Who wants to write for newspapers when you can earn more delivering them?

I guess the answer is obvious: if we were in it for the money, most of us would be in a different trade. Still, it is rather worrying when you can earn more delivering newspapers than cranking out the copy that makes them worthwhile reading.

In Norway, the best paid newspaper delivery folks at Aftenposten, earn about £65 – 75K – that's much more than your average journalist in this country. Apparently you have to work hard for that money, but even in a normal full time job you earn about £30 – 35K delivering morning and afternoon editions of the paper– still more than what many a journalist can bring home each year.

The demand for newspaper delivery folks here up north has become such that, not only has the editor-in-chief of Tönsbergs Blad succumbed to delivering the newspaper himself, but Edda Media, Mecom's Norwegian arm, is contemplating offering free company cars and Saturdays off – in addition to setting up its own recruitment firm in Latvia (via Dagens Medier).

When I want to hedge against late and unpredictable payments from media organisations, I normally translate and copy edit manuscripts, but newspaper delivery – perhaps that's something to consider...