Working as a Kid - Delivering the Daily Newspaper

I hope that your summer has been good so far. We’ve had some wonderful programs at the HGSIC recently. If you’ve not been to any of our events, check out the HGSIC website and plan on attending an upcoming one. If you live far away, check out HGSIC YouTube channel and watch the programs that we record. I am so pleased with what our Museum, Program, and Fundraising Committees and their volunteers do. They make being the president of the HGSIC much easier to do. I am indebted to all of them.

Growing up in the late 1960s, my friends and I all worked a variety of odd jobs. My first job as a 12–13-year-old was delivering newspapers, specifically, the Pittsburgh Press, seven days a week. I started delivering newspapers around 1968. The Press was an afternoon newspaper, Monday through Saturday, and on Sunday, it was a morning paper. I had about 25 daily customers and about 50 Sunday customers spread over about a one-mile area.

I don’t remember how I got the delivery route. I know that I replaced another neighborhood kid. My newspapers were brought to me by a distribution manager from the neighboring town of Donora. He would drop off the newspapers at the garage door of our house. The newspapers would be wrapped in brown butcher paper and bound with baling wire.

My dad, who delivered newspapers as a kid in the mid-1940s, showed me how to roll and fold the papers so that they looked like short logs. I had my bicycle outfitted with a front basket and rear saddle baskets. Riding the bike with a load of extra thick Sunday papers on Pennsylvania hills was a learned skill. My parents often helped me on Sundays. I would fold the newspapers and load them into our car on the passenger seat. One of my parents would slowly drive my paper route as I ran alongside. They would hand me a paper and I would deliver it to my customers.

I never tossed the paper in the general direction of the customer’s house. I was taught to take the newspapers and put them in a secure dry place on a porch or between the storm door and the front door. I made sure that the paper was secure from any wind. 

I quickly found that customers, especially on Sunday morning, wanted their newspaper delivered in a timely manner. If the paper wasn’t delivered by 8:00 a.m., the telephone would start ringing with customers wondering where their newspaper was. Our telephone was part of a party-line, so incessant ringing was not appreciated by the other household.

Pittsburgh Press Payment Card

Collecting the money for the newspaper subscriptions was a great introduction on how to deal with people. The Pittsburgh Press issued a Payment Card, with “PAID for the Pittsburgh Press Week Ending (Date)” to each delivery boy. The pages could be held together by a metal ring. I wrote the name and address of each customer on the top of the page and noted if they were daily or Sunday only. When the customer paid, I tore off the tab for the week that they paid for. 

I was taught by my dad to collect payments every Friday because most people were paid on Friday. I had to pay the distribution manager for the newspapers whether the customer paid me or not. The distribution manager had to be paid if I wanted to continue to get newspapers for delivery. Those customers who did not pay cut into any profit that I might earn. Delivery boys were able to keep a percentage of each newspaper sold. I was not paid by the Pittsburgh Press. I delivered the papers, collected the money for the papers, and paid the distribution manager for the newspapers that were delivered to me. I got to keep whatever cash was remaining. That was usually a few cents for each paper delivered with a little extra for the Sunday newspaper because it was larger and cost $0.50 instead of $0.05, the price of the newspaper from Monday through Saturday. 

I learned a lot in dealing with customers. Most of the customers were no problem. They kept their payments up-to-date and would give me a tip for good delivery. But there were those few who were a pain. They would be hard to reach, never answering their door when I was collecting payments. I learned  to collect money from them on days other than Friday and at times other than delivery times. If customers got too far behind in payments, I would often ride my route and see if their car was in the driveway. If the car was there, I would take their payment card and collect what was due. 

I gave up the paper route by 1970 when my parents bought an 18-foot-long travel trailer. When we weren’t traveling on a rare holiday, my parents would park the travel trailer at a campground in Somerset County from spring through fall. All five of us would spend most weekends at the campground about 40 miles from our home.

So much has changed over the last 60 years, but that always happens with progress and the passage of time. We need to remember the small things that were a part of our lives and will never be again. I no longer get a newspaper physically delivered to my house. Twenty years ago, I had three newspapers delivered daily: the Tribune Review, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, and the Indiana Gazette. Now the Indiana Gazette arrives electronically at 12 midnight, and the Tribune Review and Post Gazette arrive between 1:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m. through their apps. I do miss flipping through the paper and, after reading it, needing to wash my hands to remove the black ink from my fingers. 

I hope that all of you have a fantastic Fourth of July!