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In a sense, I was in business independently for myself. I had a regular daily newspaper route including morning, evening, and Sunday papers. The evening and Sunday routes were the largest. Most of the morning papers were picked up at my dad's store. My evening route was fairly large in West Denton and my cousin, William McDaniel, had an even larger one in Denton. Sometimes I helped him, and when he went away to college a year before I did, I took over his route also. Later, I went into partnership on the Denton route with the pastor's son, Fred Woodie, who took over after I went to college. Together we were delivering in West Denton and Denton well over 100 copies each evening.
The paper was the evening edition of the Baltimore Sun and just as they are today, the bundle of newspapers was dropped off at various locations via delivery truck directly from the newspaper plant. In those days a newspaper boy was entirely on his own and did not have the advantage of a district supervisor as they do now. Nor did we have the advantage of prior payment directly to the newspaper as they do now.
Today, my paper is delivered by hand to my door but I do not see or know the carrier. The cost is paid six months or a year in advance to the newspaper company from which the newsboy (or girl) gets his customer list and his share for delivering the paper.
It was quite the contrary in my day. The newsboy solicited his own customers, ordered the number of papers he needed, and was responsible for paying the company directly for the papers ordered. If I did not sell all of them, I could clip the name and date of the papers unsold and return them to the company for credit. The newsboy then was also responsible for collecting from his customers. He could demand cash each week or extend credit for as long as he wished.
As I remember, the price of the paper was 2 cents each or 10 cents per week with 5 cents added for those who also got the Sunday paper. I had my own accounting system for those who charged the paper and I entered the charge and collections in a little book. It was not always easy to collect each week and sometimes customers would argue that they had already paid when you tried to collect for two or three weeks in arrears. I also had some customers who would promise to "pay next week' and beg you not to stop the paper.
I was able to understand my dad’s problem when his customers wanted him to extend their credit. Most newspaper customers paid up eventually but in the endI had a few uncollected accounts. I kept the book and the money at my dad's store so that if someone wanted to pay when I wasn't there he could take care of it. It also gave him a chance to offer advice on how I was operating my business...
Delivery to my customers was first made on foot, then by bicycle, and finally with my Model T Ford with the gasoline coming from my dad's gas pumps. Once each week I had a regular route for the Saturday Evening Post and once a month for the Country Gentleman and The Ladies Home Journal, all of which were then published by the Curtis Publishing Company. In the case of these magazines, just as I did with my newspapers, I ordered the number of copies needed, always allowing for a few more than my regular customers, collected for them, and paid the bill.
I have not forgotten one poor old crippled black man who always looked forward to getting the next issue of the Saturday Evening Post but who seldom ever had the nickel that it cost. But considering his condition and the fact that he enjoyed it so much I kept letting him have one each week. Occasionally he had the 5 cents and he was always appreciative and wanted to pay but usually just didn't have it.
The experience that a successful newsboy or newsgirl gains has proven over the years to be quite valuable to that person in his or her adult career.
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