2005-06-13
NEWSPAPER DELIVERY
Hey Mr + Mrs Suburbia!! | Do you know your paperboy these days? | Do you even think about who delivers the daily local rag? | Most people probably don't | Maybe you ought to | If you did, you'd have a better sense of how Big Media profits off the backs of exploited workers |
Take the
Chicago Tribune Corporation, for example | The Trib and its family of newspapers rely upon a network of "independent motor route carriers" to deliver the dailies they print | In Connecticut, that local daily paper is the Hartford Courant | The Courant makes liberal use of the "independent contractor" method of employment |
These "contractors" get paid by the number of papers they deliver | In addition, they may get some stipend for mileage on their own
vehicles [not company trucks] They might be offered extra hours per day to audit paper routes and check on delivery tubes ...since they can't put papers in mail boxes |
"Contractors" are expected to be up by 0300 hours to deliver anywhere from 200 to 400 [average] papers often in a disbursed area | If they miss delivering one paper, or are late in completing the deliveries, the contractor is penalized for finishing late | Most have to have thier delivery routes completed no later than 0700 hours, so commuting middle management types can grab the paper before leaving for the office |
On some occasions, an "independent carrier" will be offered the opportunity to deliver maybe a thousand [or more] free Sunday papers to target market areas | The contractor paid at so much per paper delivered, plus an additional 5 cents per paper if they put them together themselves | If lucky, the "contractor" might collect $14 an hour, before deducting gas and mileage and if they don't take any time off to eat that day | Realistically speaking, the take home pay for one of these "contractors" will come to ~ maybe ~ eight dollars an hour |
Some of the "independent carriers" who take up this extra money offer are single mothers | They bring along their children [who aren't paid] to put together the papers at a Tribune/Courant owned distribution site before taking off to deliver the papers |
They receive no health insurance or pension benefits | Social Security isn't even a component of the "deal" they sign up for | There's no vacation time | They are expected to work 7 days a week, 365 days a year | If the deliverer's car breaks down, and someone else gets called in to pick up the route until repaired, they lose any pay they hoped to make that week |
Further distancing the delivery crews from human interaction, the Trib papers conveniently bill you by mail [or e-commerce, these days] so you don't have to wait around to give the paperboy the 5 or 7 dollars a week delivery fees | All the easier to neglect tipping the "contractor" since, sometimes, your paper gets here late |
Let's be real folks, when you are spending all your working hours doing labor for a single client, when you are not making enough to even be above the poverty level [much less feel your family or pay medical expenses] you are NOT independent | Say what you will about WalMart's exploitive wage slavery tactics | America's News Media giants are in the same business when it comes to "employing" wages slaves |
The corporate execs ought to be ashamed, but I suspect they don't even care |
Hey Mr + Mrs Suburbia!! | Do you know your paperboy these days? | Do you even think about who delivers the daily local rag? | Most people probably don't | Maybe you ought to | If you did, you'd have a better sense of how Big Media profits off the backs of exploited workers |
Take the
Chicago Tribune Corporation, for example | The Trib and its family of newspapers rely upon a network of "independent motor route carriers" to deliver the dailies they print | In Connecticut, that local daily paper is the Hartford Courant | The Courant makes liberal use of the "independent contractor" method of employment | These "contractors" get paid by the number of papers they deliver | In addition, they may get some stipend for mileage on their own
vehicles [not company trucks] They might be offered extra hours per day to audit paper routes and check on delivery tubes ...since they can't put papers in mail boxes |"Contractors" are expected to be up by 0300 hours to deliver anywhere from 200 to 400 [average] papers often in a disbursed area | If they miss delivering one paper, or are late in completing the deliveries, the contractor is penalized for finishing late | Most have to have thier delivery routes completed no later than 0700 hours, so commuting middle management types can grab the paper before leaving for the office |
On some occasions, an "independent carrier" will be offered the opportunity to deliver maybe a thousand [or more] free Sunday papers to target market areas | The contractor paid at so much per paper delivered, plus an additional 5 cents per paper if they put them together themselves | If lucky, the "contractor" might collect $14 an hour, before deducting gas and mileage and if they don't take any time off to eat that day | Realistically speaking, the take home pay for one of these "contractors" will come to ~ maybe ~ eight dollars an hour |
Some of the "independent carriers" who take up this extra money offer are single mothers | They bring along their children [who aren't paid] to put together the papers at a Tribune/Courant owned distribution site before taking off to deliver the papers |
They receive no health insurance or pension benefits | Social Security isn't even a component of the "deal" they sign up for | There's no vacation time | They are expected to work 7 days a week, 365 days a year | If the deliverer's car breaks down, and someone else gets called in to pick up the route until repaired, they lose any pay they hoped to make that week |
Further distancing the delivery crews from human interaction, the Trib papers conveniently bill you by mail [or e-commerce, these days] so you don't have to wait around to give the paperboy the 5 or 7 dollars a week delivery fees | All the easier to neglect tipping the "contractor" since, sometimes, your paper gets here late |
Let's be real folks, when you are spending all your working hours doing labor for a single client, when you are not making enough to even be above the poverty level [much less feel your family or pay medical expenses] you are NOT independent | Say what you will about WalMart's exploitive wage slavery tactics | America's News Media giants are in the same business when it comes to "employing" wages slaves |
The corporate execs ought to be ashamed, but I suspect they don't even care |
PICTURE CREDITS: Chicago Tribune Tower by Michael Chiang and found at Treefrog Web |
¶ 23:22
