I had the morning route for the morning Dayton Journal-Herald.
I walked, because I knew all the shortcuts through yards.
The daily paper was not that bad. I had around 45 customers.
The Sunday edition was heavy, but I could do it.
The ONLY time I remember not being able to get into my bag was on Thanksgiving eve.
I wasn't strong enough to lift it, so I had to make several trips.
About eight papers per front and eight in the back.
When you are 11 years old, that really sucks, particularly because I did this at 430 am.
Don't get me started on bitchy customers who would call my house and wake my parents up.
Some times the presses would go down, and boy would my customers throw a fit if they "Wanted to see what Garfield was doing this morning."
FFS, I was a KID.
And it's 630 am.
My brother had the morning paper route and I had the evening route. When he went off to school, I did BOTH.
I was lucky enough to have a small apartment complex on my route, so could deliver quite a few papers rather quickly. I made pretty good money for a kid, but I disliked having to go around and collect. Probably half the people paid in advance and the rest you had to collect yourself. The newspaper charged you for the papers you received for delivery, so you definitely had to get out there and hustle to make a buck.