the height of laziness

[kingbunky 3]

okay, little rant here, and i hope this is a localized thing. i had to come in to work early today and saw one of the paperboys in the neighbourhood being driven door to door by a parent. i've seen this a lot around town and it drives me nuts! what is the point of a kid getting a paper route to earn money if it costs their parents more in gas and vehicle expenses to deliver them? what exactly are the kids learning from this? i delivered papers from the age of 10 to 13, and the only time i got help was for a special edition, and the 75 or so papers i delivered filled the back of a 1966 pontiac laurentian station wagon (with the back seat folded down).

if a kid gets a paper route, shouldn't they actually have to deliver the papers themselves?

"Hang on a sec, the young'uns are throwin' beer cans at a golf cart."
MB4252 TDS699
killing threads since 2001

[Nightingale 0]

Dunno about where you live, but most of the newspapers around here don't want to mess with having kids deliver. Most of the papers are delivered by a team of two people in a van, one guy driving and the other one with the sliding door open, chucking papers onto driveways. Under federal law, kids who deliver newspapers are exempt from many child labor law regulations, but many states have laws that are stricter than the feds (the state law can't let the kids do more work, but it can restrict them to doing less).

[hooked 0]

I wish we had the 'kid' paperboy again! Now it's adults driving around tossing the paper, who knows where it ends up!!!

I agree with you though, if it really is the kid's paper route, let him do the work! At the price gas is now, unless there was a good reason, the kid should be doing it on his own. Both my sons had paper routes, that's how they financed their first cars.

J

--------------------------------------
Sometimes we're just being Humans.....But we're always Human Beings.

[Icon134 0]

My parents neighborhood as well as my neighborhood are both too rural to have paperboys deliver on bikes. So the paper is delivered by a guy in a car at my parents... (I don't know about my place, I don't get the paper.)

I think it is very lazy.

Scott

Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife...

[raggdoll 0]

Then again, if it was that early, the parents might be considering the safety of the child. How many times have you seen people driving and not paying attention because they were applying makeup/on the cellphone/late for work and driving at mach 3?

Some parents are just that overprotective, too, so the kid might have nothing to do with the decision to deliver by bike or ride in the car. And let's face it, some neighborhoods just are not safe. Doing a search for registered child sexual offenders in your area will result in some quite surprising results.

Plus, if the kid usually delivers by bike, there may have been other circumstances--a sprained ankle, broken bike, early dentist appointment.

At least the kid was with the parent. That alone is saying a lot. He or she is learning responsibility by example and is able to spend time bonding with the 'rents.

Of course, I'm not a parent, nor do I pretend to be one. Just looking at the flip side.

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[turtlespeed 226]

I WANT MY TWO DOLLARS!!!!!

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[TheAnvil 0]

Perhaps non-sequitur, but I once told a fellow he was so damned lazy he was going to marry a pregnant chick.

Vinny the Anvil
Post Traumatic Didn't Make The Lakers Syndrome is REAL
JACKASS POWER!!!!!!

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

Along the same lines, whatever happened to all the kids who walked around neighborhoods pushing a lawn mower who would cut your grass for five or ten bucks (like I did when I was a kid)? Yep, all the "kid" jobs have been taken over by grown-ups these days. It's no wonder why there are so many worthless hoodlums walking around in packs and posturing on street corners; they had no direction as children. I have had one kid in the past ten years show up at my front door with a lawnmower. I had just cut my grass, but I gladly gave the kid a rake and put him to work. I applauded his initiative. The money I made as a child doing throwing papers and cutting grass bought every bit of the firecrackers, bubble gum, and gas for my motorcycle during the summer break.

Chuck

[kingbunky 3]

if the neighbourhood is that bad, or the hours are bad, then the kid shouldn't have the route in the first place. if it's to be a 'bonding experience', then fine, walk with the kid. if it's a rural area, no problem, have an adult deliver them by car. my peeve is kids in a nice suburban neighbourhood with 20 - 25 papers to deliver (basically walking around the block) and getting a ride from mom and dad to do it.

my route was an after school deal. made 4 cents a paper and managed to save up for the bike i wanted, a CCM Marauder. yellow three speed (console shifter!), banana seat, small front tire, tractor grip back tire with dual brakes. $129 in the late 70's, and i saved it 4 cents at a time.

"Hang on a sec, the young'uns are throwin' beer cans at a golf cart."
MB4252 TDS699
killing threads since 2001

[raggdoll 0]

Quote

my route was an after school deal. made 4 cents a paper and managed to save up for the bike i wanted, a CCM Marauder. yellow three speed (console shifter!), banana seat, small front tire, tractor grip back tire with dual brakes. $129 in the late 70's, and i saved it 4 cents at a time.

Four cents a paper? You weren't selling; you were pimping.

I honestly wish more kids were like this today and could have the opportunity to learn this responsibility and accomplishment. I also wish this thread weren't suddenly making me feel so old.

[flyangel2 2]

My son had a paper route when he was younger. Most times I would let him take the responsibility to deliver the papers. He did a good job. Set his own alarm, and got himself up. If the weather was bad, snow and ice, we would load up my van and I'd help him. It was a matter of safety. I'd also help him if he had to stay up late some nights with school work and I felt he didn't get enough sleep. If I did help him, he had to help me out with something in return.

Give the kid you saw a break. We don't know why he was being helped.

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey