17 things you can only know if you had a paper road
The practice makes it perfect.
Newspaper carriers are the unknown heroes of the journalism industry. The rain or shine, these are the ones who make sure the news comes first in the morning, right to your gateway, whether via a car, by bike, or even on foot. Since the job calls for a large number of neighborhood cross, you'd better bet they have a lot of stories to tell their own stories to tell. To get the news on the people who deliver the news, we talked to the newspapers themselves to know what the only person who has only made a paper road.
1 The concert is sealed for responsibility.
Although Hollywoodstereotypes Let the newspaper carriers know only a group of teenagers on bicycles that launch Willy-Nilly papers, there are a lot of responsibilities that come with the concert. "If I was wrong, I lost customers," saysPaul Joseph, a former newspaper carrier in Framingham, Massachusetts. "If I were late, someone would notice. I had to make sure that these papers were even if I were sick or if I was away. I had to make sure I had a substitute Reliable, which meant that I had to make recruitment decisions, even as a child. "
2 And it can also become quite dangerous.
It is not uncommon for newspaper carriers to be confronted with a danger during the clock. For example, a newspaper carrier in Little Rock, Arkansas, wasTIR AND CARJACKED Mid-offset in August 2018. And there was also the anchorage paper feeder, Alaska, whowas cut several times For a quarter of the morning, a few months before - then finished to finish his way! Clearly, it's a much more dangerous job than some could imagine.
3 It's very satisfying landing a perfect newspaper.
Few skills are more essential to a newspaper carrier than the paper print. When newspapers were used to cycling to deliver paper, they throw papers to houses as they are mounted, so as not to slow down and waste a single minute on their way. Although getting in the right area is a pretty common practice, landing a perfect jet - where the paper lands downstairs in the center of a winding, is similar to scoring a dunk slam. These days, the paper draw is always a skill of essential information operators to master, except that it usually happens from the seat of a car rather than a bike.
Paty Quyn, a former delivery girl herself recalled to aRadio Station Hudson Valley about a skill of local newspaper delivery. "With exact precision, [they were] able to throw away their car window while wicking the road," she said. "During the short time, I was for the ride, I saw skills that had to take years to improve. While traveling safely, on the right side of the road, this paper landed a dead center of Paper in a bridge leading to the forehead. Porch on the driver's side. Then, without missing a beat, rolled on and land a dead center of an alley on the opposite side through the passenger side window. "
4 But missing the brand can cost you hundreds!
Although there is nothing examples to land the perfect throw, the paper circulation can return fire. There is a lot ofhouses With fragile exteriors and an unsuccessful attempt can leave a log carrier in many problems ... and debt. "[I know] the terror to land a" perfect throw "on a doorproof where there is a thin glass window framing the door," saysJames Cobb, a former newspaper carrier in Tucson, Arizona. "My" perfect shot "broke the said window and cost me $ 100!"
5 And put a newspaper in a mailbox can cost you thousands of people!
"You can put [logs] in a press box if the client has one, but not a mailbox," saysWeeks, a former Aiken newspaper carrier, South Carolina. "And if it's a paper box, it must be specifically labeled as such and can not be used for mail. If you are found, put logs in a mailbox, you get a fine." According toUS postal service, This fine, for anyone places something inside a mailbox in which "no postage as paid" is up to $ 5,000 for people and $ 10,000 for organizations. OF!
6 Ideally, the papers must be "porché".
In the newspaper carrier speaks, "porching" means that a paper must be placed to keep it free of the elements, which can mean going over and beyond the normal draft. "The papers had to be" porché ". Even on the most rainy days, the paper was to remain dry. The carriers are generally nestled in the editing between the door on the screen and the front door or sometimes used the Prairie gold milk box sitting on the porch, "according toTulsa World Nancy Hollingshead, who interviewed former newspapers from the 1930s across the 1970s.
7 Or really, they must be placed wherever and however a customer requests.
Some customers care about one thing: they get their paper, no matter how. Others, on the other hand, want things to be done in particular, every day. For these people, weeks indicate that she kept notes on each client and special means they wanted things done in a notebook.
"Customers love their paper launched in the same place, both every day," says weeks. "And some like it like it has enache, and others, lined bags in bag. You will find that some want in the middle of the aisle, and others, just at the top of the aisle. And there are those Who does not like you driving to drive too close to their grass or those who do not want you to play music in the morning. "
8 The payday was the best day to collect subscription fees.
It was essential to collect the subscription of their customersmoneyIt was therefore useful to know when their customers were paid. COBB says that "most customers' customers have been paid in month and payday have been the best time to collect their subscription fees."
9 And you had to cover the costs if subscribers did not pay.
There is a reason why newspaper carriers were so diligent on the collection of payments: if their customers do not pay, they should spit the money themselves, according to Hollingshead. "Whether it's a weekly or monthly effort, many had to hit repeatedly on the same doors to get their money," she wrote. "If the subscriber has not paid, the carrier was still responsible for the bill and several previous gates collecting their salaries. A former Paperboy can always emphasize which" houses "owed them money."
10 Larger stories once arrived with larger pay checks.
In the 1950s, if a major press event broke down, newspaper carriers could be excited from possible payroll. "[A] A great story meant a lot ofRunning Sales,"Rob Newton, a former Paperboy, told theCURRENT HARTFORD. "I remember whenPresident Kennedy was shot down, I emptied twoRunning Honbles and makes more than $ 15 that day. Everyone wanted theRunning this morning."
11 Credo for postal workers ("Neither snow nor the heat nor the sloom of the night") also applies to newspaper carriers.
When your job requires beingoutsideYou often experience a lot of different delivery conditions, which was particularly difficult when carriers have roded bicycles and walked their routes.
"I traveled the same route when it was hot in summer, cold in winter, rainy, windy and all the rest," says Joseph. "I walked on the top of the snow that was wearing the ice pretty strong to hold my weight. I was stung by bees, hunted by dogs and pretty much all that life had to throw me With me, [and I'm always] in general, delivered these papers to the general satisfaction of customers. "
12 The work must be done, no matter what.
Despite recent technological advances - and the instantaneousness with which we can access news today - Some people strongly depend on physical newspapers to get their new solution. And, as a newspaper carrier, you understand the responsibility you must provide that for them. To takeFrank Fogila, for example. It comes for theTimes union Journal of Albany, New York, for a dozen years and did notonce missed one day.
"In the 12 years, it provides papers, it has never been called sick - not once. Sometimes, when the charge is a small heap (say, on vacation or on Sunday), his wife will help on delivery ," ReportKristi Gustafson Barlette written in theTimes union.
13 You learn what signs "beware of dog" bluff.
When working on the paper road, you generally meet severaldogsAnd you start learning which puppies live on which houses. "I knew everyone bluffed with their" misapportion "the signs of the dog and who was legitimate," saidMichael O'Brien, a former Paperboy turned a management coach withPeloton Coaching and Consulting. "I was paying attention to light houses because I was hunted many times."
14 And you learn to appreciate the mornings.
Since the paper is typically delivered before most peopleto wake up For work, newspaper carriers are usually some of the first people awake every day. And the calm of the morning becomes something they are distinguished. "[I learned] enjoy calm mornings, especially in the hottest months when the sun was fair"Jim Roche, an oldCURRENT HARTFORD Paperboy, said his previous employer. "You had the whole whole neighborhood and the beauty of the land of God was all around you, which allows you to know how big it was to be alive."
15 You can see very interesting things about your itinerary.
When you move to the same day of the day, you really start learning more about the people you see every day - and this includes all the habits and interests of neighbors and friends may not be private. Cobb says he knew whocustomer Loved classic cars, that we liked rare flowers and liked it four casters in the hinterland. But "one of the most interesting people of my itinerary was not a customer," he notes. "It was an alcoholic and homeless and schizophrenic artist who took junk he found and make small structures for rabbits and toy mice in streets and vacant land. If I could come back in time, I would give myself A camera, speaks to him and try to help him. "
16 And you do not have a leader to report problems.
Allserviceer knows how difficult it is to work a job requiring public interaction. However, as a newspaper carrier, you must learn to accept exactly what you are working since you have no higher to go to. "Some [customers] would discuss with me about whether or not I gathered twice in a week or if they owed me the previous week," says Joseph. "Some were friendly, some were not. But there was no leader of complaining for me."
17 But your loyal customers argue the sentence.
The weeks had served about three decades in the newspaper deliveryBusiness When she discovered that her company was bought. And although she had the opportunity to be rebucked, she should have changed her way, which was not something she wanted to do. It was during this time when she discovered how much she had faithful clients with so many years.
"If you give your customers a good service, are reliable, political and build a relationship, then they like you and are faithful to you," says weeks. "I had customers who called the president of the company, by raising Cain when they got rid of me. They said I was the best paper operator they had, and they needed to bring me back . These same customers also sent me cards, begging me back. Guests can be special and sometimes difficult, but if you give them a good service, they will have your back. "And for more information on the world of newspaper delivery,Here is the original story behind the newspaper carriers shouting "Extra! Extra!"
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