Becoming a Paperboy

I've already shared a few of my enterprising ways in previous blog posts--how I learned at a pretty young age that if I were to ever get something I wanted for myself I was going to have to do something to earn it. There wasn't much money to go around in our family, and the family values we all shared were not going to just hand it out anyway.

When we moved to Auburn I became a paperboy. It was a perfect fit for me.  I loved riding my bicycle, the town was completely flat with sidewalks throughout, I loved getting away from the family, and I wanted money.  Being a paperboy taught me about managing time and money, responsibility, interaction with people, and other important life skills.  I had customers I loved and customers I hated, and it taught me how to get along with them both.  Apparently, my success with doing it rubbed off on my siblings because at least two of them got paper routes when they got older as well.  As a matter of fact, Jackie was the Auburn Globe News' first female paper carrier, and got herself a mention in their paper for it.  Denis used to deliver his on his unicycle from time to time, and I believe he got his picture in the paper for it.

I took on a route for the Seattle Times at first. I did that route for a year before switching to the Tacoma News Tribune, and I did that paper for another three years, stopping only because I was old enough to get a "real" job.  My paper route was in a older, more established part of Auburn, so a lot of them were older people, having lived in their homes for many years. I don't remember exactly where my first paper route ran, but my long-running News Tribune route was between Main Street and 4th street southeast, and from Auburn Way to M street. That was 4 blocks one way and 12 blocks the other. I didn't have a huge number of customers--I believe it was just under 40. A usual day was from 30 minutes to an hour to do the whole route.

Being a paperboy for any length of time is a feat, let alone doing it for four years. Living in an area that gets rain so many days of the year can test your ability or desire to cope. You have to keep yourself dry, comfortable, and healthy, and above all, you have to keep he newspapers dry and in good shape. Customers don't care how nasty it is outside, they are paying for a product that they expect will be delivered to them on time, in good condition, and placed in a safe place. I took my paper route seriously and would try to do a good job. I respected the wishes of the people that didn't want me riding on their grass or wanted their paper placed in a specific spot.  If it was raining I always tried to put the paper in a good place to keep it dry, like inside their storm door. If it was windy I made sure to tuck the loose edge of the paper under the doormat so it wouldn't blow all over.