I'm thinking about picking up a paper route. I know, sounds a little childish...but the local one pays about $500 a month. DS is almost 5 months old. I SAH with him. He sleeps through the night consistently... so I don't need to worry about him waking DH up. He also takes three decent naps during the day...so I could probably catch one too, if I needed one.
Anywho, just wondering if anyone has any experience with paper routes...
pros? cons?

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I didn't have a paper route but I used to work for a small newspaper and did the stacks delivery for them. It was hard on the car - always turning it on and off, and it was hard on me because I had to constantly get in and out. However, if you could get a driving route where you just slid the paper into a box next to their streetside mail box, that might not be too bad.

When one of my grandchildren was a newborn, her mommy used to work for a bagel store. She did the local deliveries for the store to delis and restaurants, etc and took the baby along with her. That baby grew up chewing on a bagel. Many bakeries have a need for early morning delivery drivers, for instance, bakeries that deliver donuts to other outlets, etc.

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Dh had a paper route for 15 years and made over $30K a year doing it. When he was doing it, they let the carriers take on as many customers/routes as they wanted. If you could get it all done by 6:30 AM, more power to you. He had over 700 Sunday customers. He was up at 4AM and done by 6AM on weekdays and up at 4AM and done by 7AM on Sundays, it was a lot of work in two hours then you have the rest of the day open to you.

Things have changed for a lot of papers. Many of them limit the number of people you can deliver to, and also do their own billing. When Dh was doing it, he did all his own billing and could charge a little more for folks that wanted it in their side door etc You can still make good money, but not like you used to, unfortunately.

Cons? Well, the getting up early part...the complainy customers, trying to find someone to sub in on the route if you're going on a trip etc

Something you might consider is working as a sub...they are always needed!

I had one for 2 years and I did great with it until my son came along. It's hard to schedule things around a paper route b/c if a machine breaks at the paper office or they print late due to breaking news etc then the newspapers come out late. I would arrive at 3 am and sometimes my papers weren't even ready until 5:30. Plus it's very hard on my vehicles and 7 days a week.

If you want to do it for extra money but don't want the responsibility of 7 days a week then work as a sub. They are always needed and you can set your own schedule that way.

Good Luck!!

My husband and I tried it when I we were engaged! We thought it was a rip-off! First of all, it is 7 days a week! And we would have to get up at like 3:30am, to get over there, put our papers together, then be off. With our other jobs, it was hard to get to bed before 10pm...so we were constantly exausted!

Plus, you pay for your own gas, you pay for your own bags, you pay for your own rubber bands. The huge thing was...when we went to get married, we told them we needed two weeks off. Well they gave us a list of subs. It turns out, the subs. want you to pay them more than you actually get paid! So like, if we made like 8 cents per paper, they wanted 12 cents per paper! So we would have gotten home after 2 weeks, and then had to work for a week just to pay the guy who subbed for us!

We got so frustrated because we felt totally swindled! When all was said and done, w/ 2 of us, working from 4am-6am....we realized we were only getting like $4 an hour each! So we just quit! So not worth it! This is the Arizona Republic in Tempe, Arizona...about 4 years ago! I wouldn't do it again, personally!

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Bekah
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Oh yeah..also..think about this...that's like $15 a day, SEVEN DAYS A WEEK..holidays and everything, all year round, to lose sleep and go out, hot or cold, to do this! Plus, if you need a day off or go on vacation, you have to pay extra out of pocket to cover to person who took your route for that time!

Now, I work at a local bakery one day a week. My mom watches my daughter and I get change of pace. I usually bring in about $250 a month doing that and I love it! Or if you can't leave your little one, I would watch another child or two. That could bring in $50 a week per kid you watch (or whatever your local going rate is...ask around!)

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Bekah
Co-founder and CEO of the NOVITZKE FAMILY INC.