Read all about it: paperboys and girls get €1,000 bonus

Woman picking up morning paper through the open door
Photo: Depositphotos

It was always the starter job that paid a pittance – but now paper deliverers are in such high demand that Dutch media firms are offering a €1,000 bonus for new recruits.

DPG Media and Mediahuis say that the cost of losing subscribers more than outweighs the bonuses.

Martijn Pérez van Bakel, general deliveries manager at Mediahuis told the Dagblad van het Noorden that the starting bonus would rise from €300 to €1,000, paid in instalments, and that everyone was welcome. ‘We have delivery people from 15 to 87 years old,’ he reportedly said.

‘When the economy is going well, it’s harder to find delivery people. During corona, we had enough people but now there is an extreme shortage.’

Meanwhile, DPG Media reported a shortage of 1,000 delivery staff when the team is normally 7,000 strong.

Together, reported NOS, the two media firms deliver around two million paper newspapers. ‘Every day, 10% to 12% of our papers are reaching subscribers too late, and a lot of people are finding this a nuisance,’ Erik van Gruijthuijsen, director of DPG Media told NOS.

‘It is not an easy job, but it is a very rewarding one.’

New recruits can expect to turn up to work to pick up their papers from around 4am and earn an average of around €10 per hour, slightly less than a postal delivery worker. However, there is no requirement to speak Dutch (beyond reading street names).

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