Free guide to the best bike rides in Britain with The Times this Saturday

[Joe24]

The people in the paper shop are on my side.
Ive not thought about doing it page by page, that might have to be saturday
One person on my round had every paper except the star that the paper shop does, and i had to deliver them(she normally goes to get them though) and her letter box wasnt so good.
I had to take out every paper and fold them over twice then post them(or just fold them once and let the letter box chew up the side)
Ive done alot of leafletting for the shop, did about 500 if not more houses. Some of the letter box's really are bad.
How do these people get a birthday card without them being folded, or do they have to ask people for small cards?
And, the other thing i hate, is when your trying not to make lots of noise posting the paper and you squeeze the paper through the letter box and the door is moving and banging. One kick and some of the doors will be open.

Paper boys are sort of losing their jobs Dell. My round went down from 20 papers, to 15(now 14 because one is on holiday) and another round went from 18 to 4(that round has been stopped) another one that my brother did went from 21 down to 8. Oh, and my morning round went down from a trolley and bag, down to about 3/4 of a trolley.
Not many people are wanting a paper delivered anymore. And some of the kids attitudes that deliver the papers means they dont last long. Alot of them will turn up late/not turn up at all, or just dump the papers in any house. The mistakes that happen on some rounds are just stupid. One kid will sometimes spend an hour doing a round which should take half that! No idea what he does.
Did you know that there is a weight limit on how much a paper boy can carry? And you have to fill in some forms to be able to be a paper boy/girl?

 

[Fnaar]

When I was a paper boy, many many moons ago, there was one really old dear, very frail, whose door had no letter box. You had to knock really loud on the door, then open it and leave the paper on a chair just inside the door. One day I forgot to knock, nearly gave the poor old stick a heart attack!
There was another house which had a ferocious Rottweiler, that would basically try to eat you if you tried to enter the garden. Usually it was indoors, but on the odd occasion it was parading its muscles round the front garden, I used to throw the paper American-paper-boy-stylee towards the front door, then watch in amusement as the dog ripped it to bits.

 

[Joe24]

Not rotweiler on my paper round. There is a viscous little shitzu thing though. It bit my brothers leg once!
It has sort of relaxed abit, it no longer goes crazy at the window at me, but waits quietly for me to post the paper through the door, then grabs it and starts to rip it up
It will often headbutt the door aswell when it runs to get the paper
If the door is open and the dog is in the front, i just throw the paper somewhere near the front door and let the dog have its fun

I got chased by two Dobermans once They had been let out one morning, and i came around the courner, saw them sitting there and though, "oh bugger" turned around to walk off and they came flying around the courner. So i had to run pretty fast(paper trolley in tow!) and then dump the trolley and dive into someones front garden, shutting the gate with my foot.

 

[Black Sheep]

i had a 70's banana type bike that had its front forks looking like motorcross forks complete with fake springs. the guy next door was throwing it out.

it had a built in rack which i used to tie the paper trolly to and then just tow it, was hillarious when it slid out on ice and would occasionally spin me on the bike through 360 deg before i fell off.

when empty and racing my brother back to the shop (all downhill) it'd slide out on corners and nearly hit him!

 

[ChrisKH]

The people in the paper shop are on my side.
Ive not thought about doing it page by page, that might have to be saturday
One person on my round had every paper except the star that the paper shop does, and i had to deliver them(she normally goes to get them though) and her letter box wasnt so good.
I had to take out every paper and fold them over twice then post them(or just fold them once and let the letter box chew up the side)
Ive done alot of leafletting for the shop, did about 500 if not more houses. Some of the letter box's really are bad.
How do these people get a birthday card without them being folded, or do they have to ask people for small cards?
And, the other thing i hate, is when your trying not to make lots of noise posting the paper and you squeeze the paper through the letter box and the door is moving and banging. One kick and some of the doors will be open.

Paper boys are sort of losing their jobs Dell. My round went down from 20 papers, to 15(now 14 because one is on holiday) and another round went from 18 to 4(that round has been stopped) another one that my brother did went from 21 down to 8. Oh, and my morning round went down from a trolley and bag, down to about 3/4 of a trolley.
Not many people are wanting a paper delivered anymore. And some of the kids attitudes that deliver the papers means they dont last long. Alot of them will turn up late/not turn up at all, or just dump the papers in any house. The mistakes that happen on some rounds are just stupid. One kid will sometimes spend an hour doing a round which should take half that! No idea what he does.
Did you know that there is a weight limit on how much a paper boy can carry? And you have to fill in some forms to be able to be a paper boy/girl?

I presume they still have minimum ages and fixed commencement times of work? I recall as a 15 year old not being allowed to start deliveries on a Sunday until 8.00 am and 7.00 am every other day which I thought was ridiculous as I had been up since 6.00 and could have finished the round by then.

 

[Globalti]

Memories, eh?

What about Bob-a-Job? Do kids still do that or have the H&S muppets wrecked that part of British life as well?

 

[Fnaar]

It's 1.50 a wrap week nowadays

 

[Joe24]

I presume they still have minimum ages and fixed commencement times of work? I recall as a 15 year old not being allowed to start deliveries on a Sunday until 8.00 am and 7.00 am every other day which I thought was ridiculous as I had been up since 6.00 and could have finished the round by then.

You can be 13 i think, and can start when-ever. But the papers wont be built up and the rounds dont get sorted out till 7 in the paper shop i work for.
The papers dont get delivered early.
You can only carry max of 15kg if youe under 16, and a max of 20kg if your over 16. Actually, that might be 10kg if your under 16, and 15kg if your over 16. Its something like that anyway.
I was given a booklet a few years ago telling me what i should carry with me. It said things like hi-vis, torch, batteries, phone, plasters, attack alarm, tape, whistle, and a load of other stuff.
Oh, and theres only so many hours that a paper person can work a week. It changes. If you have school you can only work so many, on weekends you can work a few more hours.
I had to fill in a form which said how many hours i worked a day, and a week. My mum had to fill in some of it aswell and sign. Then it was all sent off to the council.

 

[Renard]

Apparently there's Evans vouchers in it too.

 

[accountantpete]

It's actually the Telegraph that has the Evans Cycles discount (10 - 15% off "non-sale" items) and also 50 Best Routes.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

It's actually the Telegraph that has the Evans Cycles discount (10 - 15% off "non-sale" items) and also 50 Best Routes.

Yup, he's only right - oh, not that I get the Telegraph of course!

 

[John Ponting]

I was a paperboy and also a milkboy. ALways a welcoming cup of tea from one customer halfway round the milk route.

Tried having papers amd milk delivered after we married.

Milk arrived after we set out for work and was dead by the time we got home so that was cancelled.

Cancelled paper deliveries after far too much winging from the 'boys' and having Sunday Times and Mail On Sunday dumped on step in pouring rain too many times. AND WE PAID FOR THIS LACK OF SERVICE.

 

[Bigtwin]

Yup, he's only right - oh, not that I get the Telegraph of course!

Times: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/li...97.ece?source=newsletter&attr=road/2009/06/11

Looks like a bandwagon.

 

[accountantpete]

The Telegraph copy is sub-titled 25 best Family Rides and 25 best MTB routes all of which have been lazily lifted from other sites - so unless you are buying fron Evans cycles I wouldn't rush out.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

The Telegraph lazy?! - shurly shome mishtake!