# Tell me about being a newspaper carrier **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 24, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-being-a-newspaper-carrier/586718 "2011-06-24T15:41:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-being-a-newspaper-carrier/586718/21 "2011-06-27T17:38:14Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > The OP might check into the apprenticeship program that is required to become a “professional” paper carrier. Most professional occupations don’t just accept anyone and give them a few hours of training. Don’t know where the snark comes from, but I have paid people close to a million dollars a year to deliver phone books (I had one 1099 I mailed out back in 2007 total $847,000). There are, believe it or not, people who deliver as their primary occupation, and if they’re properly organized can make themselves a nice living. However, most newspapers are set up so you can’t do this (they usually limit the # of routes you can take). I think the “professional” adjective is indicating a person (usually adult) who does this merely to supplement income (or to teach their kids some work skills - you get a lot of people like that). ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2011, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-being-a-newspaper-carrier/586718/22 "2011-06-27T17:41:16Z")
Oops, DP… ---
**Author:** ![Amblydoper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@Amblydoper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amblydoper)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2011, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-being-a-newspaper-carrier/586718/23 "2011-06-27T19:04:46Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > … I have paid people close to a million dollars a year to deliver phone books (I had one 1099 I mailed out back in 2007 total $847,000). Mind breaking that down a bit? How many phone books over what time period? I can only assume this is a contract deal, where some one gets truck loads of books and pays others to deliver a few days a week. But how many books are we talking about here? ---
**Author:** ![papergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/aca169/32.png) [@papergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/papergirl)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2011, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-being-a-newspaper-carrier/586718/24 "2011-06-27T20:30:57Z")
John T, I’m tempted every year to deliver phone books. Unfortunately they usually come out at a time of year when I’m not up to picking up anything extra, plus it looks like the job involves…well, a fair amount of work. With two jobs, two kids, etc, I end up thinking maybe next year I’ll do it. I think I asked about this one the Dope once, and I bet you were the poster that had all the answers. And that’s why I love the Dope–there’s always someone who knows the scoop on whatever subject comes up! (Now that I think about it…maybe next year I WILL do it!) ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2011, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-being-a-newspaper-carrier/586718/25 "2011-06-27T20:48:24Z")
> [@Amblydoper](#): > > Mind breaking that down a bit? How many phone books over what time period? I can only assume this is a contract deal, where some one gets truck loads of books and pays others to deliver a few days a week. But how many books are we talking about here? We’re talking over 3.5 million phone books delivered in S. California. He had about 10 vans of delivery teams who delivered about 2k books per day per van. Using him and others, we could push out about 500k books in 5-10 days. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-being-a-newspaper-carrier/586718.md?page=1)