I’m in the hole for $480 a month fuel cost.
2. I didn’t do my own oil & lube service — add $100 a month for the deluxe package at my trusted mechanic;
3. So, from $700 a month, I’m left with $120 as a buffer. Thing is, vehicles wear fast in this kind of job I found out the hard way, even though my 4Runner was quite hardy. However, it still needed a new set of brake pads every 3 months, and I didn’t know mine were going to need a set until a month into the job. Luckily not my tires needed replacing on this vehicle. Oh, but I digress.

But there is something I need to mention about that money, whether you look at it as $2300 or $1600.

Commitment

A news carrier has to be at their drop site after the distributor’s delivery van drops every carriers’ bundles of papers off. All the papers get picked up by a carrier for delivery each night, typically starting near 11:30pm but sometimes the papers get delivered late. Remember, a carrier has until 6am to deliver all their papers. For some it’s not a big deal. But when you cover a large distance or number of routes, like I, my managers or other select carriers, some can be hard pressed to complete within the time frame. But it’s not a biggie. If we knew we were going be late, we just phoned our drop site manager 30 minutes prior to deadline for an “hold” extension.

Did I note, on average for 6 hours each night, 7 nights a week for an entire month; let me just say the hours total to 180 hours in a month. This is where I want to note mostly the advantages to the income and hours worked:

1. DO NOT look at this work as being paid an hourly rate. If you do, you’ll likely think about quitting within the first night or week. This is bulk delivery and that is how carriers get paid. If you think about the equivalent hourly rate, go work for McDonalds where you’re guaranteed a minimum wage of $15 an hour. But …, you’ll suffer deductions on your pay stub.
2. This is a job that typically pays direct cash to you monthly, no deductions. If anything you get bonuses in the way of rate allowances, fuel subsidy, etc. Carriers get the option of receiving their pay by email money transfer (EMT) or cheque, and possibly another method but I don’t recall it. EMTs typically were the most common. There is no “employer” direct deposit method or deduction system to be set up. You are paid as a contractor a lump sum for each length of time you work and payment is monthly.
3. The faster you get the job done, the faster you go home. Technically, then, you increase your rate.
4. If you can do one 3 hour route in 2 hours, then maybe take on a second. Increase your gross revenue….
5. Only use a small “beater” car that you can drive into the ground that gets awesome fuel mileage. You’ll find it’s more cost effective this way. In fact, I’ll provide a tip.

TIP:

When doing deliveries, choose a beater car and look for the best used car around for about $1000 to no more than $2000. If you look for “standard” stick shifts, guaranteed you will likely find many economy cars closer to the $1000 mark that are used. Just ensure the tires are good and get the brakes done immediately. Oh, plus, always have a Vehicle Pre-Buy Inspection completed prior to purchase, unless you believe you know what you’re getting. Then, since most full brake jobs, front and back together , will cost you about $1000 — $500 each — after you’ve driven the car for likely 3 to 4 months before needing another set of brakes, it’s your choice but I recommend getting rid of the car. Besides, you may risk having clutch problems.

• I speak from experience in this last tip.

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