Phone books

horselady | 15:51 Thu 21st Aug 2008 | Jobs & Education

9 Answers

Does anyone know how much you earn delvering phone books to addresses in your area? Is it really rubbish or worth doing?

GCSE Results

self employed but not declared yet - please help

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CheekyChops

It's extremely hard work for very little reward. Or it was last time I did it (about 7 years ago).

horselady

Question Author

Thanks CheekyChops, that's what I thought the answer would be.

bednobs

my friend did it and had the same experience as CC Plus her house was covered with them and she straned her shoulder doing it

spudqueen

Me aswell, I certainly wouldn't do it again.

Buenchico

(2-part post):

It depends which company is distributing the phone books in your area.

I've spent all day today organising the distribution of Yellow Pages in my local area, and then delivering some myself. I'm team leader for a firm called Deya, who've recently won the contract to deliver Yellow Pages throughout the UK. The route I've been delivering today is semi-rural. (It's mainly a few medium-sized villages where the houses are close together but there are also a few isolated properties). It pays about 18p per book (including the fuel allowance), which means that it's not difficult to earn a realistic (but not outstanding) wage. One of my team is delivering in largely rural areas. She gets about 21p per book. Tomorrow, I'll be delivering around the local housing estates, for about 13p per book.

Those rates compare very favourably with what leaflet deliverers are paid. (Typically 3.5p per leaflet). However, those rates are about 25% lower than the company which used to have the contract, the Direct Distribution Company, paid

Deya also deliver phone books in some areas. The rates tend to be lower, at around 11p to 14p per book.

Buenchico

Around here, though, the contract for delivering phone books has gone to TNT. I've been told that their rates are fairly low, but I won't have personal experience until later this year (when I'm joining their team).

The lowest of the low, however, (in terms of pay) has to be the Product Development Corporation. They mainly distribute Thomson Locals and the Yell Business Pages. They generally pay about 8p per book, irrespective of whether you're delivering to every house on an estate or to just a few isolated farms which are spread over a wide area. That means that the basic pay often works out at less than the National Minimum Wage. PDC state that they'll always pay a supplement, to ensure that the NMW is met, if they're told that the pay is too low. They do honour this commitment but it means that it's almost impossible to earn more than the NMW and (because not everyone complains) they actually get away with paying a lot of people below the NMW.

Chris