Paperboy #3

One of the oddest parts of being a paperboy was the aspect of collecting. I imagine things are done quite differently now, but way back when, the money for the newspapers was collected by the person who delivered the newspapers. The schedule worked so that i had to go door to door once every couple of weeks.

I had a record book that detailed how much each household owed. Each account got one page, and about half of the page was made up of little tickets (chits) with a date written on them. As the customer paid, i would tear off a chit & hand it over to them. People paid in cash. I had one of those metal change making gadgets, the kind that held dimes, nickels, quarters & pennies. I don't actually recall how the money i collected actually got into the hands of the Toronto Star, which means my parents probably handled those details.

The strange thing is that i remember very little of the actual collection of money. I remember going from house to house, knocking on the door but from there i don't recall anyone ever actually handing me money. This is probably because from the moment the customer opened the door, i began unconsciously being affected by everything that was going on in the house at the time.

I suppose examples are in order. There was an elderly couple from down the street who seemed to experience huge mood swings whenever i knocked to collect money. They were either in the best mood in the world or the foulest. I would either get a very large tip (sometimes 5 bucks which was huge) or either of them would freak out on me about the cost of the paper. It took years to figure out, but i eventually realized that the smell that i sometimes noticed was that of whiskey, which explains the vast mood swings.

There was a guy who lived alone. Since he was at the end of my route, by the time i got to him it was usually dark out. His house would be brightly lit up. Whenever i would come knocking to collect, all of the lights in his house would go off & he would come & answer the door. I could barely see the money as it changed hands.

I can remember another couple who would give me conflicting orders. One of them would tell me that i was not to put the paper in the mailbox - it was to go between the doors. Then a few weeks later, one of them would ask why on Earth i was putting the paper between the doors? This sort of back & forth would go on all the time.

One good thing about collecting money was that it helped me with my math at school. It taught me about "counting up" i.e. if you owe me $4.35 and give me a ten, i would produce your change by counting up from $4.35 - 5 cents brings me to $4.40, 10 cents brings me to $4.50, 2 quarters brings me to $5.00, and then a $5 bill would bring me up to the 10 you gave me - thus your change would be $5.65.

The other good thing was Christmas time. Most folks were kind enough to give good sized tips to their paperboy. I made a lot of cash over the holidays.

Next time i'll talk about canvassing for subscriptions.