How much should a paperround pay?

[purpleroses]

DS is 13 and has just got himself a paper round. It's a free monthly magazine that goes to every house. He has 316 magazines to deliver for which he will get £16.

His round covers streets with huge houses with long driveways which means a lot of walking. He's spent 2 hours at it so far and has done only 100 mqgazines. So it looks like taking over 6 hours for the lot. Is this normal? He's a bit demoralised about it at the moment and wants to give it up after just one round

[BackforGood]

That sounds pretty fair.
My ds and dd have rounds (1x a week - free paper) theirs vary depending on how many leaflets they have to stuff, but the company work out how long a round should take and then multiply the number of hours by the minimum wage (for their age).

ds's used to be 218 papers and was supposed to take him 2.5hours.(ie £9.30+ a bit extra for leaflets)
dd's is 155 and is supposed to take 1.75 hours. (ie £6.51 + a bit extra for leaflets)

[purpleroses]

But ds is getting £16 for 6 hours so about 2.75 an hour which seems very low to me.

[noisytoys]

There is no minimum wage for under 16's. Paper rounds are notoriously badly paid.

[BackforGood]

Noisytoys is right, in law Here

But morally Here are the rates

I wouldn't be impressed with anyone that wasn't meeting that - it's hardly enough in the first place, is it ?

[BettyBotter]

DS gets paid £15 for a saturday and sunday round. Each day takes him approximately an hour and a half. (And sunday papers are heavy so he has to go back and pick up 3 bags separately.)

If the leaflet round really takes 6 hours I'd say it's not worth it but he'll get loads quicker once he's done the round a few times.

[Sparklingbrook]

Ds1 (14) delivers the local paper every week. it's about £5.50 for 178 papers with extra for leaflets.

Yes, it's not great money but for me that's not the point. it is something he has to do, and he is earning that money.

[BackforGood]

That's what I think, Sparklingbrook - I like the fact that when my dc are deciding if they want to spend £x on something they'd like (as oppose to need) - be that some clothes or going out somewhere or whatever - , they calculate it in "how many weeks worth of paper round" it is.
I think it's struck ds more this year as he's spending £22 an hour on his driving lessons, whilst earning £3.72 an hour on his paper round. There have been some 'lightbulbs going on' in terms of it 'clicking' with him what he's known in theory, about having a skill / trade / qualification meaning your earning power is more, and we are hoping that it might incentivise him a bit to do a bit more study some hope.

[flow4]

Apprentices working full-time are officially only paid £2.68/hr, and adults with families to raise are paid just £6.30, so it surprises me to hear that a paper-round pays 13 year-olds with no dependents and no tax liabilities as much as £2.75/hr. It's a pittance, but we have a low wage economy.

[Rascalls3]

Totally agree. Low paid part-time jobs are a great lesson for teens on how hard many people work for relatively little. Have always used this to emphasise the importance of doing well at school and (hopefully!) going on to getting a better paid career.

[purpleroses]

Thanks - sounds like his is taking longer than most for the same number of papers - which isn't surprising given the size of the houses in the streets, but they pay is not wildly out from what others are getting. He is hoping it will get a bit quicker as he gets used to it, though as it goes to all houses I don't think he's wasting a lot of time finding places.

How long does your DS take to do his, Sparklingbrook?

[chocoluvva]

FWIW my DS does six mornings a week for £26. It takes him approx. an hour each weekday morning and a bit longer on Saturdays. He got faster after about a week.

Slightly different as different papers to different houses - but the shop owner has impressed upon him the importance of telling him if he accidentally delivers the wrong paper as that's about all it takes to cancel out his profit. I'm not sure how much time your son will be able to save through increased fitness or fine tuning his delivery 'technique'. I've done DS' round for him three times now in the car (neck problems) (let's face it I'm unfit too ) and was much quicker the third time once I knew where all the houses were, but there might be some time savings for your DS if he spots any shortcuts from jumping over walls, cutting across grass etc.

IMO it's a hard way to make money but on the plus side it provides free exercise and DS is very proud of himself for having a 'proper' job. He should be able to get a reference out of it too. He's doing his round to raise funds for an expedition and feels morally superior to the kids who're doing sponsored events for their money or getting a lot of help from their parents organising events for adults!

[Sparklingbrook]

I think about an hour and a half purple, he has 5 roads-one of them being ours. They don't all fit in the trolley so a bit of back and forth goes on.