Starting a Flyer Distribution Service – Part 4

As a flyer distribution entrepreneur, one of your biggest responsibilities (and possible headaches) is setting up a reliable system for distribution. This involves advertising for carriers, assigning daily routes, and making sure that every last flyer gets delivered.

One of the biggest hurdles you will have to overcome is convincing your customers that their flyers will, in fact, be delivered. You have to be able to convince them that you have the situation under control and systems in place to ensure that this happens. You can be sure that every single customer will bring this up as one of their main concerns.

For some reason, this industry has a reputation for less than ethical business practices. In other words, a few scammers have gone and spoiled it for the rest.

Okay, so the best way to advertise for your flyer carriers is to put a small classified ad in the local paper, put a notice up on the bulletin board at the grocery store, or advertise in one of the free, online classified sites such as, Kijiji and Craigslist. This can be quite effective, however you should be aware that many of the people who will contact you are not serious, just curious. In fact, you might go through quite a few people before you finally find someone who seems reliable and honest.

Once you have a few reliable people lined up, you will want to have a meeting and explain their responsibilities. At this time, it’s critical that you let them know that every flyer is to be delivered, no matter what. You should also tell them that you will be doing random quality checks. Generally, these checks consist of you driving down a number of streets in different locations and checking the front door of each home for a flyer. Of course, you’re not going to check every street, but this will be enough to deter anyone from taking your flyers and dumping them. They’ll never know what streets you’ll be checking.

You should pay your flier carriers well. Flyering is tough work and looks easier than it is. Don’t try to cheap out here because you’ll find that your employee turnover will be huge and you’ll waste more money recruiting new people. What you pay your carriers will often be determined by your location. It’s a good idea to pay your people per flyer. That gives them an incentive to work faster and make more money. Your rate per flyer should work out to an average hourly wage that is several dollars above minimum wage. If an average carrier ends up making $10-$12 per hour, you’re in the ballpark as far as wages go. This should translate into around $.10 per flyer. An average carrier should be able to deliver a hundred flyers per hour. If they move just a little faster, it could be over $12 per hour.

Don’t expect the cream of the crop to respond to your help wanted ads. It’s not exactly a skilled job and you’re not really offering a lucrative position. You’ll find that many of the people who respond will be the chronic unemployed. I’m not judging here, but there is a reason why they are available to do a menial job like flyering. The good news is that they are almost always available for full-time work – and that’s exactly what you need.

Your ad will also be answered by part-time workers, students, and homemakers. Most likely, these people will only be available part-time, and only for specific hours. You can use them to handle any excess work or special jobs. Ideally, they should be available on short notice.

If you’re good with people, and you know how to schedule efficiently, then you should have a nice system in place after only a few hiccups.

Although running a flyer distribution service isn’t exactly mainstream, there is a lot of potential to make a decent living once the growing pains are out of the way and you have a solid list of clients. Your main competition will be the local newspaper and the Postal Service, but you shouldn’t be intimidated by this. There is a lot of room in this industry and you will be able to offer services that are unique. Look at it this way: even if you get a tiny percentage of the total business in your city or town, that will be more than enough to keep you busy full-time.