See You Next Sunday

A Few Thoughts from One Silent Newspaper Distribution Professional in America

See You Next Sunday

It is the dreaded question that always comes up eventually during any conversation with someone I've just met. "So, what exactly do you do for a living?" It is a question that is very hard to answer without further reinforcing the incorrect stereotypical images that the American public holds when you inform them that you earn your living as a newspaper carrier.

For the typical American choosing to be a newspaper carrier is akin to being a derelict: a person who must be bereft of intellectual skills, personal responsibility, or aspirations. I've seen that awkwardness exhibited once I tell someone what my profession is. They might shift from foot to foot, or they might have that vacant look in their eyes that almost cries out about how embarrassed they are for me. If they only knew what it is really like to do our job well.

We are not young people who deliver a handful of newspapers by bicycle or on foot to a small number of customers in some suburban home development. In reality, newspaper delivery is increasingly handled by adults, who manage large and diverse routes. They often take on routes as a spare job in addition to their normal forty hour a week job. Carriers come in all ages, and from all walks of life. I've worked side by side with school vice-principals, bankers, musicians, college professors, and many other very smart and well educated people.

The job requires an ability to be nuanced. My job in particular requires managing relationships between the newspaper and the public, with both residential and commercial clients, as well as store accounts, vending machines, and corporations in and around Wasco County Oregon, each of whom have different needs to serve. The job also requires a strict attention to detail, physical fitness, and emotional resilience.