The life of a paper boy

Paper Boy
Independence Examiner
1937-1940



The following is a brief description of how and by whom the Independence Examiner was delivered to some of the homes in the years of 1937 to 1940. It is based on my experience, but is typical of others.

I carried the Independence Examiner while I was attending high school. I acquired my paper route in the summer of 1937, which was my sophomore year in high school. I carried papers on the route until the year I graduated from high school in the spring of 1940. These years were the last years of world peace and the beginning of World War II. It was a time of some uncertainty about the future, but I don’t recall being too apprehensive.

In those days girls did not carry the paper. The boys that had paper routes had to be a least 14 years of age. They were called “contract carriers” and most delivered the papers by walking the routes. In my particular case, I was only allowed to use a bicycle on Saturday mornings to collect for the paper subscriptions. I could not use my bicycle to carry the papers during the week. A few of the fellows were allowed to ride bicycles everyday, because of the distance they had to travel. That was mostly routes located in the outlying areas in the suburbs. I think the bicycle riding restrictions were based on safety or insurance, but I’m not sure.

Our high school classes dismissed at 3:15 p.m. every day. We carriers would walk up Lexington Street to the Examiner office, which was located on the corner of Spring and Lexington streets. We would go behind the building on the south, to the doorway on the alley and wait to be called to get our papers. I usually was one of the last to be called because my route was close and they gave out the papers in order of how far away the boy had to travel to get to his route. My route started at the corner of Delaware and Van Horn (Truman Road) streets. This was only about 4 blocks from the office and at that time, I was not cognizant of how well-known that corner would become in later years.

It was at this time each day, while we were waiting to get our papers that we were given any “complaints” or new subscriptions that had come into the office. If you got a complaint, it was a red slip of paper and said whether you had missed the customer entirely or had not thrown the paper right in front of the door on the porch. I don’t remember too many complaints with any of the carriers, but there were a few. If you got a complaint it meant that some money was deducted from your next money settlement with the office when you paid for your papers.

The gentleman in charge of the carriers was Mr. G.R. Boyd, whose title was Circulation Manager. He was not harsh, but strict. One rule that he had was soliciting new subscribers on your route. I can’t remember whether it was three every day or each week, but we were supposed to knock on doors and ask people to take the paper. Of course after you had gotten familiar with your route and knew most of the people, it seemed a waste of time for us to keep going back to the same houses time after time. In fact, some of the people were so strapped for money, and also did not want to be bothered, that they actually got mad at us.

When I first started carrying the papers, the subscription rate was 10 cents a week. Shortly after I started, it was raised to 15 cents a week. When that happened, I lost from about 110 subscribers down to about 90. Within a year I had built it back up to the 110 level and it stayed about that level the rest of the time I was involved.

We would collect the money for the subscriptions every Saturday morning. Then at noon, or shortly after, we would go to the office and pay for our subscriptions and also pick up the Saturday paper for delivery. I always paid in cash, because I always got cash from the customers. You must remember, this was during the Depression and people were watching their money. The best I remember is that for each 15 cents I collected, I paid the office 9 cents and kept 6 cents. Consequently, we learned about business and profit and loss. I remember that I did not take more than two extra or spare papers, every extra you took was 9 cents loss each week.

Mr. Boyd had another rule for carriers, every boy had to open a savings account in one of the local banks and deposit a certain minimum amount of money each month. You had to show Mr. Boyd your bank book every month to prove that you were saving money.

Carrying the papers day in and day out, year around, was a full-time enterprise. You could not get involved in much after school activities and even in the summer had to be aware of where you could go and always be at the office to pick up your papers. The few times that I went on vacation I had to get a boy to throw the papers for me. Another factor for some of the boys was R.O.T.C. I took R.O.T.C. all three years in high school, so I had to wear the uniform (furnished by the government) four of the five school days. I was concerned about getting the uniform dirty, so I bought a pair of coveralls to put on over my uniform. This protected the uniform and only was a problem when in the early fall or late spring, when the weather was warm. In the winter, the extra clothing was appreciated.

We carried the papers in a twin sack arrangement that you put over your head. There was a sack or pouch in the front of you and also one that hung in the back. You put the unrolled papers in the back pouch and the rolled papers in the front pouch. We rolled the papers and bent them into a boomerang shape. This prevented the papers from coming unrolled and allowed you to throw them with some accuracy. Also, this allowed us to throw the papers right in the front of the door, on the front porch (which was a requirement) and not have to walk up to each porch. It could be done from the sidewalks. Most boys with some experience and practice got rather good at throwing the papers. We could get complaints for not hitting the porch or tearing the paper. I never broke a pane of glass, but imagine it happened.

All in all, it was quite an experience for a boy. On my route, I got to know most of the people whether they were subscribers or not. I remember one nice lady that in the winter on the coldest days would always have some hot chocolate for me if I wanted to stop and warm up. I did this on many occasions when the temperature was down below 20 degrees.

It was also a chore to keep the papers dry on rainy or snowy days. The two pouches on our sack device, both had covers, but this did not work perfectly, so we always were fighting the elements.

Dogs were a problem, they were not only after the boys, but sometimes would carry off the papers after we threw them. I was only bitten once and that was by a Wire Haired Fox Terrier. The dog would come out of his yard and follow me and if I did not notice him quick enough, he would try to bite me on the back of my legs. I solved that problem with my trusty “Six-Shot” water pistol. I loaded it with a solution of water and a small amount of ammonia. The next time the dog came after me, I turned quickly and shot him right in the fact about three times. He let out a yelp and ran back to his house as fast as he could for the back of the house where he lived.

The large dogs did not bother me as much, I spent time letting them get used to me. I did this by being very careful and standing still, to let them smell me and get acquainted. Usually, after about a week of this, I never had any problems with them, because I did not have to go into their yards, only on Saturdays to collect. In those days, many dogs were allowed to run loose, so all children grew up with dogs around and had been taught, and also learned by experience, how to adjust for different dogs.

One item that I remember was the 40th Anniversary Edition of the Examiner. This issue came out in February of 1938. It was a very large paper and much too big for we carriers to handle all at once. The Circulation Department took care of the problem by giving us only 1/2 of our papers at the time of pick up and delivered the other half to a point on the route, that was about halfway around the route. I do remember that we lucked out and the weather was good and not too cold or stormy.

There was quite a bit of competition for the paper routes. There was always a waiting list for the routes. I remember that in the group of boys that started carrying papers in 1937, some of them quit after the first year or less. It generally was a case where the route was interfering too much with their school activities. Some of us though carried the entire three years.

 The northeast section of my route, in the area where McCoy Park is now located south of Truman Library, was a “poorer” area of town. The houses were called “shacks” and most of the people in that area were black. I remember that when I carried papers in or near that part of the route, black children would come and ask me for “an extra.” I would tell them that I did not have any and as soon as my back was turned, the rocks started flying. I solved that problem by getting day old papers at the office and gave them away. This did not cost me anything and satisfied the kids.

All in all, I think that each one of us that carried the papers in those days learned a lot about life, which helped us in later life. We learned to be committed to a task and to stick with it to the end. It also taught us to assume some responsibility, both personally and as a group. This helped many of us in World War II.

Robert L. McKim, 1997