 
Little_buddy
Member
Username: Little_buddy
Post Number: 84
Registered: 03-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2008 - 5:31 pm: |    |
I subbed for a friend delivering the paper in the morning. Had this neat wagon I made out of a pallet, four wheels, front two turned, could stack four stacks on it. had a compartment underneath for the route books and donuts and hot chocolate(from tasty cream donuts in Allen Park), also was able to hide magazines that I didn't want my folks to see in a secret compartment that I would look at at the end of a block, kind of a reward. Those seems like such great times compared to what goes on now. |
Mortgageking
Member
Username: Mortgageking
Post Number: 45
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2008 - 5:35 pm: | |
My father wears sneakers in the pool |
Downriviera
Member
Username: Downriviera
Post Number: 216
Registered: 02-2008
| | Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2008 - 5:38 pm: | |
I had a Free Press route in AP back then. Spent many a morning at Tasty Creme Donuts. |
Jjaba
Member
Username: Jjaba
Post Number: 6282
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2008 - 5:58 pm: | |
Ray1936 and jjaba were Detroit Times carriers in the 1950s.
Working for Jim Beyers out of Washburn and Grand River Station, we were powered by a 12 oz. Pepsi with bag of Planters Peanuts stuffed down the neck of the bottle.
jjaba carried 60 papers on his one speed fat tire bike, a Columbia. The route was over a mile from the substation. No carrier had papers delivered to him. Collections were on Friday night and your bill was due on Saturday. And don't bring Beyers a lot of coins in a damn coffee can. Dollar bills must be straight, up, and bundled.
jjaba's father (alva sholem) would give jjaba bigger bills so he had exact change. Mother(alva sholem) and dad then shopped with all the chicken scratch at Wrigley's.
jjaba, Westside memories. |
Downriviera
Member
Username: Downriviera
Post Number: 217
Registered: 02-2008
| | Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2008 - 6:02 pm: | |
Collecting was the worst, you could hear mom telling her kids, "Tell him I'm not home." I got smart though. No pay, no TV guide. That straightened em out real quick. |
Guideboat
Member
Username: Guideboat
Post Number: 19
Registered: 02-2008
| | Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2008 - 6:05 pm: | |
As a Free Press delivery boy I always laughed at the poor News chumps as they slogged their heavy loads of Sunday papers. The Free Press Sunday paper was smaller than the News' Tuesday paper, probably the smallest of the week. I got more money and smaller papers in exchange for getting up earlier . |
Jjaba
Member
Username: Jjaba
Post Number: 6284
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2008 - 6:09 pm: | |
Detroit Times was lighter too, but our routes weren't as compact. Newsboys had volume and load.
And back then it snowed alot!
Guideboat, welcome to The Forum.
jjaba. |
Downriviera
Member
Username: Downriviera
Post Number: 218
Registered: 02-2008
| | Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2008 - 6:11 pm: | |
My challenge on my Free Press route was to make every throw onto the porch. I had a few customers that wanted there paper in the door, I hated this and would only do it if they tipped good. Yea, we terrorized those News boys on Sunday mornings. |
Ray1936
Member
Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 2953
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2008 - 6:12 pm: | |
Collecting was no big problem. Usually did it on Friday. Would get enough to pay my bill, then I'd get the stragglers on Saturday for my profit. Seems like I made about seven bucks a week, which was pretty good money for an 8th grader at the time (1949 or so).
The grunts like me and Jjaba either had a Columbia or a Ward's Hawthorne. The snob kids with the big routes had Schwinns.
We'd fold our papers back then. I can still fold a newspaper tighter than Jjaba's wallet, other than the Sunday edition.
Good weather, toss 'em on the porch as you go. Rainy weather, do some hiking and put 'em between the storm door and the door.
Route was Steel, from Grand River to Gavel, plus a handful of over-store apartments along Grand River.
One paper went to George's "Tower Sweet Shop", across from the Tower theatre. A handful of fresh popcorn was a dandy daily tip.
Nice to have a second vocation one can always fall back on. |
Downriviera
Member
Username: Downriviera
Post Number: 219
Registered: 02-2008
| | Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2008 - 6:19 pm: | |
Ray, collecting on a Saturday was a big problem. Lots of better things to do, like hang out by the tracks smokin cigarettes and hopefully someone would bring a Playboy stolen from their dad. |
Gene
Member
Username: Gene
Post Number: 97
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2008 - 6:27 pm: | |
Anyone remember the Detroit News Bulldog Edition?
It had as I recall horse racing results, had a few customers that got it Saturday evening. Hated the extra delivery but tips were good when they won.
White Castles and hot chocolate on Sunday morning after the route was done.
Remember the Detroit News life insurance? I recall it was like 25 cents a week extra. Wonder if anyone ever collected on it.
How about all the fooling around that went on at the station when the truck was late.
Great times. |
Ladyinabag
Member
Username: Ladyinabag
Post Number: 541
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2008 - 6:55 pm: | |
When was this....1950? What route was it....Daily Tribune? It seems that this is the only route that you can do today with a wagon. I remember the insurance with The News. My mother had it and collected it when my father died. No collecting the News or Free Press anymore. They charge a service charge and keep it. The carrier doesn't get it. The customer assumes that they do but they don't. Consequently, the carrier rarely gets tipped anymore. I have a USA Today single-copy route. By the way, there are USA routes available. M-F, all week-ends and holidays off.
(Message edited by Ladyinabag on April 03, 2008) |
Mcp001
Member
Username: Mcp001
Post Number: 3363
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2008 - 7:47 pm: | |
So that explains why the free press carriers were such scrawny wimps, Guideboat.
Go out and toss 100+ sheets on a Sunday Morning (after filling them).
That'll put hair on your chest! |
Jjaba
Member
Username: Jjaba
Post Number: 6285
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2008 - 8:07 pm: | |
Yes, Bulldogs too.
jjaba sold them out the back door of Sears, Oakman. They were delivered Sat. afternoons about 4pm and jjaba stood there until 9pm when Sears closed, then rode home on his bike.
"Sunday papers here! Get your Times Sundays."
Ray1936 is referring to "dooring 'em." A complete pain in the ass except in bad rain and snow. We never ever had plastic bags back then.
jjaba could fold his papers to all fit in a single handle-bar bag. They were tighter than Ray1936 coming home from the bar, lemme tell ya.
jjaba had all individual residences, no apts., no lollipop commerical work.
Now you never see the newsboy or woman. They come in dead of night by car and no fucking telling where you'll find the paper. But jjaba does tip for good service. All billing is done by mail or electronic these days. Damn impersonal. And they frequently foul up vacation holds. We were masters, face it.
jjaba loved xmas tips, got 'em every yr. since nobody ever knows when it's Chanukkah. |
Jjaba
Member
Username: Jjaba
Post Number: 6286
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2008 - 8:08 pm: | |
Is The Old Newsboys Club still around?
Anybody got info.?
jjaba remembers them from events at Briggs Stadium.
jjaba. |
Downriviera
Member
Username: Downriviera
Post Number: 221
Registered: 02-2008
| | Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2008 - 8:21 pm: | |
No matter how bad the weather was, thunderstorms or snow, my dad would never drive me on my Free Press route. My mom would be crying, begging him to drive me, but he would have none of it. I never understood it then, but I did years later. Thanks dad, I miss ya.
(Message edited by Downriviera on April 04, 2008) |
Ray1936
Member
Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 2955
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2008 - 8:30 pm: | |
The Detroit Times had a nickel insurance policy gimmick. I hated it because the weekly cost without the policy was 45c. Most folks said keep the nickel. The policy brought it up to 50c, and usually, no "keep the change" words in my ear.
I had one customer that took Sunday only for 15c. He always gave me a quarter and waived any change. Good man.
As Jjaba notes, my Vegas paper comes in the wee, small hours. But it's out there every morning, and the vacation stops/starts have always been on the button. I start every morning off with the morning paper and a pot of coffee. That usually kills an hour. Then it's e-mail and DY. That's another hour. Then it's time to do something practical.  |
The_rock
Member
Username: The_rock
Post Number: 2227
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2008 - 9:06 pm: | |
jjaba and his 60 papers. Big Deal. Try about 120 Detroit Shopping News delivered twice a week, Wed and Sat mornings. It was a free service, no tips, no nothing from the customers other than an irate customer yelling at us not to deliver the damn thing at their house. No thank yous, no nuttin'.
120 papers dropped off on your front yard, your job to go out and pick them up, then fold them neatly and tuck them into a Detroit Shopping News (canvas bag) that really was meant to hold about 90 tops.
Weighed a ton while balanced precariously on your bike. 2 hours to deliver each time, rain or shine. Dogs barking and nipping at your legs, all this grief for a buck an outing.
News, Freep and Det Times delivery boys had it made. Soft job, big bucks, but it was the lowly Detroit Shopping News carriers that became groomed for the REAL world. |
Pgn421
Member
Username: Pgn421
Post Number: 495
Registered: 02-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2008 - 9:11 pm: | |
rock-where was your route? i had a SN route here on the eastside.160 customers |
Jrvass
Member
Username: Jrvass
Post Number: 604
Registered: 01-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2008 - 9:35 pm: | |
I'll do you all better... Great-great Grandpa Charles and his brother Fred delivered the German newspaper in the 1830-40's. One has West of Woodward, the other east.
My brother and I delivered the DFP. He'd drive down the street and say "That house, that one, not that one, that one." and give me 3 papers.
I made 25 cents a day. |
Eastburn
Member
Username: Eastburn
Post Number: 24
Registered: 03-2008
| | Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2008 - 9:59 pm: | |
63 Detroit Times customers on Eastburn, Bringard & Edmore west of Gratiot. 11 years old in 1955. Wonder how many kids today learn that type of responsibility.
The Sunday edition was more than the handlebar bag could carry so I had canvas saddlebags that rode on the rear fender. The high point of the week was collection day which always included coneys at the Dog House on Gratiot across from Saratoga hospital. Great dogs!
(Message edited by eastburn on April 03, 2008) |
Tponetom
Member
Username: Tponetom
Post Number: 290
Registered: 06-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2008 - 10:36 pm: | |
I wish you ex-carriers would stop flaunting the wealth you accumulated from your paper routes.
My best week in two months was when I lost only 50 cents because some of those deadbeats in 1942. (Of course they were not permanent Detroiters.) |
Jjaba
Member
Username: Jjaba
Post Number: 6288
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2008 - 11:41 pm: | |
jjaba doesn't flaunt. No mention of his hauls.
Tponetom, everybody in our substation on Washburn and Grand River made money. We worked hard, gave good service, and traced down our customers.
But jjaba will tell you one lesson. If he had a rough time collecting on Friday nights, with the bill due Sat., jjaba's parents fronted him the money. jjaba family had that route 8 yrs. and neither jjaba nor his brother were ever late with the bill. The mgr. could take that route to the bank! That was a good lesson about parenting.
Sometimes it took into the next week to make a profit. Nobody stiffed us in NW Detroit.
Now Rock. jjaba is still digging out the Detroit Shopping News from his gutters, bushes, and from under the porch. And what about those bundles in the alleys? It might shock you, but we delievered ALL of our papers, daily & Sunday.
Talk about character Rock, you sure are one. Weds. and Sat. are two of seven days in a week.
Betcha back than, you even wore socks in the summer.
jjaba, Proudly Detroit Times. |
Rid0617
Member
Username: Rid0617
Post Number: 21
Registered: 03-2008
| | Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2008 - 11:57 pm: | |
OMG that brings back memories. I remember delivering the free press in Harper Woods, little white bag attached to the handlebars and considering delivering Grit so I could make more money. |
Stinger4me
Member
Username: Stinger4me
Post Number: 213
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Friday, April 04, 2008 - 7:50 am: | |
"The_rock"; Did you deliver the Shopping News on the east side or the west side? |
56packman
Member
Username: 56packman
Post Number: 2143
Registered: 12-2005
| | Posted on Friday, April 04, 2008 - 7:56 am: | |
I WANT MY TWO DOLLARS! |
14509glenfield
Member
Username: 14509glenfield
Post Number: 1529
Registered: 05-2006
| | Posted on Friday, April 04, 2008 - 12:59 pm: | |
Had a SN route to begin. Then the "big time" with the evening FP. Yup, the DN, had more concentrated routes and larger papers, substations as opposed to drop points to 4,5, or 6 carriers on the FP routes by a distribution manager. Milk chutes and doors..pain in the _ss. Collecting...repetitive agony. Just maybe you got a grass cutting job for the summer..extra bucks. No "ten-speeds". Parental help....probably not as appreciated as it should have been by concerned parents (dad or mom). Parents just did it and sacrificed.
I deliver papers again now.....all residences out of a vehicle "office-pay" with expiration dates. You never see them in the wee hours of the morning like 3-6 AM. I'm PO-ed when a "inside the door" produces a $2 tip whenever (once a year). Am I out of line?.
Ice skated my FP route in the early 60's when there was freezing rain. $10-$11 a week was the take after cost. Saved almost enough to buy my new vehicle. Stole papers when I was short from the paper box if I was "short". Delivered on Wilfred (Eastside) Gratiot to Hayes.
Just wonder what kind of tip do subscribers leave when they go to....generic....Outback Steakhouse..as an example? And call in (complaint) when..whatever! Yes, carriers are independent contractors. 365 days a year. Who else the 365 thing? President 365/24/7 and others, but few. The internet is not boosting paper PAPERS. Oh well, it was fun in our youth. |
Jjaba
Member
Username: Jjaba
Post Number: 6290
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Friday, April 04, 2008 - 5:09 pm: | |
14509glenfield, pure Eastside with stealing papers out the corner boxes. On the Westside, that was a sure way to get an ass whoopin'.
jjaba always carried plenty of change for customers. Most were generous with coin tips.
Back in the 1950s, you could easily buy a nice lunch for $1.00 so that would have been a really nice tip.
Your profit was similar to jjaba's, delivering the Detroit Times.
jjaba, Westside Memories. |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 1419
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Friday, April 04, 2008 - 10:06 pm: | |
I had a N.E. Detroiter route...once a week...Gratiot to Morang, Fordham and Eastwood...a couple of hundred papers...I could fold a paper tighter than Jjaba's first wife's ass! I had the same issues with collections and door deliveries...if someone stiffed me on collection I made a point of aiming my toss at the empty milk bottles on their porch...it was sort of like mobile bowling from my Columbia one speed...if they were real pr__ks their paper ended up on the roof a couple of times. The best customer was the one who invited me, every collection day, into the house while she went to look for her purse...wearing a completely see-through nightgown...great event for a twelve year old. I think I made about $10/month...not bad for a kid in the early 50's working one day a week. |
The_rock
Member
Username: The_rock
Post Number: 2230
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, April 05, 2008 - 7:29 am: | |
My Detroit Shopping News route in the late 40's was in Birmingham. I lived near Cranbrook and Maple ( WESTSIDE of B'ham, jjaba, imagine that!). About 110 papers stacked at the curb each (early) Wed and Sat morning folded by me,and then balanced on my trusty ( heavy) Schwinn Phantom and then I rode about two miles, just to start the route, over to Chesterfield and Maple, up Chesterfield to Lincoln, and covering each street off Chesterfield.
ALL papers were delivered,left carefully on the front porch, even between the door and the screen door just to make Mrs. Latham happy, NO dumping in fields ( back then we had a LOT of open fields), and I got a check for two dollars mailed to the house the following Monday morning. A buck a delivery. No medical, no dental, no life insurance, no vacation, no sick time, no off-for-birthday, just two bucks for the week and then I had to wait for my dad to cash the check.At least the air in my balloon tires was free.
If I fell a few papers short, I had to come home, call the dispatcher who would leave the necessary papers up near Quarton school and then I would go back again on my beloved Schwinn and finish the route. Dedication, man!
Looking back at it, if I had had any influence, I could have probably gotten one of those plush jobs hawking the Detroit Times like jjaba and Ray36. But, heh, you might as well start with the TOUGH jobs and get conditioned for the real world.
As I recall, the Detroit Times was home-delivered by a young gal, Nancy, and her mother, with momma behind the wheel of their big 4 door Cadillac Fleetwood. What a set of bumpers ( The Cadillac, not Nancy) Real tough,delivering the Times. |
Savannah
Member
Username: Savannah
Post Number: 22
Registered: 02-2008
| | Posted on Saturday, April 05, 2008 - 9:40 am: | |
When I was a kid all the paperboys in Oak Park would get their papers at a brown cinderblock building behind the Baskin Robbins on 9 mile at Seneca. They would sit around there and fold the papers for delivery. The little building had a telephone pole with spikes right next to it,so all the kids in the neighborhood would climb on the roof from time to time. |
Jjaba
Member
Username: Jjaba
Post Number: 6292
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, April 05, 2008 - 12:14 pm: | |
The Rock writes fiction about delivering The Detroit times, a fine Hearst newspaper. We all rode bikes, Columbias and Hawthornes, no Schwinn Flyers, and jjaba only saw Cadillacs on school trips at the factory over on Clark St. Nobody on jjaba's street ever heard about a Cadillac, let alone own one. (Except one car-shop John who worked there and got an old model from a boss who lived in Birmingham.)
The Rock's story is plausible because he's an honest kid in Birmingham. jjaba's never been there. But, Detroit Shopping News delivering within the City Limits was far from his discriptions.
jjaba remembers one Saturday afternoon when our entire Washburn/Grand River Detroit Times substation fanned out to collect the Shopping News from alleys, bushes, gutters, school yards and vacant lots, just so the neighborhood wouldn't confuse those papers with our service.
The Rock was paid about right, given his 2 day-week actualy work. Had he had a collection route, those quarters would have been ready to spend immediately. Yum, a 12oz. Pepsi with the bag of Planters Peanuts dumped down the neck. All for no more than 10 cents.
jjaba, Westside Memories.
ps. And Rock, we hope you didn't scuff up those handsome brown Oxford lace-ups you wore riding that Schwinn. |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 1425
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, April 05, 2008 - 1:31 pm: | |
Rock: Its a bit of thread jacking...but...my best friend who now lives in Chicago is from B'ham...his father was the senior pastor at Redeemer Lutheran on Maple...I think Doug graduated in 1957...any connection? |
East_detroit
Member
Username: East_detroit
Post Number: 1669
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, April 05, 2008 - 1:43 pm: | |
I had a Free Press route with 127 customers. 1.5 miles over 3 streets and I lived on the end of one of them... so I was always trying to calculate a way to not end up .5 miles away from home when done.
Collecting was the worst and these days they dont have to.
When I gave the route back, the manager collected with the new carrier and so many people lied about having already paid that the Free Press kept my bond. I guess I learned something about human nature that day.
I also learned that when people tipped I said "Thanks" and when they didnt I said "Thank you". It wasnt planned, but it was kinda interesting when I realized it. |
Downriviera
Member
Username: Downriviera
Post Number: 227
Registered: 02-2008
| | Posted on Saturday, April 05, 2008 - 1:56 pm: | |
I had a transistor radio taped to my handle bar while delivering my Free Press route at 4am tuned to CKLW. Always loved it when Seger's Heavy Music would come on. |
Ggores
Member
Username: Ggores
Post Number: 40
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, April 05, 2008 - 2:23 pm: | |
Ok. I'll bite. Steve was one helluva paper delivery boy for The News. I was too, for that matter, but that's another shtory. We delivered seven days a week over in the ghetto, Brightmoor, knew EVERYbody, and typically we all pulled in 80 or 90 bucks a week (even more when we subbed). Not bad for 12 year olds. Well, The News would have these new subscription blitz's, you'd get these green tickets for new subscribers and your new customer would get a month or so of free papers. Kenny, our insane friend, and Station Captain, well, he hustled enough "new" subscriptions and actually won a trip to Nassau, Bahamaland. I won a radio, and my new subscriptions were real. One summer day Steve and I were slacking around, watching our favorite Channel 50 daytime programs (Twilight Zone, Adams Family, Munsters, Green Acres, etc.) on his brand new black and white television which he won for getting about 150 "new" subscribers. He would pick up his papers at The Station and promptly dump them in bushes, go home, and watch he t.v. Heh. Well, Mr. Johnston (our Station MANAGER) blew a gasket when he found out about all of this falsification going on amongst his otherwise trustworthy and duty-bound carriers (we WERE really good). So Steve was "fired". Here's how good old Steve was.
So we're watching his new B&W telee, and there's a knock at the door. Hm. Lo and behold, it was Mister Johnston. "Steve", he says, "I come here because I want to bury the hatchet. Please come back."
He actually said "bury the hatchet". We laughed for years over that one. Steve DID go back to his delivery gig, but I don't think he ever quite broke the habit of simply dumping his Sunday papers in the bushes. Yes, D, I couldn't resist. Sorry for the long post. |
Gamblingabes
Member
Username: Gamblingabes
Post Number: 4
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Saturday, April 05, 2008 - 2:55 pm: | |
During the mid-70's my mom wouldn't let me take on a route due to the stories of newsboys getting jumped on friday afternoons during weekly collections. I hated washing dishes at the local dives along W. Vernor, which was about the only other available job for a 11-13 year old. My alternative was to bid on a sunday corner route, hawking 100 FP & 100 DN every sunday at the corner of W.Vernor & Springwells. It was a beautiful arrangement for a couple of years, I typically made more in tips
on a sunday morning working from 6 am until the last mass got out @ St. Gabe's, than any other carrier I knew made in a week. Sunday edition cost was 50 cents, most people just handed over a dollar and told me to keep the change.
Best part of the whole arrangement was the free
breakfast at City Coney Island in exchange for a
Freep sports section. |
Jjaba
Member
Username: Jjaba
Post Number: 6295
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, April 05, 2008 - 6:00 pm: | |
Gamblingabes. Welcome to the Forum. Your post 4 is a classic. Nice adjustment to the turn of times in Detroit.
In the 1950s, jjaba never heard of any problems amongst paperboys being bothered on collection nights. jjaba lived on Northlawn, near Schoolcraft and had several of those blocks on his Detroit Times route. Streets like Ohio, Northlawn, Cherrylawn, Roselawn, Greenlawn, Intervale.
It was always good to smell the food on Friday nights when patrons opened the door to pay us.
We lived in a United Nations of ethnic groups.
jjaba.
jjaba, Westside Memories. |
Hamtragedy
Member
Username: Hamtragedy
Post Number: 131
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, April 05, 2008 - 11:58 pm: | |
Reaganomics hit just after the bottle deposit law hit. If customers didn't have enough ($1.40) we knew there were bottles under the sink we could take. There used to be those 20 cent faygo deposits which would fill up the paper bag on Friday nites, just so we didn't have to come back again.
But for those customers who always complained when the papers got wet (thru their own screen doors in a torrential downpour) then never answered the door, then never tipped, we got even. After every New Year's when the Christmas trees came out for the garbage, we would drag them, usually in the sled, and pile them on the dead-beats' front lawns. For that first week in January, for three straight years, on Abington and Rutland in Grandmont, you could find 10-15 houses where the front lawns became "tree depositories."
Damn paperboys! |
Jjaba
Member
Username: Jjaba
Post Number: 6296
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, April 06, 2008 - 12:04 am: | |
Hamtragedy, fogetaboutit. Dump the chumps.
Money talks, bullshitt walks. jjaba just can't imagine taking pop bottles as payment for newspaper deliveries. Either you wanna read the paper or not. Those streets you mention are hardly slums with slum dwellers. Dump the chumps.
jjaba, standing up for newsboys. |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 1429
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, April 06, 2008 - 3:33 pm: | |
Three cheers for Jjaba, the Walter Reuther of the United News Carriers. |
The_rock
Member
Username: The_rock
Post Number: 2233
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, April 06, 2008 - 3:40 pm: | |
56packman---"I want my two dollars". Now, that was funny. Admittedly, I did not have to collect,so my 2 bucks by check in the mail was a "benefit", I guess.
goblue--I knew the Lutheran church well although we were not members and did not know the pastor. I probably passed by that church more times than any other church ( other than Holy Name) during the time I lived in B'ham. Lovely structure, kinda reminds me of the GP Congregational Church.
jjaba-the WR of newsboys? Interesting. I wonder if jjaba was hawking papers during the "Battle of the Overpass"? |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 1431
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, April 06, 2008 - 4:13 pm: | |
Rock: Wasn't the time of the "Battle of the Overpass" in the 30's...I think at that point Jjaba's daddy was still tryin' to get his mama into the backseat. Jjaba did lead some semi-violent sit-in's in the 60's though...I think he got a purple heart for getting hit with a cream pie once...he's been a social activist/agitator pretty much all of his adult life...proudly so.
Yeah...Redeemer is a pretty church...after my buddy's dad died in the early 60's his brother took over as pastor...he retired not too long ago. I played softball for the church for a couple of years around 1960-61...even though I was a ringer from the eastside. |
Jjaba
Member
Username: Jjaba
Post Number: 6297
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, April 06, 2008 - 4:21 pm: | |
Harry Bennett and jjaba go way back, but jjaba was not selling papers on the Miller Rd. overpass.
jjaba's point is simple. When you employ a kid to do ANY service, don't fuck over the money with him/her. The relative pay is low enough, without hassling them too.
Seldom can jjaba think where Detroit Times customers ever quibbled about their bill. If they went on vacation and forgot to tell ya, you'd see a couple of papers pile up. Door 'em, and cut off service immediately. So big deal, you paid for a couple of papers w/o collecting on them.
Better to be bitched out about no deliveries than to set up a customer for a stack of un-read and un-wanted papers on the porch. That's how B&Es can occur.
Even when the paper was free like The Rock's Detroit Shopping News, he never delivered when somebody was obviously on vacation. jjaba is sure nobody called him on vacation holds, unless they wanted the papers for kitty box liners. jjaba hears they were good for that.
jjaba, Proudly Detroit Times. |
The_rock
Member
Username: The_rock
Post Number: 2235
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Monday, April 07, 2008 - 12:44 pm: | |
Actually, goblue,I recall when Phil's Market opened on the corner of Maple and Chesterfield. Phil wanted to get a liquor license, but the State told him "no", as his store was located too near a Church. In this case it was Lutheran Redeemer, just to the West of the small shopping center where Phil was first located.
My dad was a lobbyist is Lansing and met with the State Liquor Control Commission and I believe with the Pastor of the church, and it all worked out. The church was more than tolerant.
Yes, jjaba is kind of a pain in the whatnot, but there are those of us who love him anyway. Just as his idol, Harry Bennett, once wrote a book called" We Never Called Him Henry",(great reading) someday jjaba will write a bestseller called "We Never Called Him Lowell". And yes again, The Great Westsider is an advocate. Always sticks up for the poor folks and the working class. Shoulda gone to law school. He could have unionized "us newsboys".
I have always had a soft spot for those who delivered/hawked newspapers. I have home delivery of the Freep, the News and the NYT. My "delivery person" begins her day at 4 AM. Tough duty. |
Jjaba
Member
Username: Jjaba
Post Number: 6307
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Monday, April 07, 2008 - 5:23 pm: | |
Continuing The Rock 2235,
"And I tip the newscarriers like a drunken sailor."
jjaba, thanks for the nice words Rock. Law school? That takes brains I hear. |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 1439
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Monday, April 07, 2008 - 11:11 pm: | |
Rock: The Redeemer pastor, Rev. Theodore Wuggager, was a very tolerant and reasonable man. He died too early...a heart attack when he was 60.
You are correct...Jjaba shoulda gone to law school...instead of social work...nonetheless he has never lost his focus...his father would be proud.
We live in a semi-rural area here in AZ...our paper deliver folks (NY Times, AZ Republic, and the local) have the papers in our drive no later than 5:30 A.M....you are correct...its tough duty. Not unlike Wal-Mart...a good union would go a long way. |