How Much Does a Paper Route Pay per Week?

Delivering newspapers can be an excellent source of income for teens and even adults looking to make extra cash. But, this popular first-time job is a lot harder and demanding as it seems. Carriers work tirelessly to adhere to a strict delivery timetable, as well as ensure customers are receiving their papers. A typical day for a paper carrier consists of waking up before sunrise to pick up the newspapers, wrap them in plastic to protect from weather conditions, organise them depending on the route, and start delivering to customers’ doorsteps – no matter the weather conditions.

So, How much does a Paper Route pay per week? Is the salary worth the hard work?

General Salary

As with most jobs, the longer you’ve worked in a job, the higher the salary – or potential raise. For paper couriers, according to Indeed, as of 2018 they can expect to earn approximately $1,587 per month, therefore approximately $390 a week.

However, there are three main factors that play a part in determining your average annual salary. First, locations, wages differ based on location and on the number of various locations you must reach. Second, if you are a self-employed contractor. The number of jobs you take on or pass – again, depending on the location – will be the deciding factor in your overall salary. Last, the number of deliveries, like the previous factor, you can expect the more deliveries the higher the wage. Of course, there are other factors that come into play, but in general, paper couriers tend to be self-employed meaning their salaries are contingent on the number of stops they accomplish.

Moreover, as paper routes vary immensely depending on the newspaper they work for then so does the salary. Some newspapers have as little as 30 stops, whereas others can have hundreds. Meaning, opting for the longer routes, paper couriers can increase their client base and salary.

Service Tips

As well as their basic salary, paper carriers also earn extra money by receiving service tips from their customers. In general, larger corporations are less likely to hand out tips to couriers, but residential customers do. Couriers can expect customers to gladly reward when they encounter good service. On average, expect to receive around $2 -$3 dollars in tip every month per customer for daily deliveries.

And, during the holiday season, couriers can expect this number to rise. The holidays are the most popular tipping season, so with consisted timely delivery couriers can earn easily increase their salaries.

Final Note

There are countless factors that determine a courier’s overall salary from geographic location to the number of deliveries, to how much you work each week. These factors along with tips can add up to a nice amount of ‘extra cash’.

However, if you are looking to make thousands as a paper courier you may have the wrong idea. Your best bet is to talk to the newspaper or distribution company for an exact quote on how much you will make.