delivering catalogs

Has anyone done this?

I have been thinking of returning to work part-time, but as DP is against daycare I could only work on his days off which would take away our family time (DP is a chef so works 9am-10/11pm). So working is out, but browsing the local paper today I noticed a walkers wanted add "earn up to $300/wk for 8-14hrs" and thought maybe that could bring in the little extra a week that would help immensely.

Sounds too good to be true lol. Is it easy? Money not worth the effort you have to put in? I am wary of calling about it, it just seems like if it was so easy wouldnt everyone be doing it lol

I used to do it when I was younger, pay rate usually depends on how many catalogues you have to deliver (so usually close to Xmas is good pay lol).
It is often quite time consuming, as you can have quite a lot of homes, I had a couple hundred - possibly more! I can't remember. And for each house you needed to have all the catalogues put together already, that process usually took a few hours in itself. BUT - that's done at home, so not necessarily all bad in your situation?
As for the delivering, imo thats the easiest part, I used a pram (one where "baby" would face me) and loaded it up with the catalogues so I didn't have to make so many trips back to the car. Which perhaps you could use a carrier for bub and use the pram like that? That's if you did it when they were with you.
Most weeks it seemed relatively worth it, but others you only get like 2-3 catalogues and maybe upto $100. But it's also less work, ya know?
You also generally have a deadline as you need to get the catalogues out before the sales actually start, so once you start delivering, I try to get it all done at once so it's over asap, as you can get into trouble.
It could be all different now, but I doubt it would, that'd mean more work for the suppliers, etc. ;) lol HTH!

I recently looked into that.

You buy the catalogues, then put them through doors, then pick them up the next day. Some people throw them away, which is throwing your money away, so you need to budget for that. You then order and deliver the items.

For me, it was too much work and outlay for too little return: to get the "big bucks" (ie over $50wk) you need to recruit and manage several people under you, then have them do the same. And just think about the weather while you do this too: you will be out and if you take the baby with you then you really do need to think hydration.

You say your DP is "against daycare": how do you feel about it? If you need more money, either he needs to work more or just accept that if you work then someone has to look after the little one, many jobs are more difficult with a LO in tow. Including catalogue work when LO wants to walk or if the property has dogs etc.

I did it about 20 years ago. And as someone else said, it can be time consuming. Your pamphlets are delivered in piles that you assemble yourself, so you get a pile of Coles, target, and big w for example. You then put one of each in a new pile to put in people's letterbox.

They deliver enough for every house in your area but don't deduct for the no junk mail homes so you could have lots to dispose of at the end.

Pay varies from distribution company to distribution company and is per pamphlet not hours. So if you have 100 homes in your area and it's 10c per pamphlet and have 4 pamphlets to deliver this week, you'd get 40c per house for your route. Although I have. O idea what the actual pay rate is these days.

Also find out if they deliver the pamphlets to you or if you have to pick them up - something else to consider....

I would defiantly ring, it sounds like it could be perfect, unless it's like TFB described. We have a lady in our area who does that and I always forget to give the catalogue back :redface:

I think you need to find out if it is simply delivering junk mail (eg ww catalogs), or if it is direct selling type catalogs. Very different!

i've done both things at different times - just delivering junk mail, and the direct selling ones - the direct selling is a PITA to be honest - a lot of work for little return. you have to deliver the catalogs, go back and pick them up, collate orders, order stuff, then go back and collect money and deliver the order. and you only make money if you get orders. i worked with a friend, and we each went out at least once a week, usually twice - we'd drop in one area one day, collect a few days later, then drop in another area, and cycle through that way. it really was a lot of work for little return. but we were doing it for the exercise factor - for the cash side of it, we were selling at work and doing a roaring trade :)

the direct drop option is easier in that you just put things in letterboxes and that's the end of it. but you might have one catalogue at a time, you might have three. often they have to be delivered in different windows of time, so Woolies is to be delivered mon-tues, coles sat-sun, big w sun-mon -and you have to get them all done in the right window. you can be given a very large area to cover with not many houses. coming up to christmas (easter, mothers/fathers days) you will get more work, but it can be very time consuming. you have to go out whatever the weather too. if you can get your home area, it's not so bad, cos you can work out of home - but if you have an area away from home, as well as the work you have to put in, you lose money on expenses with your car and things. my brother and I did this for maybe 5 years when we were younger - the exercise factor was great, the magpies that swooped, not so much - and the dogs that weren't in yards did my head in! more often than not, we'd go out in the wee hours of the morning before school which probably isn't an option with littlies...