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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Another place to look for a job:
Another place to look for a jobs:
I know 2 people that worked at a local business; one person had a camera and the other was in custome.
One job was taking a temperture of a banana one a month or a quarter.)
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
#13 Hooiser Park
https://www3.ultirecruit.com/HOO1002/JobBoard/ListJobs.aspx?__VT=ExtCan
Another place to look for a jobs:
1) http://www.snagajob.com/
2) News America Marketing
Thanks. That's good information!
Great links ismcneil..
Thx for posting
Here is an interesting article that may or may not apply. But it is worth the read.
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/42797I too am a paper carrier but i work in Cincinnati Ohio. It sounds like you are having the same problem we are with our distribution and managers. I like how people who know nothing about the newspaper business say things like we shouldn't have accepted the terms to our contract and things like that. Well, i've been working here 5 years now and I can speak from experience. Our contracts that are given to us are the newspaper presses terms only and cannot be bargained with. Recently this year we were forced to take on an extra newspaper to deliver, called a TMC, which usually is found in your sunday paper. These are given to ALL non-subscribers on your specific route. This new publication was forced on all carriers who had the choice to either sign a new contract or quit and find new jobs. Along with the new paper, our delivery rates were cut from 10 cents mon-sat to 9.5 cents, and from 20 on sunday to 14 cents. Our rate for having a missed, wet or stolen paper is also a 5.00 dollar charge, which was raised this year from 2.00 dollars a miss. A lot of people don't understand how much work and grief a newspaper carrier has to deal with. I invite anyone who thinks negatively of a carrier to come do my job for a week then tell me what you think. Yes i know i could leave this company and find another job, thank you all for posting irrelivent websites for stupid jobs, but I actually love the job I do now. Because we are private contractors, we have to work under stricter rules and regulations than most in the national workforce, or we can be terminated without notice for no reason and theres nothing we can do about it. That is why i support having a newspaper carriers union and would like to join. I want nothing more than to secure the job that I have now and to be treated fairly like the rest of the workforce in America. Anyone who reads our contracts would see how bad it is, but what is an average educated person with no say in the matter supposed to do? If a Union can be formed I know that all paper carriers in the Cincinnati area would sign on immediately. Thanks for your time and remember, TIP YOUR PAPER CARRIER!
You want to form a union because you feel you are treated unfairly. Yet unions seem to be a large part of the reason the automotive Golden Goose is nearly dead. There is both good and bad in unionization.
I can see where sometimes a union can correct the balance of power between an employer and employee if the employer is being unreasonable (who decides what's 'unreasonable'?) On the other hand, an over correction can lead to the death of the business which employs the employee. So how do you strike the critical balance? How do you both become cooperative powers with some give and take?
Without cooperation from both sides, nobody survives imo.
Perhaps I should chime in here and spell it out one more time for those who keep saying how unfair the delivery contracts are and how forming a union could make things better. Here is the scoop:
1. You CANNOT form a labor union. You may be able to gather a bunch of people with similar complaints who gather on Saturday's to have coffee and gripe about their delivery rounts BUT you are not an employee of the Herald Bulletin. In order to form a labor union it must be formed with EMPLOYEES.
2. You are under contract. If you dont like it go to the circulation boss and tell them you want to negotiate a new contract BUT be prepared for them to say "NO!" If they say no, either deliver the papers under your current contract or terminate the contract.
3. While the HB relies on their carriers, they can find more. You don't use some special skill to deliver a newspaper. There are plenty of people out of work or who's hours have been cut back who would happily deliver your route for you.
So this leaves the question...What is the best way to negotiate? What are reasonable (high to low) rates to request for delivery? What is a reasonable rate for 3rd party product delivery?
Workers need to be thankful. Contracts can be sticky, but that maybe the purpose for the contact.
Talking about labor unions reminds me of a local Anderson Radio station and billboard I pass by everyday on the way to work that read "Do Not Let Evan Bayh Kill Jobs" website by the same name: http://www.donotletevanbayhkilljobs.com/.
Billboards, Radio, Newspaper, (this website) and Newpaper carries all carry a message.