my first job was delivering the globe and mail every morning. i think i was in grade 5.
most of my customers paid directly to the paper, so i maybe only had half a dozen customers that i had to collect from. i remember one of the first things i did was go visit the 'collect' customers and convince them to pay direct. it wouldn't be a big deal collecting if it was an afternoon delivery, but i was out the door by 5:30am and home around 6:30am (paper had to be delivered before 7am) - so collecting meant going back to those houses in the early evening.
one great memory was when we had a crazy snow storm over night and my dad said he'd drive me around the route (that never happened). we did a couple doughnuts (intentional) and got stuck in a few snowbanks (unintentional!). i still remember helping him push the car back out of the snowbanks
it was a great job for a 12 year old - up early, got some exercise, learned about earning and saving $.