The lost trade of the paper boy

My first job in the newspaper business occurred in 1984 as a newspaper delivery boy, pitching rolled-up and rubber-banded copies of the Honolulu Star Bulletin at the doors of local stores from the seat of my 1983, chrome Huffy Pro Thunder 3 bicycle.

Each afternoon I would pick-up 60-ish newspapers from the drop point, fold and band them and then tuck them neatly into my carrier bag with Star Bulletin proudly silkscreened across the front canvas.

National Newspaper Carrier Day is on September 4, which falls on a Sunday this year. Anyone who had a “paper route” like I did knows that the delivery of the Sunday edition of the newspaper often took herculean-efforts as the size of the paper quadrupled. Most Sundays I would ditch the bicycle and my dad would drive me through the business district route, once or twice a morning giving me a nudge to wake me between drops (thanks Dad.) The Sunday edition was, and still is, the home to the two-sheet, color, funny pages. There was a bit of a rush being one of the first people to see the paper on the Lord’s Day back then and between the Peanuts and Garfield comic strips and the baseball box scores, I knew, at the age of 12, that newspaper were something I wanted to be a part of.

Flash forward some 30 years and a lot of things have changed in newspapers, but many things remain the same. There is a popular misconception that newspapers are no longer relevant in a world with 24-hour news and “facts” at your fingertips via the internet. British comedian John Oliver (host of HBO’s Last Week Tonight) recently did a 20-minute bit on newspapers and in the beginning of the segment showed 15 different cable news hosts citing sources from newspapers for their stories.

“It’s pretty obvious, without newspapers around to cite, TV news would just be Wolf Blitzer batting a ball of yarn around,” Oliver concluded.

What did Oliver’s commentary have to do with newspaper carriers? Nothing. It just gave me a swell of pride to be a “journalist” and I apologize for the tangent (as I cited a TV source for a newspaper column.)

One thing that has changed in the newspaper industry is how you, the reader, receive the newspaper these days. Many of you are old-school and only want the printed copy of the paper each week (and I love each of you.) Some of you prefer to only read the newspaper online each week and I love you too, just not as much. For the print-readers, 30 years ago, you might have had a knucklehead like me pitching your paper onto the bushes in your front yard for you to retrieve in your bathrobe.

Today, most papers are delivered by adults in vehicles or through the mail, which is more reliable, cost effective and safe. That said, ft adult delivery also robs some youth of first time, part-time jobs and unlike myself 30 years ago, the lack of that position can’t inspire today’s youth to aspire to be a member of the Fourth Estate in the future. Today’s youth will never know how it feels to slide their head through the hole of a double-sided carrier bag full of papers as they head out for their deliveries nor the pit in their stomach knocking on a door to ask Mr. Smith why his subscription payment is late. Ultimately, that is my fault and in the coming months, don’t be surprised to see a paper-boy/girl bicycling around Phillips County at some point.

Thanks for reading (both print and online) and aloha.