GREENSBORO, NC -- I was speaking to an acquaintance at a party on Friday and she told me that she and her husband are retiring from their News & Record paper route at the end of the year, she after more than 22 years on the job.
I thought that was remarkable -- that someone would stick with such an unconventional job for so long. More remarkable, I thought, because she also has a professional day job that makes getting up at 3:30 every morning seem impossible to do for the decades she has done it.
Yet, News & Record editor John Robinson tells me she's not alone: "I’m told that we have several carriers with 30 years on the job and at least one who has been delivering papers for more than 34 years," he writes.
Amazing. While they apparently don't have the "record," congratulations to Frances and Tom Deering for their dedication. Now get some sleep.
Thanks Roch for this blog. The main reason we've decided to retire from delivering news papers (New&Record, WSJ,USA TODAY,IBD) is because subscriptions have dropped significantly. With so many other means of obtaining the news during these difficult economic times, the general public has cut back their personal costs by dropping subscriptions. Tom took the time to calculate the cost of gas, upkeep on the vehicles, cost of distribution supplies(bags & rubber bands) plus our time delivering and found our profit marginal. Not to mention that the N&R charges $3.00 per "missed" paper. Profit on a 7 day subscription is less than that. Myself, well I just wanted the grandchildren to be able to spend the night. We have two days left to deliver our customers. We've booked a hotel room out of town to celebrate and get some "sleep". If any of your readers want a 60% savings on a subscription to the N&R they can give me a call @ 451-9385 before 12/31/10. Frances Deering
ReplyDelete