What Happened to The Paperboy?
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Not as many physical newspapers are being produced as they once were causing paperboy and girls to be a thing in the past.
The boy or girl riding their bike throwing news papers in peoples yards or bushes was 13% of how newspapers delivered their papers in 2008. It has declined 70% from 1990.
Newspaper companies are now more cost-conscious than they once were and are finding ways to save as much as possible. They have switched to distribution centers in order to deliver more papers in a wider area. The paperboys and girls have been replaced by adults who can drive.
Paperboys and girls use to collect subscribers money today few carriers do so. Today's carriers drive up and put the newspapers in mailboxes and drive away.
Culture is another factor of the near extinct paperboys and girls. Kids simply do not walk to places like they use to. The percentage of walkers was 50% in the 1960's and is now down to 16%.
Kids not walking to as many places could be a result of having the fear of being kidnapped. Another factor is more families are moving from suburbs to exurbs and live too far away from places to be able to walk to them.
The paperboys and girls are not completely gone, there is just not as many in today's society. We can thank The U.S. daily and the Times News for keeping the nearly extinct population of paperboys and girls in existence today.
The U.S. daily and the Times News have around 14,000 subscribers and they employ all youth carriers to deliver their papers. They pay the kids 12 to 15 cents per delivery depending on how close together the homes are on their routes.
Photo Credit: Creative Commons, Kelly B.
3 comments:
In some ways, I think it's kind of sad that paperboys and girls no longer exist. I remember my dad telling me stories about when he used to be a paperboy, and it always sounded fairly fun and interesting.
I also think it helped increase a sense of community within a town because the members of the houses would know their paperboys or girls and the different families they belonged to. Without that connection it is much easier to become isolated.
I think it's a tragedy that the paperboy is almost another "thing of the past"! In my neighborhood becoming a paperboy was milestone of growing up. For a boy of 11 or 12 years old to wake before the crack of dawn fold and load all his subscribers papers (bag them if it was winter) then have them delivered to 50-100 subscribers all before 6am 7 days a week 365 days a year rain or shine was one heck of a character builder.
I think it's a tragedy that the paperboy is almost another "thing of the past"! In my neighborhood becoming a paperboy was milestone of growing up. For a boy of 11 or 12 years old to wake before the crack of dawn fold and load all his subscribers papers (bag them if it was winter) then have them delivered to 50-100 subscribers all before 6am 7 days a week 365 days a year rain or shine was one heck of a character builder.
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