Long Island's paperboys of yore recall what having a route taught them

Before smartphones, social media and the 24-hour news cycle, daily headlines arrived on your doorstep courtesy of a neighborhood newspaper carrier.

Boys, and the occasional girl, typically ranging in age from 12 to 18, set out after school on bicycles balancing bundles of 40 or more newspapers while pedaling through rain, snow, bitter cold or summer heat on their routes.

From its founding in 1940 until the mid-1980s, Newsday employed thousands of newspaper carriers, numbering 10,000 at its peak in the 1970s, said the former New York circulation director Fred Bellise. By the late 1980s, afternoon editions disappeared, and adult carriers took over morning deliveries.

“It [the newspaper carrier] was a symbol of the entrepreneurial young man, a fresh-faced, wholesome kid who everyone in the community knew,” said Andie Tucher, H. Gordon Garbedian professor of journalism at Columbia University.

The following six former Newsday carriers said the job was more than a way to earn spending money. It was an early introduction to the world of work that instilled responsibility, independence and entrepreneurial spirit — qualities they believe many teenagers today have fewer opportunities to develop through early employment.

Chris Dowd

In 1986,  13-year-old Chris Dowd, then of Floral Park, started delivering papers to Stewart Manor neighborhoods. By his second year on the job, he had doubled the number of deliveries on his route, from 35 to 70.

The extra effort paid off. By week’s end, he would earn $40 to $50 plus tips. But before he splurged on arcade games, candy and a Sports Illustrated subscription, he would set aside $20 a week in a savings account. Within a couple of months, he became the proud owner of a 12-inch black and white TV.

Dowd, 51, and a Wall Street trader, credits his job as a newspaper carrier with shaping his strong work ethic.

That first job taught me that if you want something, you have to work for it.

— Chris Dowd, of Garden City, who grew up delivering papers to Stewart Manor neighborhoods

“That first job taught me that if you want something, you have to work for it,” said Dowd, now of Garden City. “There was this aspect of doing a job and getting paid and having to be responsible for things. Early responsibility is what started the engine.”

The father of two believes early work experiences provide important lessons for young teenagers that are harder to learn elsewhere. “Not many kids work in McDonald’s now like they did in the '80s,” he said. “Kids think that job is menial … they expect to live the lifestyle of their parents. Now, kids are not even working in college because they have to do internships.”

Jeffrey Dressel

With encouragement from his parents, Jeffrey Dressel took his first job delivering newspapers for Newsday in his Dix Hills neighborhood. After school let out, Dressel, then 15, would pick up a bundled stack of newspapers from his driveway, dropped there by the paper’s route manager, and load them in saddle bags mounted on his bicycle’s rear wheel.

Although he enjoyed the neighborhood camaraderie that came with running his route, “collection day” was sometimes a challenge.

“Every Friday, I’d get off my bike, ring a [subscriber’s] bell and say, ‘Newsday collect.’ A seven-day delivery was $2.15 then, and some would give me $3 and say, ‘keep the change.’ Others would give me 50 or 75 cents [tip],” said Dressel, 58, a dentist now living in Chester, New Jersey.

He said he learned “a lesson” when the seven-day weekly rose to $2.25 and realized that an increase in the newspaper’s price meant less of a tip. “That was eye-opening,” he said, “and I learned how the world worked.”

Nevertheless, he earned a handsome $40 a week plus tips, with which he would buy pizza, movie tickets and accessories for his prized racing bicycle.

Dressel reflects warmly on his time as a paper carrier and said it gave him an early taste of entrepreneurship. “It was like running a small business. You were motivated to make money,” he said. “You learned how to do a good job and get a nice tip.”

Karl Janhsen

From 1980 to 1982, Karl Janhsen, then about 13, never missed a day delivering the newspaper to his 90 weekly and 110 Sunday subscribers on his Huntington Station route. Not even the paralyzing Blizzard of ’82 could stop him. In recognition of his determination, the newspaper presented him with a commemorative banner celebrating the feat. And for recruiting new customers, he earned a baseball glove and tool set from the paper.

Delivering the newspaper also got him interested in reading it. The avid Mets fan followed local high school football and baseball teams along with the comics and want ads.

But the job was not without its hazards and colorful moments: from lugging heavy Sunday papers and being bitten by a dog to having a car run over his bicycle and catching a glimpse of an unclothed subscriber.

For all his trouble, Janhsen, 58, of Port Jefferson, and a certified public accountant, earned $100 plus tips each week.

“My customers were great,” he said. “If a neighbor saw me struggling on a hot day, they would give me 10 bucks and a cold drink.”

As Janhsen looks back with fondness on his time as a carrier, he said the job was a “great way to learn responsibility. ... It was a time-honored tradition that is sorely missed now.”

Gregg Keller

Gregg Keller followed in the footsteps of his two older brothers, becoming a newspaper carrier at age 15. Each day after school, the Commack resident folded 40 or so papers and stuffed them into canvas saddlebags slung over his bicycle’s handlebars.

“My route was down the block and around the corner,” said Keller, 59, of St. James, and a mortgage banker. “It would take 30 minutes to deliver the papers.”

Collection day, though, could be unpleasant. 

“It was intimidating to ask for payment and sometimes, when they [subscribers] owed for two weeks, we wouldn’t ask for it,” he said.

Assembling the bulky Sunday paper was also a tedious task. He said the paper required carriers to merge the circulars and Part 2 with the news on Sunday morning. Since he was a stickler for delivering the paper by 9 a.m., it necessitated waking up early.

The sense of freedom and independence the job imparted, he said, made any challenges worth it.

“I didn’t have to ask my parents for money,” he said, adding that the highlight of the job was “being able to grab a slice of pizza and buy ice hockey gear and tickets to ice-skating sessions” on his own.

But the job offered more than financial independence. It also helped Keller, a diehard Islanders’ fan, stay current on the team’s playoff and Stanley Cup runs.

Peter Pranzo

Peter Pranzo had just turned 12 in 1957 when he started “flipping” newspapers onto Franklin Square neighborhood porches and stoops.

“I was a good flipper,” said Pranzo, 80 and of Mount Sinai, of his precision throwing a folded newspaper from his bike. “They didn’t hit the screen door.”

As he grew older, Pranzo, lieutenant and author, said the route manager would give him “a piece of another route.”

“I had 70 papers at one point,” he said.

At the end of a six-day week of deliveries (there was no Sunday Newsday then), he could earn $12 to $15 plus tips. That would equate to $145 to $180 plus tips today.

“I felt I was living the dream because I owned my own business, and I was making so much money,” said the grandfather of four. “I told my papa I didn’t need my 30-cent weekly allowance anymore.”

With that spending money, he said he bought model trains, movie tickets, candy, a football and a baseball glove.

Pranzo said working as a paper carrier made him feel like a “big shot.”

“The job taught me maturity, how to save money and spend it,” he said. “This was my first interaction with so many adults. When a customer yelled at me, I’d say, ‘I’ll do better next time’ because I learned the customer is always right. It [the job] was a real learning tool. I was older before my time.”

Bob Fahy

In 1980, Bob Fahy, then 13, bought a newspaper route in Commack from a neighborhood boy for $25.

“It [the route] was right in my backyard, so I paid up,” he recalled, adding he had to borrow the money from his sister’s boyfriend.

Fahy, 59, now of Massapequa and a Wall Street trader, relished his job as a carrier. “You are your own boss, you make your own hours and you’re out in the sunshine,” he said.

However, the work came with its share of unpleasant tasks. Chasing down subscribers for payment and assembling unwieldy Sunday papers were among his least favorite duties.

“It was a necessary evil,” he said. “Sundays were a challenge, but you felt you were providing a useful service everyone wanted.”

Fahy reveled in his weekly paycheck of $20 or $25 plus tips. “Having your own money made me feel independent because I didn’t have to ask my parents for $5 to go the roller rink,” he said. “I took pride in myself because I earned it myself.”

As he reminisced about his teenage years, he said paper carriers were entrusted with significant responsibility at a young age.

“We were given responsibility at an incredibly young age, which I don’t think is done today,” he said. “We had to do it in a timely manner and show up for work every day. We had to keep track of who paid us and when … there was something wonderful about it.”