CATCHING UP - ROUTE

I've been delivering the CK Reporter for almost 5 years now (in August), and in those five years I haven't gotten a raise of any sort. Not only would you expect that with cost of living (I mean not every year - but it's been 5 years!), but also with how much the price of gas has gotten in that time! I know that with a job like paper delivery they have a high turn around anyway, so they're not going to raise the prices until they are so low that no one will take the routes anymore, so I just have to live with it. But, on the bright side, I feel like I got a raise in recent months!

I used to do 1220 papers, and it took me about 5-6 hours to do. Then they needed to take part of one route away because it was in NK Herald boundaries, so to compensate for my lost papers, they gave me a new route with 350 papers. Plus they added 85 papers from a few neighborhoods that were next to a neighborhood I was already doing. Those changes gave me about 1455 papers, BUT it still takes me only 5-6 hours to do! So that's 235 more papers for the same amount of time! The other cool thing about the 85 papers is that they were last contracted for $0.08/paper, but when they added them to my route, they raised the price to what my route is - which is $0.10/paper - so that was a bonus.

With the house on it's way to becoming a huge mortgage payment, I'm trying to figure out what I can do to make more money - with no experience in anything that makes much more than minimum wage, and not being able to work a regular job because of the 2 and almost 3 kids, I can't really beat the routes which I earn about $22/hour at, so I'm thinking of adding some Bremerton Patriot routes. I don't want to add anymore Reporter routes - the 5-6 hours is about my comfort level for Tuesdays and Saturdays. But, the Patriot is delivered on Friday nights. So I'm might sub for a few routes next week (need to check them out first and see if the areas are shady or not) and if I like them they're mine. There also may be a smaller route opening up in East Bremerton (less shady) and then I can build on it as routes in that area open over time. The only downside is that every Friday night will be spent delivering newspapers, instead of the traditional fun stuff that people try to fill their Friday nights with. But, I guess we haven't been so traditional for awhile...I usually have to get to bed earlier anyway because I have route early in the morning on Saturday! So if any of my friends are reading this and planning any parties, make sure to schedule them for a Saturday night and not Friday!