I was a newspaper carrier for The Columbian from October 1951 to June 1956. When I got the job, I was excited and happy because all my previous jobs involved picking strawberries and beans during the summer.
The circulation manager at the time was George Coover. He was very friendly and got along well with the newspaper carriers.
Until 1955, The Columbian’s office was located on northwest comer of East Evergreen Boulevard and Broadway. In those days The Columbian was an evening newspaper that was published Monday through Friday. This provided me ample time to go to school and deliver newspapers after.
We carriers would pick up our newspapers and roll them while sitting on benches outside The Columbian. (I am still able to roll a newspaper as I learned to do then.) Then we put the newspapers in cloth bags with “The Columbian” printed on them. We mounted the bags on the front of our bicycles and rode our bikes to our different routes. My first downtown route was not far from where I lived on East 27th Street, which was at the end of Broadway then. I sometimes had as many as 100 customers.
I would ride on the sidewalk and throw the rolled newspaper onto the front porch. My aim was usually good, but once I threw a newspaper that broke a small front-porch window. I don’t remember if the customer made me pay for the damage or not.
I had my share of accidents. Once I was riding my bicycle on Broadway when a driver in a parked car opened his door and hit me. This sent me flying onto the street along with my newspapers. Fortunately I was not seriously injured, just a few bruises on my arms and legs. Another time, I was bitten on the leg by a dog. It broke the skin and was quite painful but I did not need medical attention. The owner of the dog happened to be a friend of the family.
At the end of each month, The Columbian would give each carrier a bill for the number of newspapers delivered that month. This required carriers to prepare receipts and collect money from each customer. This was normally done during evening hours when customers were at home. I remember many times knocking or ringing the doorbell and saying, “Collect for The Columbian.”
If a customer failed to pay or moved out without paying for the newspaper, we carriers would still be required to pay the bill, with the money coming out of our pockets. Several times during my 4 1/2 years with The Columbian, I was stuck with the entire monthly cost because customers failed to pay. I do not know how much money I lost. The cost was 5 cents per copy, or $1 per month. I made about $20 a month, which seemed like a lot of money at the time.
I remember one customer who said if I put The Columbian behind his screen door each day, he would pay me an extra “two bits” each month. I thought that was a good deal because I thought “two bits” was two dollars. I was surprised at the end of the first month when he handed me a dollar for the subscription and an extra quarter. “Two bits” was just a quarter. Though disappointed, I continued to put The Columbian behind his screen door and he continued to pay me an extra “two bits” each month.
Another customer who lived at the corner of 27th and Columbia streets, and who was a Spanish-American War veteran, would always sit in a chair at the front window and wait for his newspaper. I would wave and throw the newspaper to his front porch. He was a very nice gentleman and would always pay for the newspaper from change he kept in a small coin purse.
Overall my experience with The Columbian was positive. Those years of delivering, collecting and handling money, and paying a monthly bill taught me responsibility. They also provided me an opportunity to list the carrier job on my application for my first full-time job at Central Wood Products on Main Street.
Everybody Has a Story welcomes true, first-person tales by Columbian readers, 1,000 words maximum, and relevant photographs. Send to: neighbors@columbian.com or P.O. Box 180, Vancouver WA, 98666. Call “Everybody Has an Editor” Scott Hewitt, 360-735-4525, with questions.
