Delivering Papers

If you're a morning person and have your own car, then you should be delivering newspapers. I helped on a route in high school, and we would wake up every morning at 4 o'clock in the winter in Pennsylvania to go to the drop off point and pick up our newspapers. I love the cold, and it didn't bother me to be out walking in the snow and dark. It was actually kind of peaceful.

There is good money to be had, if you are willing to wake up early, brave the elements, and don't mind the quiet. Before starting I had assumed I would be running into all kinds of seedy people in the dark, but there is one universal truth: 0400 is too damn early for anyone to be awake. I think the only person I ever ran into was a guy going to his car to start his commute to NYC from around Allentown where we delivered the papers. I would hand him his copy every morning as I walked by.

That's another great thing, for me at least; if you get your route down to a science, then it's almost a meditation. You can walk, keep a rhythm, and enter a sort of trance. I was there handing the guy his paper every morning because I had walked the same route for months.

With summer coming, and the weather being much more forgiving, why not check out your local newspaper's site for paper delivery jobs. Try it for a month and see if it's for you.