Do you remember what your first job was?
Is it a vivid memory, or something you try and push out of your head?
Mine came when I was younger. I had to be in my early teens. But this job was one many younger kids had – delivering newspapers. This wasn’t just a normal newspaper, though. Oh no. This was the County Shopper – our local “Pennysaver” sort of paper.
And this is back when people actually utilized these papers. Not only were they thick in just the paper itself, but then there were inserts.
Thankfully, it was only weekly.
Side note: This paper still exists. It’s now delivered via the mail (and it annoys me how much space it takes in my PO Box, just to be thrown away), and it is much, much thinner than when I delivered it. Also, I don’t believe there are really inserts anymore, either.
Anyway, back to our normal broadcast.
The good part was that it was free and all we had to do was walk along and throw the paper on every porch. The bad part about it was everything else. With daily or weekly newspapers, there were subscriptions, so you had to pay attention to where you delivered. Not the County Shopper. Everybody got one.
So, the younger version of me took on this job. We had double carriers (think of a newspaper bag – the canvas ones. This one you put over your head and it rested on both shoulders with a bag in the front, and a bag in the back. And it was filled with papers.
Delivery day started the same – you went to the office and outside was a garage where carriers filled up. That included those of us who delivered in the village and the drivers who delivered elsewhere. For those of us delivering in the village, we’d have to roll the papers, put a rubberband around them and then start packing them into your sack.
Now, I don’t recall how many I delivered each week. I also don’t remember how much I was paid, or anything about the route itself. I honestly don’t even recall if it was one fill up per week, or if we had to go back for seconds.
I do remember carrying those papers was heavy and cumbersome.
But it was a job and I got some money for things like baseball cards.
Who knows how long I did this work – I’d wager a couple of years. This place has moved two times since I worked there. The spot it used to be has apartments now. It’s a vivid memory carrying those papers, but the details beyond that escape me. It’s funny that I continued in some sort of newspaper for many years before making the move to public relations.
How about you? What was your first job and what do you remember about it?
This post is part of the 2022 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the links (intro I themes) if you’d like to see the setup and themes! You don’t have to do every theme if you don’t want to! And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants!
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Funny, when I wrote my own post, I totally forgot that I was delivering weekly newspapers myself! Not permanently though, I was a classmate’s summer break replacement. I enjoyed doing it. In Switzerland you can’t just through them on people’s front porch though, you have to get off your bike, walk to the mailbox and place it there. On the plus side, you got to see a lot of driveways and front yards.
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