From a Concerned Herald Bulletin Newspaper Carrier
By Anonymous
I am a paper carrier (maybe yours). I am part of a movement to get a union in for the paper carriers and bundle haulers here in Madison county. Currently, an in town carrier makes .076 cents per daily paper that they deliver (yes, less than eight cents each). On a Sunday we make .32 cent per paper. This adds up to a little over $41.00 a year for each 7 day a week customer.
We also have to pay a $5.00 complaint fee for missed deliveries (even when they are stolen), wet papers and placement complaints. This means that if I get one complaint, the next 65 papers that I deliver are being delivered for free.
We also have to pay for the bags that we deliver these in (we use to get them for free). We are now required to deliver the Indianapolis star and the Muncie Star Press, Investors business daily, Wall street Journal and many other publications. We make much less on these, as little as .04 cents on some of them.
It appears that it does not make any difference to the Herald Bulletin if the gas prices have doubled - our pay does not go up. The bundle haulers do not get any extra money for many of the papers that they have to deliver to us from the printers and local dock. Even though it costs them more time to do all of the extra paper work and extra gas for the added weight.
We are struggling to make ends meet so that we can deliver your papers to you in a timely manner. The attitude that we have been given is if you can't do this just find another job. Many make less than minimum wage during the week as it is.
I enjoy serving my customers and occasionally meeting them. This job also leaves me time during the day to do other things. I am asking all that take the Herald to call 640-4848 (circulation) and ask for your carriers name and number. Then call your carrier and urge them to call 610-1919 to find out more about the union that we are working to get here. This is a confidential call. Please help us so that we can help each other.
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You could all stage a massive walk out! :D
Just playing.
I don't take any papers, and don't know any carriers, but I wish you luck in your quest.
I know who this is. If you don't take the paper maybe you could talk to your neighbors and family and pass this on. It would be a great thing to do.
Posted on the Herald Bulletin by Braz:
"Before you crawl too far out on that unionization limb you need to get some legal advice, preferably from a lawyer with some expertise in federal labor law."The national labor Relations Act provides that "employees have the right to form, join or assist labor unions..." Problem is, you are not an employee under the NLRA, you are an independent contractor. You have no such right. If the good old HB terminates your contract for trying to form a union you are S.O.L. You're legal recourse is somewhere between slim and nonexistent.
"Be careful, be very careful."
All Independant Contractors for ANY newspaper, negotiate the amount that they will be paid to throw the product. If you feel that you don't make enough per product, you have only yourself to blame, because you were the one that agreed to the rate and signed the contract.
You are not an employee of THB- you work for yourself, it is YOUR business- you are a distributor. Your contract clearly states that you will throw additional products...
I think it's pretty unintelligent to do something 7 days a week, if you are going in the proverbial hole every month. Go get another job if yours makes you this miserable. $5.00 per complaint? Pretty fair, if you ask me. Most District Managers don't charge contractors for all of their complaints- if they did, some would owe THB money...bottom line- do a good job, and you get no complaints. Bag or tube when it rains, and you won't have wet paper complaints. Deliver it where the paying customer requests it- get good tips. Any one with a lick of good principled business sense would go the second mile to deliver their product in a timely manner, the way the paying customer requests it. Good service= good rewards. Grow your customer base- enlarge your delivery area- THAT is how a good contractor makes money.
Unionize the contractors? Not a snowball's chance in Hell. The female spear-heading this movement needs to be careful- very careful.
I know that there is no real negotiation with them , it is take it or leave it. Get another job if you dont like it. What is unintelligent is to think that an individual has any negotiating power. As fo the one person saying the five dollar charge is fair, how about they make a mistake and work 65 hours for free? That would be proportionate to these carriers paying 65 times what they make for one mistake. Just window shopping must be a employee of the herald to know what the contract states and that most district managers do not charge for the complaints. I know my friend who is a carrier gets charged sometimes and he is pretty conscientious about his job and taking care of his customers. Wouldn't having to go out and get more customers on your route mean more stops and more time and gas for the same pay scale? Do they get more time ? They do get charged for late complaints. That does not sound like an incentive to me. Why would one person be so dead set against the local carriers going union? Will it come out of their pocket? Maybe with a solid contract they could not be let go on a whim. I especially liked the threat at the end to be careful very careful, for doing a lawful action. I support our carriers going union if that is what they need to do to get a wage that is fair. Ask them when the last time their pay was increased.
Better job?
Here is a list of websites to look for some jobs/career. (Based around Anderson, Indiana and Madison county.) If you know of other sites, then please let me know.
1. Central Indiana Career Connect website https://www.indianacareerconnect.com/
2. State of Indiana Job Bank (Please give it time to load…PeopleSoft server is slow)
https://hr.gmis.in.gov/psp/guest/EMPLOYEE/HRMS/c/HRS_HRAM.HRS_CE.GBL
If that links does not work then state job bank from INDOT's page:
http://www.in.gov/indot/2841.htm
3. City of Anderson: www.cityofanderson.com > City Government > Government Employment
4. Anderson University: http://www.anderson.edu/humres/
5. Hoosier Park: http://www.hoosierpark.com/
6. First Merchants Bank http://www.firstmerchants.com/careers.cfm
7. Anderson Community Schools: http://www.acsc.net/jobpostings.htm
8. Radio: Central Indiana for help wanted.com http://regionalhelpwanted.com/central-indiana-jobs/
9. http://www.indianahelpwanted.com/
10. Here are links to places around Madison County that maybe give you some ideas of where else to look for a job:
http://www.heartlandspirit.com/link.cfm?linkid=14
http://www.flagshipenterprise.org/client_search.asp
http://www.cityofanderson.com/links.aspx
11. I have heard people doing Freelance jobs from home and not sure if you want to do any of this type of work or not…http://www.getafreelancer.com/
https://www.scriptlance.com/programmers/more_info.shtml
http://www.freelancejobsearch.com/
http://www.ifreelance.com/
http://www.gofreelance.com/
12. Other places to look or idea of places to look for jobs: http://www.in.gov/library/inspire/links.html
Jobs around Anderson
Customer Service Rep Nationwide Employment Solutions Ingalls, IN
Driver / Runner Anderson, IN Dec 04
General Labor (Dec 1) Express Employment Professionals Fishers, IN Dec 03
Dean, School of Nursing Anderson University Anderson, IN Dec 03
Branch Office Manager National City Bank Anderson, IN Dec 03
Electrical/Controls Engineer Acquire Automation Fishers, IN Dec 03
Hygiene and Sanitation Resource Nestle USA Anderson, IN Dec 03
http://www.collegeclassifieds.com/?function=0301&stateID=26&campusID=2016&categoryID=1543&adID=1324365
Another place to look for jobs:
http://americantowns.oodle.com/job/-/-/46011/+50/?s=distance
Source: http://www.americantowns.com/in/anderson-jobs
Just for the record, the job listed Ingalls, it's a job service (temps, or job placement) and they have no jobs in Indiana. I thought that was just weird, I looked into it the other day.