Honoring The People Who Deliver Newspapers

Today is International Newspaper Carrier Day. It honors everyone who is now, or once was, a newspaper carrier.

It commemorates the hiring of the very first newspaper carrier when in 1833, 10-year-old Barney Flaherty was hired to sell The New York Sun on the streets of New York City.

Some people still like to sit down and read a newspaper. Something they can flip the pages on. Even though the number of subscribers continues to fall, we still need people to deliver the paper.

Years ago it was mainly a kid’s job. Teenagers and even preteens delivered the paper in all kinds of weather – 7 days a week, and each week they’d come to your door to collect and for a tip.

There’s a long list of famous people who delivered newspapers as a kid:

• John Wayne
• Ed Sullivan
• Walt Disney
• Bob Hope
• Bing Crosby
• Harry Truman
• Dwight Eisenhower
• Tom Brokaw
• Wayne Gretzky
• Herbert Hoover

There aren’t too many kids delivering newspapers anymore. It’s mainly adults, many of them delivering the paper from their cars.