[Closed] Paperboys (and girls) being driven around by their parents..??

We have seen a few over the years, mainly in bad weather. There was one that was daily for a year or so.

The paper shop here can at times struggle to recruit.

Paperboys? What is this, the ‘60s?

I don’t think I’ve seen one in my lifetime!

Parents driving them around seems pretty ridiculous though, does the wage even cover the fuel bill?

As for being un-proportionally terrified have you read any of the Covid threads on here lately 😄

I remember doing my paper round in the early 90's through Whittingham Hospital grounds, seeing all manner of patients doing all manner of things to themselves and each other. Not entirely sure if any of the patients were dangerous (I'm sure they wouldn't have let those ones loose) but I'm pretty sure the local shop hadn't done a risk assessment into kids safety. I've seen loads of parents taking kids round on paper rounds in their cars even in decent weather.

I'd hazard a guess that the number of houses now getting a paper delivered is very low so they'll be very spread out compared to when I was a lad. You're then faced with carrying a substantial load for a very long distance. The pay might not cover the fuel cost but it's still helping to instill a sense of work discipline and it'll always look good on a CV when you're very young and applying for your first real job.

Judging by the face on the papergirl that delivers next door, she wouldn't be doing it if her wasn't driving her around!!

Saying that, she seems to only seems to deliver to one house on our street, so maybe the delivery routes are very spread out nowadays. I mean, who reads newspapers these days...

Edit: great minds and all that....

My eldest has a paper round when she was younger, the houses were well spread out. We walked with her but towards the end we ended up doing it as she had another job too.

I used to have 6 of them, from 3 different shops. They all knitted together nicely and had me cycling about 20 miles a day carrying around 20-40kgs.

The shops were fully understanding and had their drivers drop the “rounds” at convenient sheltered points so I could re-supply without having to come all the way back.

Out at 05:00 back by 08:00 on weekdays and by 09:30 on Saturday and Sunday.

It was properly crap in bad weather, especially on Sundays.

I never got driven around.

There's 4-5 paperboys/girls deliver round our villages, something like 100 deliveries a day altogether.

Eldest has been doing it since he's 14, and never been driven. Something like a 2 mile walk for him Mon-Fri. A friend of ours is notorious for driving his kids on their rounds. Another friend only drove their lad around when it had snowed 🤦‍♂️

Rounds got bigger this year with many older people getting papers delivered due to shielding etc. The shop he works for made a big thing about "remember your paperboy for Christmas tips" and they certainly did - he made £200 this year, twice what he'd normally get.

All three of ours have done rounds here. As scotroutes says, great first job and instills some good work ethic to be out early in all weathers.

Ours too make a good Christmas tip.

Near where i used to live, it was PURELY adults doing it.
In all manner of cars... one had a posh merc....

Odd...

DrP

I'd also suggest that many folk getting paper deliveries are the elderly and infirm so it's actually fulfilling a social need too.

I wouldn't even know where to get a paper delivered from nowadays. The local newsagents closed years ago.  I haven't seen a paperboy or girl in years and there's no longer a free paper that used to be a source of work.

I’d also suggest that many folk getting paper deliveries are the elderly and infirm so it’s actually fulfilling a social need too.

Very true, though given the majority seem to read the Mail and Express maybe not delivering their papers would be a greater social benefit.

One of the old blokes on my lads round is so appreciative that he gives him a couple of quid every month just in case he isn't still around to tip him properly at Christmas.

It is, sadly, a dying service. The shop who do the deliveries round here has just been taken over by a franchise, they are trying to get the customers to pay for their papers via online payment. Those two demographics have a fairly small overlap.

it’s still helping to instill a sense of work discipline

But it's clearly not, is it. It's installing a sense that I can just get mummy and daddy to bail me out.

Maybe it’s overprotective parents and not demanding children which results in the kids being driven around?

We get the Times delivered every day. Usually by a teenage boy on a bike - sometimes at the weekends by the old chap who owns the paper shop. He drives - but he’s gotta be in his 70s.

Pre-COVID I used to see several other lads out delivering on their bikes on my walk to the station in the morning.

I've never been as rich, or as fit, as I was when I did paper rounds. I did a single Mon - Sat round and then on Sunday I was in the shop for 5am putting the magazines in the papers, marking up the rounds, then doing two rounds. I used to take home over £50 per week in early 1990's/

I delivered to Ozzy Osbourne house, it was a pain as it was a long way down the country lane. Also delivered to Dave Beasant (Goalkeeper) and occasionally Robert Palmer.

My daughter has been on the list at the local paper shop for two years but not got a round yet. They are in high demand as it is the only way a kid under 16 can earn money.

Kids getting driven around their rounds is not a new thing. One pampered contemporary of mine was driven by his over protective mother around his round (on the times he could be bothered - she seemed to do the deliveries herself quite a bit of the time). This was the mid-80s and he had an afternoon round covering a relatively small area- it was very unusual at the time though.

I did a morning round for approx five years and went out by bike in all weathers. Took just over an hour Monday-Saturday. My first weekly wage was £1.75.

@Daffy - were u in school at the time? Those hours are brutal.

I did a 'double round' at weekends from age 13 to 16. It took me about 90 mins IIRC on my bike.

A couple of issue with this was not being able to catch up on my sleep at weekends, something teens need IMHO, and also the sheer weight of the bags which I'm convinced have contributed to the back problems I have now. The shop owner would leave caches of papers at several drop off points for me to pick up. I could barely lift the bags lol.

One good thing about the round was tips at Xmas. Obviously, in bad weather it was complete shit, and a couple of customers were complete assholes always having aggressive dogs running around.

A few customers had absurdly tiny letter-boxes too through which they expected a Sunday Times. After disassembling the papers into several sections, bits would often still tear as you fed it piecemeal through the letter-box. They would then bitch and moan.

I did a longer round when I was a kid - took me over an hour and had to be done on a bike. I got an extra 20p a week. I never got the smaller rounds - we all had the same number of papers, but my round covered the streets furthest away from the shop.

Ha yes, I hated those tiny letterboxes too!

I also hated people who complained to the shop if their paper hadn't been delivered by 8am. My round was 6 miles but at weekends it ballooned as I'd have to go back to the shop to collect round 2 - you couldn't get all the oversized weekend papers in one bag (also walked a lot more because I couldn't get up the hills with a heavy bag!)

It was doing a paper round that made me realise I was not a morning person. I could just about make into the shop by 7.45. And then I always got in trouble for being late for school

It’s installing a sense that I can just get mummy and daddy to bail me out.

Indeed.

Hence why our lot have only once had a lift - the day after he had both big toe nails removed. Other than that they do it themselves, including taking responsibility to find a friend to cover holidays.

In 6 years we've had 10 days they've not been there or arranged cover - the 10 days we had to isolate after a positive CV19 test.

Our local paper boy uses a car for his rounds, but I reckon he's about 40.

I had a Saturday milk round instead. Lived next to the dairy. Up at 3.30, breakfast and start at 4.00. First half done by 7, back to the dairy to reload and nip home for second breakfast, second half done by 9, back to bed till lunchtime.

Think it was about £3 when I started c1983.

I had a couple of paper rounds then a milk round and sometimes I’d help friends with theirs. Can’t believe some kids get driven round. That’s just ridiculous. It would probably work out cheaper to just give them money instead.

30p/day when i started, doubled on Sundays. I was a morning person, so at the shop at 06:30. Home by 07:45, take mother coffee in bed and walk to school at 8:10. Every day. On Sundays i would do my sister’s round for her. Houses were relatively close. My nephew does one that covers a village that is very spread out. He often is driven. Payment is more than 10x mine. And as said, its the only job for U16 now. I also worked in a restaurant from 13. Paid for my BBC computer.

I did a milk round in circa '73 and we got £3 back then but for 6 months the rank smell in the van was tough going but between 5am and 6 then back to bed before the bus for school
I also later had the paper round, the pay was less but the perks ie slipping a top shelf Mayfair in a woman's weekly accidentally as you made your papers up. The manageress at John Mingis must have known what we were up to

Somehow I think this is more facebook idiot parents who think their children will be stolen away more than it being a work shy kid.

Was wondering about how many kids do a paper round today. I had one in the late eighties, 7 days plus the evening papers. As others have said the Sunday bags weighed a ton and even at 15 I was still only a little lad. Also had the tiny letter box to stick the Sunday Times through. It was big former mill owners mansion with two border collies chained up. Fine walking around the big wood pile past them but would always fly out of their kennels at me leaving. One day they both broke their chains so I spent an hour knocking on the door before someone came. Did have the idea of climbing over the wood pile to escape but one dog waited at the other side, so I was stuck.😀 Bastard nipped me as well. The owner finally came out. " Oh. Didn't know you were still here"😡 Still wary of collies.

I had one about 1978 - it was the biggest round in the shop so I got 25p more. Couldn’t do the Sunday round in one go as it was too heavy even with 2 bags. First year my Christmas tips bought me my first skateboard!

@i_scoff_cake

Yeah I was at school - I was 12-16 when doing this. 1993-1997 and was getting paid £100 a week.

But 364 days a year for 4+ years was hard going.

Haha, remember having 2 rounds no one wanted because all the houses took the Times / Telegraph and had gates to contend with. All that weight with no chance to take a glimpse at page 3 like the lucky kids with the easy rounds.. Sunday was painful with the magazines 😂

I magazine the routes being much further and it’s parents pushing kids to work to build work ethic.

@Daffy

Do u not think your schooling was affected by so many hours?

loads of these posts I could echo 😁

1993-1997, morning marking up, then a round, evening round, Saturday used to annoy me for this as it got in the way of social stuff sometimes, couple of Sunday rounds, was getting getting at least 50 quid a week, im sure like daffy I used to go in for the shop opening which will have been at 5, was deffo not much later, and home for breakfast then straight out to school, evening one was straight after school and home for home and away

loads of dodgy council flats and streets, remember one bloke shouting to take his paper in and he was laid in some squalid flat and didn't have any legs, shocked me as a 13 year old, always loads of ferrel stray dogs about to contend with as well 😂 - there's was always a couple of shockers as well, massive Sunday paper and tiny letter boxes and you had to disassemble the paper into about 100 parts, or the odd house that was sodding miles away from anywhere else

Somehow I think this is more facebook idiot parents who think their children will be stolen away more than it being a work shy kid.

(Often irrational) Immediate fears over-riding long term benefits. All part of the snow-plough parenting culture.

Lots of fun stories on the milk round. Once had an alsation jump a 6 foot gate in front of me. Milk coming out the bottles in sub zero temperatures. Roof tiles blowing off while delivering in a storm one morning.

Discovered my French teacher was separated when she refused to pay her soon to be ex husband's half of the bill. Surprising number of couples don't expect anyone to be passing the front window if they are shagging in the living room at 4.30 in the morning. Last call of the day involved collecting the money from a lovely young mum who tended to answer the door in a translucent dressing gown.

Last year or so I was seeing a girl who would let me know if her parents were going out that morning when I delivered the milk. Happy days.

Both of my nephews had paper rounds and my sister often drove them around to help with the deliveries, especially if it was cold or wet.
Both are now 2nd dan karate black belts and at university studying 2 degrees a piece in economics and law. Eldest has completed his first degree in economics and finished in the top 3. Youngest is likely going to do the same.

I see nothing mamby pamby about them and their work ethic is as strong as a work ethic can get. They've both spent this pandemic working extremely hard on their studies.
Eldest was up until the pandemic caused it to shut assistant sensei in a local dojo.
Sis helped out, because thats what mums do and thats what families do.

@i_scoff_cake

Hard to say, really. I'd have said girls affected it more, but objectively it might have, I never really needed much sleep, but perhaps being less tired in the day might have helped my concentration. On the flip side - My parents were poor by the time I was in my early teens due to my Dad's alcoholism, so without the paper rounds, I'd never have been able to buy my own PC for £1500 in 1995. Without the PC, I'd never have learned how to build and fix them (thus getting a job in IT), nor would I have been able to afford my own car to drive to sixth form and night classes, thus getting my stuff together to go to Uni.

I think it worked out alright in the end...

Dr Daffy.

generalist

But it’s clearly not, is it. It’s installing a sense that I can just get mummy and daddy to bail me out.

The two are not mutually exclusive though. and learning to ask for help is a good skill in teenagers

Riding a bike in the cold and wet isn't beyond the capability of a healthy teen though.

I meet a lot of adults who don't regularly cycle and look at me like I'm mad for cycling in the rain or cold. That may have something to do with it? For them, cycling is a summer activity only. They can't handle physical discomfort.

I used to have one of those free paper rounds about 220 papers for £2.25 back around 81 . A neighbours dad used drive his son around in his Colt Sapporro the spoilt wee shite. My next job was unloading fruit and veg lorries before school for a freinds dad in Elgin , I think this was about 3 or 4 quid a week plus whatever I could chore inside my Bruggi Ski Jacket. Usually the expensive Ritter sport bars and lucozade.

I remember doing my paper round in Belbroughton when a paper boy was abducted and murdered just up the road in Hagley, same bloke had tried to grab my mate the week before...