'Tis the season to be jolly...if all of your routes are covered.

The reason it's called the "Holiday Season" is because everyone wants time off -- including your delivery contractors.  Many contractors treat their relationship with the publisher as one of employee-employer.  In that vein, they may approach you and ask you for that time off.  Their expectation is that you'll say "no" or you'll say "yes".   I suggest "no," i.e. remind them they are responsible for finding coverage when they don't work.   If your answer is "yes", however, they'll expect you to find coverage for the route and, they'll believe their responsibility ends at that point. 

High on Christmas cookies from the office party, you may be tempted to go along.  Please don't.  In addition to the operational nightmare involved in covering untold routes, you may risk the losing the legitimacy of the client/contractor relationship and, consequently, the benefits of that relationship (as discussed in April's Tip).  It is the contractor's responsibility to cover his own route.  If you feel you must help in providing coverage, I recommend a solution that is a hybrid of giving in to the driver request and having the driver work it out on his own.

I keep the names and numbers of all the people who contact me looking for route work.  When nothing is available, I ask them if they would be interested in covering a route when the regular driver is unable.  If they are, I tell them that they would be contacted, contracted and paid by the contractor and not by my company.  I will simply pass along their names when a contractor expresses the need for help.

My communication to the contractors is:  "I have some names of people who have expressed interest in substitution.  I can give you their contact information but no endorsement; I know them as just names and numbers.  Your best bet is to contact several of them as early as possible to ensure their availability.  You are still responsible for the completion of the route no matter who does it."

As a publisher, your best bet is to frequently, yet casually, remind the contractors who need reminding of what being an independent contractor means.  When everyone knows and accepts his responsibility in this relationship, all are well served.

Ray Boddie, Jr.