Opinions please - my son's paper round - is this a fair wage?

tracyk

Hi all,

My son started a paper round in the summer. He's 15 in February.

The round isn't too far away from us & it was taking him about 1 hour a day, on foot (after school) to do. There were 17 papers on 6 days with an extra 8 (I think) on a Wed as that's when the local paper is circulated. Once a week there's a couple of books which is a promotion that's going on.

In all he delivers over 6 days & gets £10 per week. His mate started a round with the same distributor at the same time & gets £10 for 10 or 11 papers.

Now, on Monday I help him do his delivery as he stays late after school & when I opened the papers up (they get dropped at our door in a binbag) there was a short printed note from the distributer guy saying that there had been some promoting going on & that some people might notice they'd got more papers to deliver as a result.

So now there are 37 papers per night plus the extra on a Wed, but, & this is what I'm not happy about - no mention of a pay rise :mad:

So he's got more than double the papers!

I'd like to know how much other paper boys & girls get paid please before I broach the subject with the distributor guy, who I assume gets paid directly by the newspaper company & then decides how much to pay his paper boys/girls (although I'm not sure about that).

If it's the going rate then that's fine but I hate to think he's being taken advantage of ...

Blackpool_Saver

I don't know the answer to your exact question but they both seem small rounds compared with what I did as a kid, I am sure around 30 houses was the norm.

faithcecilia

16 yrs ago I used to get £11 for 6 mornings, about 30 papers a day. Dad used to help on Sundays as I couldn't lift them!

bendix

tracyk wrote: »

Hi all,

My son started a paper round in the summer. He's 15 in February.

The round isn't too far away from us & it was taking him about 1 hour a day, on foot (after school) to do. There were 17 papers on 6 days with an extra 8 (I think) on a Wed as that's when the local paper is circulated. Once a week there's a couple of books which is a promotion that's going on.

In all he delivers over 6 days & gets £10 per week. His mate started a round with the same distributor at the same time & gets £10 for 10 or 11 papers.

Now, on Monday I help him do his delivery as he stays late after school & when I opened the papers up (they get dropped at our door in a binbag) there was a short printed note from the distributer guy saying that there had been some promoting going on & that some people might notice they'd got more papers to deliver as a result.

So now there are 37 papers per night plus the extra on a Wed, but, & this is what I'm not happy about - no mention of a pay rise :mad:

So he's got more than double the papers!

I'd like to know how much other paper boys & girls get paid please before I broach the subject with the distributor guy, who I assume gets paid directly by the newspaper company & then decides how much to pay his paper boys/girls (although I'm not sure about that).

If it's the going rate then that's fine but I hate to think he's being taken advantage of ...

Are you for real? It's a paper round for a teenager. What are you suggesting? A bonus? Index-linked adjustments. Travel to work allowances.

If you don't think he's getting a fair wage, tell him to go on strike or contact his union. Perhaps he could work to rule, or - even better - contact his HR department for some advice.

Bottom line - if he's not happy, tell him to quit. Plenty of other youngsters who'll step in in his place.

Ivrytwr3

lol @ above post. Don't forget to ask about a company pension too.

bap98189

I used to get 20p per house per week. But that was for delivering morning papers and was about 15 years ago. We used to do a lot more houses though. I remember I used to get about £10-12 a week, which is about 50-60 doors.

You son is getting 58p per house per week, seems fair enough, but if there is a sudden increase, it is only fair he should ask for some more money unless it is only for a short period of time. Most likely the distributor will refuse but if you don't ask you don't get.

tracyk

bendix wrote: »

Are you for real? It's a paper round for a teenager. What are you suggesting? A bonus? Index-linked adjustments. Travel to work allowances.

If you don't think he's getting a fair wage, tell him to go on strike or contact his union. Perhaps he could work to rule, or - even better - contact his HR department for some advice.

Bottom line - if he's not happy, tell him to quit. Plenty of other youngsters who'll step in in his place.

I'd just like a few opinions - yours is duly noted & ignored.

custardy

its a tricky one.
however when as a postie we get papers to deliver its about 4p per item delivered
normal items a 1.67p per item so im guessing for the distributer its not a lot of money involved
however given the ramp in workload it would be fair to approach them regarding this

bendix

tracyk wrote: »

I'd just like a few opinions - yours is duly noted & ignored.

Why?

Because it's realistic or because it doesn't concur with your sense of your son's rights?

It's dog eat dog out there in the paper delivery world. When I worked in it, most of the lucrative routes were controlled by the mob, so you had to be careful. I had to pay Gino a portion of my £3.50 a week, else his hoods let the air out of my tyre.

Mind you, this was 30 years ago. I dare say the russians are running the racket these days.

Kantankrus_Mare

My daughter of a similar age delivers the free weekly newspaper.

The wage varies depending on how many leaflets need to go inside freebie newspaper.

Wage varies from £12 to £18.

So yes I think that your son should be given a slight increase in wages.

bendix

Ivrytwr3 wrote: »

lol @ above post. Don't forget to ask about a company pension too.

I wasnt joking. There was a story in the paper last month about a paper boy getting an official redundancy letter from his employer - from memory it formally notified that he would was entitled to something like £4.10 redundancy payment, plus 80p for accrued holiday leave.

What is the world coming to?