Lost are the Days of the Afternoon Paper Route

As I was getting into my truck this morning I saw the morning paper on the driveway. I don't know why we are getting the paper because we don't read it, but to keep from cluttering up my driveway I picked it up and side-armed it onto the porch. As I made that motion and watched that paper twirl around and around until it glided onto the porch I was flooded with memories of my days as a paperboy. Ah yes and now I will wax nostalgic...

I was 11 when I got a paper route. It was not an easy feat to even get a paper route, but I managed to talk my neighbor into giving me his route because his little brother didn't want it.

I learned alot from that job.

I learned that you have to work everyday; even in rain, even on weekends, and even on Christmas. Adding insult to injury, the weekend papers needed to be delivered by 7am and usually were filled with all the coupons and special adds so they were huge!

I learned that some people seem to exist only to complain. I took pride in my work so I didn't like it when people complained. Some of the typical complaints were: wet paper, valid if it was raining, but if your sprinklers are set to run in the afternoon and they overspray to your porch that's on you! late paper, it needed to be porched by 5:30pm. I never ran late, but I would receive this complaint from time to time, I dealt with it. The one that takes the cake was the complaint that the paper was not CENTERED on the porch. What? No one in the circulation department could take up for me here? That jerk got a paper on the roof the next day.

I learned the value of money. The paper cost $3.25 per month. When I would go collecting, about half the people treated me like I was the repo man! "Can you come back another time?" "Is it already that time again? I just paid you!" "My husband has the checkbook". In retrospect, I'd say if you cannot afford it, don't get it. And stop grinding on a little kid over 3 bucks. I will say this, with 40-50 customers, I felt like a millionaire when I was collecting. Then the paper would bill me and I'd end up with about 50 dollars. It may as well been a million dollars, I was the richest kid I knew!

I learned how to make a job fun. My best friend got a route, and we would deliver both routes together. He'd take one side of the street, I'd take the other. We would laugh and laugh practically the whole time. Sometimes we'd race, other times we'd mess around, but it was always fun.

I guess I'd like to think that I have some of those qualities still to this day, thanks to my paper route. It is a shame that there is not afternoon papers anymore, it would be a nice experience for my boys.