10 @#$%*&* years with the Hartford rag.

I started out as a contract carrier after son #1 was born and my wife started staying at home. I picked up the daily bundles from a feeder box truck and delivered them to the paper carriers' houses. I think there were 12 drops on my route. Then on Saturdays I'd pick up the inserts for the Sunday paper and deliver those. I had a crew cab F350 with side boards and it would completely fill the bed over the boards and the back seat. In addition to that I had a route of about 160 customers that was bag & toss/tube so I could blow through that portion pretty quick in the car, hazards on, driving down the wrong side of the street. $1300 every two weeks for four years. Wasn't too shabby coin for a part-time gig.

Fifth year in the paper switched to a depot set up where carriers had to pick up their own papers and inserts at a central location. I was able to pick up a route of 150 customers that was close to my original one bag & toss route that I still had. Of that 310 total, there were about 20 with specific delivery locations. It worked out to about $700 every two weeks plus service/performance bonus from the paper and Christmas tip (average was $10-some paid none, some paid $50+) from the customers.

The distribution management was poor and things got progressively worse. The paper eventually cut out performance and service bonuses and cut back on reimbursements. Combined with the inability to find sub's anytime I needed to travel for business or for a day or two of vacation, I decided it was time to call it quits. The arseholes there made that an easy decision, despite having most of that money already earmarked before the paychecks even came.

They've since separated themselves from distribution completely and put the contract out to bid every two years to the lowest bidder who then hires, or doesn't, the current carriers. I've talked to some carriers who have been there for 20 years that say things have gotten even worse and are done after this Christmas.

It's no surprise that the carrier in my neighborhood has changed 4 times in the past 4 years. The days of the 12yo kid on a bike with a paper route are gone around here.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)