Has anyone ever been a paper boy. Is it a job worth getting if you have a car?

Probably not.

Bicycle? Maybe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELqe8vDbiCk

Fuckin A, I remember that game from way back in the day. It was the first thing I thought of when I saw the thread. I used to deliver papers, it will tear the fuck out of your car, eat up your gas and is really not worth it. Once gas, car expenses and everything is paid for, you're not making shit at all.

Its worth it if your 13 and can just deliver the papers around your neighborhood. No way its worth in a car.

Nah, I think the gas you use doesn't make it worth it. Plus consider the extremely early starting time, seven days a week. You never get a day off, and no matter what you're doing, you got to be prepared to go deliver the paper at 4 or 5 am every day. On Sundays, when they have all the coupon inserts and comics and all that shit, you have to put the paper together and stick them inside. Think of the winter and the extreme cold as well. You may have to make collections each month, going back to a house multiple times if the people aren't there or don't have the money. It's not worth it, and I know my local paper is always looking for people to deliver because it sucks and no one wants it.

It's worth it if you have no problem waking up early in the morning, EVERY mornings. I've started as a paperboy 2 months after my 10th birthday, and kept up for 4 year and a half. If you want to get a decent pay out of it, you have to work on getting tip from your customers. You'll have those who chose to pay you directly and those who chose to pay directly to the comapny. For those who pay directly to you, you'll to go collect money once a week. Make sure to be polite, smile, enthousaistic with them and you'll get good tip. For all your clients, you should visit them on a regular basis (like once every two or three months) to ask them if they're satisfied and if you can do anything to improve your services. This is a good way to milk out your tip.
If you're really interested with this job, forget the car. For the winter, I was using my bicycle. Since you have to stop a LOT, it's faster and you don't have any gas to pay for. For the summer, I was using my roller blades which made the run pretty fast. The good thing also is that it makes you exercice daily, even if you're only walking (mainly because of the weight of your carry bags)
You have to be motivated though, especially if you live in a place with harsh winters (I live in Quebec, so the weather going under -30°C is a common thing).

I was under the impression that newspapers were moving to only having motor routes, from what I've seen in the classifieds of my own paper looking for delivery people. They advertise it as a good second job for adults now, not a first job for kids on their bike, and they say you must have a driver's license and transportation. I dunno, maybe that's not happening everywhere.

That's wrong dude, I know someone who makes $1,300 a week delivering lots and lots of papers.

It's a side job I do. I make about $600 cash a week. You need a van these days a bike won't cut it for Sunday's papers.

Mon-Sat 2am -5am
Sun 1am-6am

It's a cash bizness so avoid taxes. I'm in Florida so its never too cold...worse is if it rains. I don't do houses I do the boxes, and stores. Only 50 stops, unlike the sobs that do homes that have 300-400 stops a night.