This is an unofficial overview of Motif distribution. The official details are explained in two
documents, “Rules of the Job” and the “Driver Agreement.”
Applicants for independent contractor delivery driver positions will be interviewed by the
distribution manager in-person. Interviews can be arranged during the business day, evenings or on weekends.
You must have a valid operator’s license, a vehicle that is legal and safe, registration, and insurance.
Documents proving such good status must be brought to the initial interview — we will copy them for your file.
The magazine is published twice monthly on the second and last Wednesday.
About one week before each distribution, active drivers will receive an e-mail message from the distribution manager asking about availability. Depending upon the number of drivers who respond as available, each particular driver may or may not be assigned a route for that distribution cycle.
Each driver must share an e-mail address and mobile telephone number. Prior to distribution
day, e-mail is the main means of communication. Day of, we may text is anything last-minute is happening.
On the actual distribution day each driver is expected to come to the depot where they will be
given a paper spreadsheet for their route that lists their distribution spots. The depot is located
in Pawtucket, right off I-95.
Drivers do their own vehicle load-in at the depot between 5:30am and 9:00am and it usually takes each driver about 10 minutes.
We try to make each route take roughly the same amount of time, so there are routes with more driving and fewer stops that can have as few as 20 bundles to more compact routes that can have as many as 70 bundles. Each bundle is 50 copies.
Each distribution point will have the number of copies specified on the list, ranging from as few as 5 copies to as many as a few hundred copies. We expect each route to take about 6 hours, although this typically takes longer the first time, since you don’t already know the places.
As independent contractors, drivers are allowed to complete the route in whatever order they choose as long as they reach all of the distribution points on their list, but it is strongly suggested that they follow the order on the route sheet as this is usually the result of considerable experience from previous drivers.
At each distribution point, the driver should leave the specified number of copies and collect prior copies of the magazine, always recording the count of returned copies on the route sheet. If a distribution point is not accessible because it is not open when the driver gets there, copies may be left at the door; plastic bags are supplied to protect the magazines against wind, rain, and snow.
The completed sheets, with the returns count, should be turned in to the office. You can scan or photograph them and text or email the results, or you can physically bring them by the office right off I-95 in Pawtucket (usually folks are on-site until 6, but there’s a mailbox that’s accessible at least from 8am – 8pm).
When the completed route sheet is received, the driver is paid for the route. We offer payment by PayPal, Venmo, or check. PayPal is the best; checks need to be picked up at the office, usually if you’re dropping off your route sheet in person. (We can mail them, but the mail takes a few days and isn’t completely reliable).
Collected returned magazines can either be dropped at the office or left wherever you like for recycling, at the driver’s option. The office needs the return counts, but not the actual returned magazines.