While mowing lawns and doing other chores for hire was a good source of income for me in my tween years, I also had the stereotypical suburban kid’s career of paperboy for a number of years. Incidentally, the “boy” part of the word paperboy seemed weird even when I was very young, especially since the person who taught me the ropes was herself very much not a boy. I noticed with some degree of awe that Carrie would walk around the neighborhood, delivering a local newspaper—one of those weekly regional papers that relied heavily on local ads and whose journalistic department wasn’t likely to win a Pulitzer any time soon.
I also like how you just casually solved the impossible "Traveling Salesman Problem" in your teens:
"Next, I followed that methodical route Carrie had plotted for me, carefully making sure not to waste time by covering any territory twice, and making sure to always take efficient routes. My family moved neighborhoods around this time, and I plotted my own route in the new 'hood myself."
But yeah, my very first job in Denmark was also newspaper delivery. The annoying part was that each Sunday newspaper came with about 12-13 separate ad brochures, and they were all delivered to a specific location in separate stacks. So step one of the process was to sort them all into complete piles, and only then could you go and do your delivery route. And there was nothing like chucking newspapers on people's lawns. You had to get off your bike, in many cases enter an apartment block, and throw each pile directly into a specific mailbox.
Then I "upgraded" to delivering the Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jyllands-Posten). That was significantly easier. There were way fewer delivery points per route (something like 20-30 compared to 50+ for the other one), and you just had the morning newspaper without any ads, so no prestacking necessary. But the newspapers had to be in everyone's mailbox by 6AM at the latest - and they were delivered to the pickup spot around 3AM. So that entailed having to get up in the middle of the night. Fun times!
Your job was way tougher than mine! I mean, I did other stuff too, but the paper delivery portion wasn't so bad at my end. I delivered once a week and only after I got home from school, so it was a really different dynamic than a full daily route with those super early mornings.
Nah, mine was still about once-twice a week, on weekends, when I wasn't in school. The main difference is that the first job took most of the Sunday, with all the stacking and delivering. The second only took about 2-3 hours, but they were damn early hours.
Ah, gotcha. I think I was entering "night owl" mode around that time, just starting to play D&D into the late hours and watch horror movies with friends or whatever we did at that age.
Ah, such memories. I delivered the Globe and Mail in the 50's in Toronto, in the Beaches. The route was compact, a clump of three residential blocks with a few small walkups, and about 60 customers as I recall. It was with a smaller/lighter papers than my friend with the Star route carried, same wages, and only a 10-15 minute walk from home. It had to be done early so I would head over around 5 am, deliver, and go back home to bed. I developed good skills in time management, efficiency, and dealing with customers.
Those are important lessons! I'm glad I learned them at a young enough age so that I could become a semi-functional adult. It not only helped with eventual jobs working for other folks, but also with my own entrepreneurial ventures.
Darn! I was so looking forward to a picture of a goat delivering papers from a bicycle! Seriously though, a good article.
Paperboy cultural references. Newsies! It's a Disney effort (pre High School Musical) to revive the movie musical. Based on an actual newsboys strike that involved Joseph Pulitzer's paper, it stars Christian Bale in what must have been one of his earliest roles. (When I mentioned the movie in class one day, my students flatly refused to believe that Christian Bale had ever done a musical. It's good to have a computer, an internet connection, and an LCD projection in the classroom. I had no trouble proving the veracity of my claim.)
I truly, TRULY wish that I had a paying job when I was younger. Honestly, I was told that money was evil. Some even imply that today, which is a huge laugh because money pays the bills so people won't be homeless. I worked in the theatre starting at 15yrs though. I started mainly babysitting the directors child and fixing props, etc. when I could. I'd do that after school on the nights of a show or rehearsal and all for free. I worked my way to working back-stage more and small chorus roles. Although, I was also suffering from seizures alot at that age. Due to that, they knew me by name in the ER. I went ALOT! I truly don't know if I was simply taken to the theatre because it was illegal to leave me home alone or what but eventually I did learn to love it. Although, I wasn't paid, I do have ALOT of experience. SADLY experience doesn't pay the bills. That is something I didn't learn and for years continued to work for free. I wasn't as lucky as some because nobody ever told me that I needed to be paid. I suppose some didn't want me to have the freedom that comes with money. There's that or maybe they were too scared for my well being, who knows. Which is a bit funny because everyone knows that medical bills cost ALOT! Money would have helped me. It still gave me over 20yrs experience, which is something no amount of money can pay for. Well that and my work in the past being published, etc. Oddly enough, experience also doesn't get me a paying job, which only makes my life harder. Why not keep going though!? The show must go on and maybe one day I'll be financially free. One can only keep trying and hope for the best. I can tell you one thing, I sure as heck won't be seen riding a bike handing out newspapers. Anyway, great post.
Great commentary on the life of a paperboy. You didn’t mention any tribulations regarding the early mornings and even if I had bought in, there was no way my parents were getting up so early to take me for my stack. Interestingly, I have known several people who were paperboys as children. Each has a rigidity and self-discipline that strikes me as a traits similar to a marine lol. The other common attribute that I’ve noticed is a stable nuclear family - lending itself to the chicken or the egg question? Regardless, I am 100% on board with the benefits of children learning everything that comes with such a role: the performance based pay scale, the plotting and planning of an efficient strategy, and learning to ask to be compensated for you efforts. Cheers to the 70’s and 80’s.
Fortunately (or unfortunately) for young Andrew, my paper route was weekly as opposed to daily, and the papers were waiting for me when I got home from school. That may at least partially explain why I don't exactly have a nuclear family, although Dink-Dink certainly keeps our hands full!
I remember that game!
I also like how you just casually solved the impossible "Traveling Salesman Problem" in your teens:
"Next, I followed that methodical route Carrie had plotted for me, carefully making sure not to waste time by covering any territory twice, and making sure to always take efficient routes. My family moved neighborhoods around this time, and I plotted my own route in the new 'hood myself."
But yeah, my very first job in Denmark was also newspaper delivery. The annoying part was that each Sunday newspaper came with about 12-13 separate ad brochures, and they were all delivered to a specific location in separate stacks. So step one of the process was to sort them all into complete piles, and only then could you go and do your delivery route. And there was nothing like chucking newspapers on people's lawns. You had to get off your bike, in many cases enter an apartment block, and throw each pile directly into a specific mailbox.
Then I "upgraded" to delivering the Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jyllands-Posten). That was significantly easier. There were way fewer delivery points per route (something like 20-30 compared to 50+ for the other one), and you just had the morning newspaper without any ads, so no prestacking necessary. But the newspapers had to be in everyone's mailbox by 6AM at the latest - and they were delivered to the pickup spot around 3AM. So that entailed having to get up in the middle of the night. Fun times!
Your job was way tougher than mine! I mean, I did other stuff too, but the paper delivery portion wasn't so bad at my end. I delivered once a week and only after I got home from school, so it was a really different dynamic than a full daily route with those super early mornings.
Nah, mine was still about once-twice a week, on weekends, when I wasn't in school. The main difference is that the first job took most of the Sunday, with all the stacking and delivering. The second only took about 2-3 hours, but they were damn early hours.
Ah, gotcha. I think I was entering "night owl" mode around that time, just starting to play D&D into the late hours and watch horror movies with friends or whatever we did at that age.
"The Flintstones" even brought them into the Stone Age. Fred Flintstone had some issues with his local one, Arnold.
Better off dead rocks.
'Nuff said!
Ah, such memories. I delivered the Globe and Mail in the 50's in Toronto, in the Beaches. The route was compact, a clump of three residential blocks with a few small walkups, and about 60 customers as I recall. It was with a smaller/lighter papers than my friend with the Star route carried, same wages, and only a 10-15 minute walk from home. It had to be done early so I would head over around 5 am, deliver, and go back home to bed. I developed good skills in time management, efficiency, and dealing with customers.
Those are important lessons! I'm glad I learned them at a young enough age so that I could become a semi-functional adult. It not only helped with eventual jobs working for other folks, but also with my own entrepreneurial ventures.
Darn! I was so looking forward to a picture of a goat delivering papers from a bicycle! Seriously though, a good article.
Paperboy cultural references. Newsies! It's a Disney effort (pre High School Musical) to revive the movie musical. Based on an actual newsboys strike that involved Joseph Pulitzer's paper, it stars Christian Bale in what must have been one of his earliest roles. (When I mentioned the movie in class one day, my students flatly refused to believe that Christian Bale had ever done a musical. It's good to have a computer, an internet connection, and an LCD projection in the classroom. I had no trouble proving the veracity of my claim.)
Isn't that fun, when you want to settle something and you just look it up nowadays?!?
I truly, TRULY wish that I had a paying job when I was younger. Honestly, I was told that money was evil. Some even imply that today, which is a huge laugh because money pays the bills so people won't be homeless. I worked in the theatre starting at 15yrs though. I started mainly babysitting the directors child and fixing props, etc. when I could. I'd do that after school on the nights of a show or rehearsal and all for free. I worked my way to working back-stage more and small chorus roles. Although, I was also suffering from seizures alot at that age. Due to that, they knew me by name in the ER. I went ALOT! I truly don't know if I was simply taken to the theatre because it was illegal to leave me home alone or what but eventually I did learn to love it. Although, I wasn't paid, I do have ALOT of experience. SADLY experience doesn't pay the bills. That is something I didn't learn and for years continued to work for free. I wasn't as lucky as some because nobody ever told me that I needed to be paid. I suppose some didn't want me to have the freedom that comes with money. There's that or maybe they were too scared for my well being, who knows. Which is a bit funny because everyone knows that medical bills cost ALOT! Money would have helped me. It still gave me over 20yrs experience, which is something no amount of money can pay for. Well that and my work in the past being published, etc. Oddly enough, experience also doesn't get me a paying job, which only makes my life harder. Why not keep going though!? The show must go on and maybe one day I'll be financially free. One can only keep trying and hope for the best. I can tell you one thing, I sure as heck won't be seen riding a bike handing out newspapers. Anyway, great post.
Angela, thanks for sharing all this! I think a lot of folks will gain a lot from hearing your perspective.
Great commentary on the life of a paperboy. You didn’t mention any tribulations regarding the early mornings and even if I had bought in, there was no way my parents were getting up so early to take me for my stack. Interestingly, I have known several people who were paperboys as children. Each has a rigidity and self-discipline that strikes me as a traits similar to a marine lol. The other common attribute that I’ve noticed is a stable nuclear family - lending itself to the chicken or the egg question? Regardless, I am 100% on board with the benefits of children learning everything that comes with such a role: the performance based pay scale, the plotting and planning of an efficient strategy, and learning to ask to be compensated for you efforts. Cheers to the 70’s and 80’s.
Cheers, Laura!
Fortunately (or unfortunately) for young Andrew, my paper route was weekly as opposed to daily, and the papers were waiting for me when I got home from school. That may at least partially explain why I don't exactly have a nuclear family, although Dink-Dink certainly keeps our hands full!
“Did you deliver papers as a kid?”
Yes. It’s how I paid for my first computer, an Apple ][+.
My dog would often come with me on the route, so it was also his morning walk around the neighborhood.
That's awesome. I did not have a dog during this time, but I would have enjoyed a friend!