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Paperboy
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A paperboy is the general name for a person employed by a newspaper, a news agent or even an official postal service to deliver newspapers to the homes of subscribers, as assigned by streets and routes. Paperboys traditionally were and are still often portrayed on television and movies as preteen boys, often on a bicycle. Today, with the latest child labor laws, paperboys are sometimes referred to as "independent businessmen."
position of paperboy occupies a prominent place in many countries including the United Kingdom, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and Japan.
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Encyclopedia
A paperboy is the general name for a person employed by a newspaper, a news agent or even an official postal service to deliver newspapers to the homes of subscribers, as assigned by streets and routes. Paperboys traditionally were and are still often portrayed on television and movies as preteen boys, often on a bicycle. Today, with the latest child labor laws, paperboys are sometimes referred to as "independent businessmen."
History
The position of paperboy occupies a prominent place in many countries including the United Kingdom, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and Japan. This is because it has long been the first paying job available to youngsters.
Despite that, the number of paperboys has declined greatly. This is due partly to the disappearance of afternoon newspapers, whose delivery times worked better for school-aged children than did those of morning papers which were typically delivered before 6 a.m. The numbers have also been affected by changing demographics, the availability of news and newspapers on the internet, employment laws and concern about the safety of un-escorted children, all of which have led many newspapers to switch to delivery by adults. Today, they are mainly used by weekly community newspapers and free shopper papers, which still tend to be delivered in the afternoons. Alternatively, sometimes paperboys are only employed once a week to deliver the paper on Sunday.
Newspaper industry lore suggests that the first paperboy, hired in 1833, was 10-year-old Barney Flaherty who answered an advertisement in the New York Sun, which read "To the Unemployed a number of steady men can find employment by vending this paper."
Meaning
Paper boy is a job pertaining to one who distributes newspapers or a newspaper deliverer.
Pros
Paper distribution is a fairly simple job. It consists of mapping out one's territory and using it to advantage in distributing paper. Knowledge of bicycle maintenance (if used) and basic customer service skills are developed. During the Christmastime in western countries, a paperboy can make an extra bonus - similar to a postman or a milkman. This is typically done by writing a Christmas card to each of the customers on the round and, in many cases, the customers will respond by leaving a "Christmas Box" or a "tip" (cash) as a gift. This may be as much as £20 or more per customer. Customers may of course choose to leave tips and gifts out at any time of the year.
For the amount of work put in, paper rounds do not necessarily pay that badly for an unskilled job. Some large rounds pay as much as £100 a week for about an hour's work a day, equating to about £14 (approximately $24) which is extremely good. In the UK a 25-call morning round, 7 days a week, will pay between £16 - £24 a week, depending on the employer.
Cons
It is a low-standing job. As most papers are delivered early in the morning it requires the delivery person to get up early, which can also mean braving cold, dark and inhospitable conditions. Some delivery routes have also moved away from simple 'walking routes' to larger 'driving routes', which requires both a car and a license. 'Driving routes' have become less profitable with the rising price of fuel, since fuel is not paid for by most newspapers/newsagents.
For paperboys or girls using a bike, and the typical paper-round bag - in the UK a luminous, waterproof coloured bag with a single strap - the papers (chiefly at the weekend) are collectively very heavy and/or thick, meaning that often on a Saturday or a Sunday the round has to be split and completed in two halves. The worst "culprits" in the UK are the Daily Telegraph on a Saturday and the Sunday Telegraph; The Sunday Times and The Observer (which is small but thick).
In fiction
For motion pictures with the word in the title, see the ; for others in which they feature, see
Arnold Bennett's 1911 novel The Card features a newspaper take-over. Part of the success of the stratagem depends on the proprietor temporarily detaining all his rival's paperboys, which he does by promising them food and locking them in. The paperboys are depicted as a rumbustious and tight-knit group.
See also
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