Monday 1st January 2007: Happy New Year to one and all. There was a time in the dark and distant past when I
was doing a paper round as a youngster that saw no papers on New Years Day (and Boxing Day and Good Friday...). Not so
nowadays with a full run of papers out today except for the Financial Times. Yours truly here was dopey enough to stay up
and see the new year in thanks to a cocktail of weak shandys and charades, partly as I knew that even if I went to bed,
I be awoken by fireworks at midnight. Subsequently I had around three hours sleep before work although I clearly wasnt
alone as two of our paperlads were late in as well. Still, that's the yuletide hols over for another year. Back to
normality now.
Tuesday 2nd Tuesday 2007: A day off for me but I'm reliably informed that the papers were very early and arrived
before my early morning colleagues were there. Excellent stuff.
Wednesday 3rd Tuesday 2007: Almost a major problem first thing today when we had a bundle of Mirror with an Express
label on it. For those in the confused zone, this meant having a load of Mirror that we didn't need and being 72 Express short.
Thankfully I spotted it before our driver left and after a number of quickfire phone calls to the wholesalers and other drivers,
we had our missing Express by 5:45am which was great. I wonder how that would have been handled before the days of mobile
phones? We still have three lads away this week despite the kids being back to school (hooray!) and while two are covered, I'm
doing the other one and even at 7am you'd be amazed just how dark some `out of the way` areas are. One particular place not far
from the office has a path running between two larger patches of grass and invariably I wander off the path and onto the greenery.
I wish Santa would have brought me that torch for Christmas now.
One of our longer serving lads has asked me for a reference for the Army. This isn't a problem at all and we'll gladly do
this for any past, present or future employees. What it does emphasise is how short a reign many of our lads and girls
have with us with three years usually the maximum before they hopefully move on to bigger and better things. Always nice
to see kids with an idea of what they want to do in the future. Far better than hanging around street corners.
Thursday 4th January 2007: Me and my big mouth. Last week I sang the praises of the Somerset Standard for overcoming their
major publishing problems and arriving on time every week since September. Today, Mr Sod and his law kicks us in the chops as the
Standards were not there when I arrived today. Subsequently around half the rounds went out without them and those will be delivered
tomorrow instead. They eventually turned up at 6:30am so we did catch a fair few rounds not sadly not all. People wonder why our early
adults cannot come back to re-deliver on a Thursday. Simple really. Some have other jobs to go to and other committments. Equally some
don't want to be in a position where they are effectively doing the same round twice in a matter of hours. The only way we
could afford to get all of them back is to add a charge onto the delivery charges each time we have to re-run the Standards which
would not go down well with many customers! Therefore the Standard is treated in exactly the same way as any other weekly
publication in so much that if it arrives too late, we deliver on our next available run - 24 hours later.
Saturday 6th January 2007: After some relatively smaller weekend papers prior to
Christmas, the publishers went back into overdrive today with just about every paper making up for
lost time making our rounds somewhat heavy! This isn't helped by the re-emergence of the long-lost free CD's and DVD's. Today we have no less than FOUR of these delightful things with the Mail giving us Yoga for Beginners DVD, the Telegraph has a Beatrix Potter CD, the Mirror graces us with a National Geographic DVD and finally the Times introduces Paul McKenna's Deep Relaxation CD! Lovely. If Mr McKenna is free and available in the near future, maybe he could work on the publishers to make the weekend papers a little less heavy..please! In fact, it's 6:45am as I type and already one of our adults has already had to rip open the plastic on the TImes mag/DVD to get it through one of their letterboxes. On the plus side,
our driver smashed all records today as he arrived at 3:55am which is absolutely fantastic and helps us hugely.
Sunday 7th January 2007: With the News and the World and Sunday Times (which always arrive seperately) in when I got in
today, things were looking good when the main lot arrived just after 4am. The good news ended there though when the Mail On
Sunday was late. The MoS are rapidly doing their best to get off of my Christmas Card list. They have the largest distribution
with us of all the Sunday's yet there were late three or four times back in October and November and today they came in more than two
hours after everything else. On top of that, some of the inserts were missing the yoga DVD meaning that we had to send some out
incomplete. I had a round to do today which included delivering to a nearby KFC (closed when I got there) and McDonalds (open). In the
latter, I took the paper to the counter which was very quiet at 7:15am and as I went to leave it, a staff member popped up from
behind the counter with a cheery `Good Morning`! I had no idea that he was there and I must have jumped the proverbial mile.
Maybe a complimentary Big Mac (without cheese!) to compensate on my next visit...!
Thursday 11th January 2007: So far this week it's been a normal, smooth-running time...and
then Thursday arrives! Much like last week (see above for full details), we have the Somerset Standard in too late for most of
our deliveries, causing us and our deliverers, not to mention those customers waiting for a Standard, major headaches. This happened at regular times for eight months during 2006. I only hope that history isn't starting to repeat itself!
Friday 12th January 2007: All papers in by 4am today which was superb as we had to send our
Standards out today due to them being late in yesterday. Speaking of yesterday, I was in Saffron (Doctor's surgery) for a routine check up and there were papers on display for waiting patients to read (they were supplied by us of course!). One lady was reading the Daily Mail and I took very little notice until I heard a tearing sound. I glanced up to see her ripping the voucher out of the paper to presumably get her free Tai Chi DVD at WHSmiths later on! She then calmly put the paper back in the rack for others to read. I admired her nerve and could only smile at the traditional British hospitality as neither I or anyone else in the waiting room questioned her motives! Are we too polite or what?
Saturday 13th January 2007: Saturday's are always a day that we don't
really look forward to as regards the extra inserts in the papers and the
overall size of them as well. The Telegraph today is very thick with its mag
inside plastic with various other bits and bobs. The Mirror have also had an off
day with the papers in a bit of s mess and the TV mags missing in a batch of the
140 or so that we had in. The Mail is fine apart from the fact that we are still
being supplied with our Christmas holiday figures and we only just ahd enough to
cover our deliveries today. A quick phone call later on should resolve that for
the future, although it did mean an increase in sales for the Express!! On the
plus side, just one DVD/CD actually inside the paper (others have to be
collected from Somerfield/WHS etc) and that's the Guardian who have `Whats
Eating Gilbert Grape` as a freebie.
Tuesday 16th January 2007: The British weather again conspired against us with constant rain between our vital hours of 4am
and 8am resulting in a lot of deliverers (myself included) getting very wet. One of our early morning adults was off sick today, meaning
extra work for the other early brigade. They rallied round superbly for which I was extremely grateful although naturally we all wish
the ill deliverer (who is never off sick usually) a quick recovery. We have a new delivery driver to bring the papers to us and as today was the first day on his
own, he did admirably to get here at the wonderfully early time of 4:10am! We're always a little wary when someone new starts, but
so far so good.
Thursday 18th January 2007: Heavy rain and strong winds was a bad enough start but it got worse when a bundle of our
Express was put on the wrong van in Bristol. Thankfully they arrived by 5:20am so it only meant that our early adults had to come
back. One of our deliverers then let us down at 7:45am and I had to go out far later than hoped to get that one done. Apparently
the weekend sees a change in the weather with the rain disappearing and being replaced by a cold spell. Oh well, it'll mean different
challenges for us I guess.
Friday 19th January 2007: Groundhog Day today as our bundle of Express went walkabouts again. Thankfully our driver found it further down his van when he got to the nearby Asda and
brought it straight back. Tomorrow looks like being a fun morning as we have absolutely stacks of inserts in already with the Telegraph the main culprits with a 32-page section called World
Escapes. Our deliverers must be rubbing their hands in anticipation of trying to cram it through letterboxes.
Saturday 20th January 2007: Not an ideal start to a wet and windy morning as the papers were the latest they've been in ages, arriving just before 5:10am. The Express and Star seemed to be the ones that delayed everything but at least they were on board and spared us the dreaded re-run. When the papers are late, it's a knock on effect throughout the morning as you constantly try and play catch-up to ensure everything is done and sorted by a reasonable time although inevitably some papers were a bit late going out. On the plus side, only one CD/DVD with the papers today as the Indy had a CD of bird songs! We await the next few weekends with baited breath as the publishers take full advantage of the forthcoming Valentines Day and reel out stacks of `Greatest Ever Love Songs` type of CDs and various weepie films on DVDs. Give me Cracker, 24 or Waking the Dead any day!
Sunday 21st January 2007: Papers were a little later today although nothing major. Credit to our driver who somehow managed to pack his van without an interior light which during the day would make no difference but in the dead of night it's another story! By the time he got to us and unloaded, he was checking the numbers by torchlight which ultimately meant that we all missed a bundle of Mail which remained on the van. He spotted it though and we had them back by 6am. We had a new paperboy start today and he seems to have done well. We are always a little nervous when someone new starts as mistakes lead to panic which leads to major ptoblems across the round. Thankfully this one has made a very good and promising start.
Monday 22nd January 2007: Re runs are always a pain especially when it's one of the more popular papers. Today the Mirror had `printing problems` which may have had something to do with the free Sticker Album inside, however they arrived at 6:30am so most of the deliverers still had theirs. Thanfully the early adults came back and re-did theirs and helped with any others that needed doing so credit to them for that.
Tuesday 24th January 2007: More re-runs today as the Racing Post were late, although much like yesterday we had them at a decent time as they came at 6:15am although it still meant taking three out later than usual. The Mirror should have free stickers in today to go with yesterday's album, however I've yet to see any in the dozen or so that I've been through. Thanks for that chaps! Makes our job so much easier when freebies that are plugged on the front fail to appear inside (end of sarcasm!)
Wednesday 24th January 2007: When we were kids, awaking to snow and ice was almost as exciting as Santa ariving on Christmas morning with the thoughts of slipping and sliding to school
and watching your mates trying to stand on a patch of ice and ending up looking like Bambi with arms and legs flayling in all directions. Now, as working adults, it's seen as little more than a nuisance! So, when I looked out of the window at 3:15am today and saw a thin white covering, my first thought was (clean version, family site and all that!) "Oh no!" It actually wasn't that bad early on as it wasn't quite cold enopugh to freeze although I'm told that the nearby village of Buckland Dinham has been closed due to a leak causing a sheet of ice on the only road through the village. As for the papers, well they were lovely and early with the lot in by 4:10am! Oh, and the Mirror (or most of them) had the promised stickers in them as well.
Thursday 25th January 2007: As much as I love football, or as much as a Leeds fan can at the moment, a late kick off in any
evening game always bodes badly. Partly as I can rarely stay awake to watch it and partly that the papers may be delayed to enable
the publishers to get the final score and report in it. Admittedly, I went to bed at half time with Spurs beating Arsenal 2-0
and missed the dramatic second half recovery from the Gunners, however thankfully today it didn't affect the arrival times with the
Sun and Times in just after me and the rest arriving around 4:30am which is great. After half a week of freebies in, or not in, the
Mirror, today they had a `free sticker - take voucher to...` which we like! It means no complaints of missing freebies that we
somehow have to explain. The dreaded lurgy has struck down two of our deliverers and hopefully more won't follow. Get well
soon lads!
Friday 26th January 2007: Our wholesalers are trying out a new barcode system shortly which should practically eliminate lost bundles or at least pick up any errors early. Today they had a trial run so trust us to put the proverbial spanner in the works. We had a barcode
stuck on the inside wall that needs to be scanned when the driver arrives, however in doing some recent decorating, we have inadvertently painted over it, thereby screwing up the system before it starts. Cue one very apologetic phone call to our wholesalers! Sorry.
Saturday 27th January 2007: The dreaded re-run curse struck again today with the third such late arrival in six days as the
Express and Star couldn't get their proverbial fingers pulled out. We eventually got them at 7:20am. The only advantage with re-runs
on a Saturday is that most of the kids can hold on and do theirs whereas they can't on a school day. That said, any re-runs mean double
journeys for our early adults and rightly enough we have to pay them for doing extra runs. Perhaps if us delivery agents could start
charging publishers for the cost of late arrivals, then they might think twice about pushing the deadlines further and further back.
Sunday 28th January 2007: Now this was more like it. All papers in at 4:10am, useful really as the aforementioned barcode
scanning system invariably means that it takes longer to unload when the driver arrives. That said, the morning went swimmingly
even with the usual CDs and DVD's (especially the ones in the Times and Mail) making the folding of the mags nigh on impossible. I did a couple of rounds early and probably
woke half of a nearby road up when I failed to notice a milk crate by one front door and although I missed it on the way into the
porch, I clattered into the darn thing on the way out! At 6am on a Sunday when it's deadly quiet, that sort of things sounds so much
louder than it would during the day!
Monday 29th January 2007: The stuff that legends are made of today with one of those mornings when, in the future we'll look
and back say, "remember that Monday when..." It began badly when our Express were accidentally left off of our van at the wholesalers. They
arrived at 5:30am so I'm told as I was still fast asleep on my day off when the phone rang. One of our early adults had a puncture
on her rounds and couldn't finish them off so yours truly was called in. As I hadn't done one of the rounds in ages, it took a while
to figure out where a few calls were especially those in a particular road that have names rather than numbers. Ultimately rather
than drive the car up and down, I grabbed the relevant papers with a round sheet and walked instead which took longer at the time
but probably saved me headaches in the long run. Sensibly my plan to `always carry a torch when on rounds` is still yet to come to
fruition so whilst house names are clearly visible in broad daylight, at 6:30am they weren't quite so easy! Hopefully we'll soon have a
back up car to use should unforeseen punctures happen again in the future. Still, if every morning went smoothly, we wouldn't appreciate it so
much as when we have a crummy morning.
Tuesday 30th January 2007: You just know when it's going to be one of those weeks don't you? Today, our new monitor had a habit of flickering occasionally so in an attempt to put it right, one member of staff who shall remain nameless somehow managed to mess up our Broadband connection. For something that should be so simple, it took ages to sort out meaning another late afternoon/early evening sat in the office in front of a PC screen. But these things happen and on the plus side, the deliveries went well enough today. You can't have everything I guess.
Wednesday 31st January 2007: In all of yesterday's excitement I forgot to mention that our wholesalers have introduced a new `Tote Box` system for magazine distribution. This means that instead of the old traditional bundles, we now get all of our mags in Tote Boxes which resemble solid milk crates with a self locking lid. So far we are getting used to them pretty well although with our space restriction, finding somewhere to put them when they first arrive is a bit tricky. But then us Brits hate change don't we!
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