Now days you order on line, pay online, and never see your carrier. Papers are delivered to your carriers door step by truck. The paper is folded in half and put in a plastic bag. And chances are, your carrier is an adult trying to supplement his income just to survive.
In 1945 in Des Moines papers were delivered to a ‘branch’ where you had to go to pick up your papers. The branches were conveniently located as far away as possible from your route. In my case the branch was at Clark St and Harding road. This was approximately 12 city block from my home on Moyer st. The branch was nothing more than a corrugated sheet metal building with a pot belled stove for heat in the winter.
If you were 16 years old and had a driver’s license and access to a car, this was no problem. But those of us who didn’t, rode our bikes to the branch, loaded the papers into a couple of cloth bags, slung them over each shoulder and pedaled back the 12 blocks.
Usually somewhere near the beginning of my route I would sit down on the ground and fold all the papers in a neat square fold that allowed you to sail the paper from sidewalk to porch sort of like throwing a Frisbee. Sometimes especially if it was cold I would fold as I walked my route. More than once the paper would land on a roof and a couple of times resulted in a broken window.
In the winter it was a tough job. By the time I got to the branch, I would be so cold that I would fold the papers along side the pot bellied stove, then pack them in the bags and ride home, sometime thru heavy snow.
Paper carriers in those days had to go door to door to collect. We had sheets of tear off receipts stubs for each customer. This usually took several evenings to get all your money. As I remember a weekly paper was about 25 cents.
Sometimes my Dad would help me on Sundays especially if it was really cold out. How things have changed.
This picture could have been me. It was a cover picture from a August 2006 Reminisce magazine.
1 comments:
Yes I can also remember the thoese days when I delivered the paper and for me it was the same as you did 40 years earlier. And you did help sometimes on Sundays. The personal service of the paperboy is gone, You used to tip him or her and even give them a Christmas card, Now we dont even know who they are.
Phillip T.
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