Paper Route Question? Please Answer?

Question

Is it worth it? its like 700-900 dependin on how long the month is.. but you gotta drive to go pick them up which is kinda far then drive around delivering the papers, findin each house and remembering them. Is it that bad or is it just a waiste of time and a rip-off? and you got to collect once a month, any information would be nice

Answer 1

Depends on the fuel costs. Is it gonna cost more than you get?

But its alright pay is suppose.

EDIT: Oh and a GPS would be a good investment.

Answer 2

Well, "kinda far" doesn't really tell anyone much. And you didn't say how spread out the route is or how long it'll take you to complete it. The time spent, however, will improve dramatically once you've done the route several times.

What you need to do is figure out how many miles you'll be driving each delivery day. That includes driving to pick up the papers, doing the route, and going back home. How much will that cost you to operate the car? There's more to it than just gas; you have to figure in wear and tear on the vehicle.

Without that information, it's not possible to give an accurate answer.

Answer 3

Keep in mind that since this is a business venture, you can deduct miles driven as a business expense.  The IRS allows 50.5 cents per mile for business purposes.  This will effectively reimburse you for the cost of driving around.  If your car is fairly reliable and good on gasoline, you can actaully make a little extra money, but make sure you keep some in a kitty fund for repairs!  I'd suggest at least a grand.

You don't indicate how many houses are on the route, how long it's likely to take you and if it prevents you from doing another job.  If you can knock it out in the morning, then go to a regular job, it's nice extra money, but for full time work, I'd be hard pressed to believe it's worth the time.  Your car is going to land up stinking like newspapers all the time, so if you've got a nice ride, it will get trashed and covered in news ink.