chuckography

My early newspaper career...

"Sometime shortly after my career as a paperboy, life got a lot more complicated."

During a carefree summer at Folly Beach, none of the three Boyd brothers knew they soon would be in the newspaper business.

My brother Jerry (right) and I (middle) eventually delivered the News and Courier in the early, early hours but Dennis, on the left, was not a morning person and carried the Evening Post in the afternoons.

We never had a compelling reason to ask him to deliver for us but, at times, we had to substitute for him.

He was my brother so I did what was needed but it always was hot, bright and sunny lugging his full sack of papers in a bag draped over my bicycle handlebars in full daylight. Especially if I had raced back from the beach, sunburned, salty and sandy.

The quiet cool low country mornings were better for me.

I remember asking my dad to let me get a bright shiny metal coin changer to hang on my belt so I could cha-ching nickels and dimes and quarters for my customers. He suggested I paint a bullseye on my t-shirt so early morning robbers could spot me easier.

The fact that I seldom saw any of my customers during my dawn delivery also was mentioned.

Collections - on my own time - often produced "can you come back next week, I don't have the money right now," and, once, "do you have change for a fifty?"

Labels: coin changer, collections, Evening Post, morning edition, paperboys. News and Courier

posted by chucker @ 11:05 AM