Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Farewell - Adieu - Arrivederci - Rămas bun - Auf Wiedersehen Tot ziens - Ha det så bra - Despedida - Goodbye

It's all over but the shouting.
Early Sunday morning March 16th 2014 I did my last run of the Wasco newspaper route.


  • 3000+ runs over the last 10 years.
  • During the last 30 months I've had 5 days off. (I was in the hospital)
  • That totals over 350,000 miles driven.
  • 5 miles each day were on dirt roads till the last few months.
  • 3,000 times driving 5 miles to deliver 1 paper to the Wasco prison.
  • I bought 1/3 of the papers I hauled to resell in stores and in vend racks outside. On Sundays it was half.
  • Most newspapers I took to my carriers who sub-contracted with me to deliver to the home subscribers.
  • In 2004 I started with 450 Home subscribers more or less. 270 remained last Sunday. This is consistent with industry and trends in other parts of the county.
  • In all I moved over 1.5 million newspapers.
  • I also home delivered a couple hundred thousand myself.
  • Last Monday I went to collect from my retailers for the last of over 500 times.
  • The first 4 years, or so, the money was good.
  • The last 2, not so much.
What meager social life I had before has dwindled down to almost nothing working graveyards for 10 years.
   
 New projects coming in the next months include more Comedy Hypnosis shows, Stand-up Comedy and Storytelling. Oh and I’m doing some work with the CIA (Center for Improv Advancement)  that should go live soon. Fingers crossed.
As time allows I plan to blog what I remember of  my time as a newsie. Look for that here in the months ahead.
Farewell - Adieu - Arrivederci - Rămas bun - Auf Wiedersehen
Tot ziens - Ha det så bra - Despedida - Goodbye