News paper by mail

[MechAndy]

I bought both papers the other day.
I thought they were a buck a piece.
Yes one is slightly larger but I remember the weekday inserts I had to do as a carrier sometimes they were larger than todays local print.

When we bought our place it had a newspaper box near the mailbox.
The wifey and I smiled wondered how long that had been there.
No kids we know know that kind of labor and this one is probably retired to Florida .

We met a new to us neighbor a month or so ago and said we lived 3 houses down on the left.
Later my wife chuckled and said “that’s a good 3/4’s of a mile.

Point being I don’t see how you can deliver as efficient as the US Mail especially to the unincorporated areas.
I’m sure the US Mail cuts deals to run their business when needed.

[mayfair]

We get Seattle Times and the carrier drives by and flings it into the driveway in a plastic sleeve (unincorporated area on the mainland). We sometimes get the Herald by mistake so I think the papers all contract with one carrier, but I could be wrong.

Years ago we had a paper box but the carriers stopped using it and have thrown the paper in the driveway for years. Which is no big deal.

[Transmition]

The only times I see newspaper deliveries now is at 5am being thrown from a car window onto a driveway. Few customers, so spread out, a kid on a bike would take hours, even longer if they used those nasty plastic boxes attached to mail boxes.

[pnwguy2]

As I posted earlier I had a PI route in ‘74. I think my calculation at that time was about 2 out of 3 houses wanted the paper. Of course my route was all walking not like today’s drivers. But that made sense due to delivery popularity back then. Plus I didn’t feel the need to exercise, except for the required school stuff. One thing it taught me was discipline. Getting up at 430am turned out to be a very good life lesson, though of course I hated it!

[Snowman05]

I use to deliver newspapers 7 days a week by car. I had a route of 100-200 houses and a retirement building.

A lot is owed to the carrier delivering the paper on foot (and car back and forth like a maniac). There were often instructions of where to put it and we delivered rain or snow. If you have issues getting your paper call the customer support. Also it helps if your paper can be placed at a convenient location like near the road or in front of the home.

[rantiquity]

Originally Posted by Snowman05

I use to deliver newspapers 7 days a week by car. I had a route of 100-200 houses and a retirement building.

A lot is owed to the carrier delivering the paper on foot (and car back and forth like a maniac). There were often instructions of where to put it and we delivered rain or snow. If you have issues getting your paper call the customer support. Also it helps if your paper can be placed at a convenient location like near the road or in front of the home.

How is customer support going to help? Complaining to the post office is like complaining to the IRS.
We in my neighborhood have a two community mail box which had a special box for large packages. The mail carrier just put a key in your mail slot and you could open the special box up and get your package... but one Halloween someone snapped off the key on both our neighborhood boxes. The postal carrier told me the post office couldn't afford a lock smith to remove the broken off key...so now about three years later all packages that don't fit in our individual boxes has to be delivered to each house by hand.

[Snowman05]

Originally Posted by rantiquity

How is customer support going to help? Complaining to the post office is like complaining to the IRS.
We in my neighborhood have a two community mail box which had a special box for large packages. The mail carrier just put a key in your mail slot and you could open the special box up and get your package... but one Halloween someone snapped off the key on both our neighborhood boxes. The postal carrier told me the post office couldn't afford a lock smith to remove the broken off key...so now about three years later all packages that don't fit in our individual boxes has to be delivered to each house by hand.

I meant customer support of the newspaper subscribed to (ex. Seattle Times), not USPS, USPS isn't customer oriented. If there's a complaint the individual who runs your route is talked to about the complaint.... or at least they were back in 2005.

[rantiquity]

Originally Posted by Snowman05

I meant customer support of the newspaper subscribed to (ex. Seattle Times), not USPS, USPS isn't customer oriented. If there's a complaint the individual who runs your route is talked to about the complaint.... or at least they were back in 2005.

Again you are confused...the newspaper can't/won't help you with a post office problem.

[rantiquity]

Just to show you how the PDN is handling the delivered of the paper...yesterday's paper (Wed) had the Saturday's comics in it. Not the full Saturday newspaper that I never got but just the comics.

[rantiquity]

Wow another USPS screw up...today I got five of my neighbors papers in my mail box. Five!