Pittsburgh Press (afternoon, Sunday AM, Sat night bulldog (Sun paper on Sat after 1800), 90 customers, 5Y 1962 (7th grade) through high school graduation, 6/67. It was in the city and hilly. Every block had a 'high' side (houses elevated above street level and 'low' side, houses at or below street level. You had just about every house on a block or groups of houses separated by hills.
I tried a bike once or twice (Schwinn Spitfire, 26" balloon tires), but it did not work out, due to the hills and stopping for each house, and for houses on the 'high' you generally had short cuts eliminating the need to go down to the street on each house. You might come 4 or 5 houses away from the bike. It was easier to load 30, 40, 50 papers in the bag(s) and just go slowly up the hills. After a short while, the weight worked off faster than you thought. It also taught you patience. I still remember the size of the headlines the Friday Kennedy was shot. Sad day. You got to see the headline many times delivering that day. I'm happy to see the responses, ex-paper boys seem to be like a brotherhood. On Tuesday, September 7, 2021 at 12:29:01 PM UTC-4 Drew Saunders wrote: > Hartford Courant from 1979 to about 1984 or so. Didn't deliver on a bike, > but my Dad fashioned a 2-wheeled cart that my dog would pull to carry the > papers. He became quite the celebrity within that neighborhood, and often > got better holiday tips than I did. If the temp was below 0 F, I could ask > my Dad to drive me, and he drove us (my brothers were also paper boys, and > I inherited this route from one of them) on Sundays when the papers were > huge. > > My dog was a half Basenji half Beagle, and quite strong for a small-ish > medium sized dog. In the '70's, Basenji's were larger than they've been > bred to be now, they seem to be on their way to becoming toy dogs (aren't > they all?). Basenjis are "primitive" dogs (sometimes called "Pariah Dogs" > or basal breeds) and are known for not barking, as well as being almost > cat-like in many ways. Beagles are known for not shutting up when they want > to bark. Rex would try to bark, but end up in a yodel/howl that probably > really freaked out the neighbors. He loved pulling the cart, and got rather > pudgy after I quit the paper route and he retired. I can neither confirm > nor deny any car dents from him allegedly bashing the cart into parked cars > while he may or may not have been pulling the cart off leash... > > I made enough from that job to pay for my own school-associated trip to > France the summer after I graduated high school, so yay! > > Drew > > On Tuesday, September 7, 2021 at 8:26:02 AM UTC-7 Matt Beecher wrote: > >> I would not classify myself as having been a paper boy, but I would cover >> for my friend when he was ill/traveling. It was a terrible job, compared to >> mowing lawns/shoveling snow, where I made far more money and did not have >> to get up super early or working in cold rain. I remember that I had to >> get there early, to bundle be papers into those plastic sleeves, or they >> could get soaked. It was an awful system. >> >> Best regards, >> Matt in Peoria, IL at that time. >> >> >> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/f7740cfb-5db3-4ec9-b92f-854a9b661a3an%40googlegroups.com.
