One of the key newspaper delivery folks for the Journal gave his two week notice (found this on Facebook) with the new policies at the Journal.
In his Facebook posting the driver noted that when the three-day-a-week Journal started back in June of 2009 he had 859 customers. A year later that number had fallen 154 customers to 705 and as of last Sunday was down 230 customers to 629.
I don't think newspaper management can blame the folks who deliver the newspaper for the decline, but they are paying the penalty for yet more poor business decisions from the folks who yet survive.
This is just my guess, but a lot of those drivers hustle and work hard and over the years have done pretty well financially, many of them have incomes - due to their own efforts - higher than the bosses in the office. There may just be a tad bit of jealousy going on there as well.
In any event, they all deserved better.
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From June '65 to June '66 (my graduation from high school) I worked on a motor route for one of these independent contractors. We had 1100 "throws" and dropped off a crapload of "bundles" along the way for the neighborhood paperboys. It was 7 days a week for 52 weeks and during the winter of '66 there was at least one day when the mail didn't go through but the Flint Journal did. We earned our money then and I'm sure these contractors continue to do so now. This kind of commitment, of course, is something the bean counters at Booth/Newhouse/Advance can't possibly comprehend.
Who did you work for Cooley? I didn't start down there until 1983 but they were probably still down there and may have still had a route when they blew out all the union drivers two years ago.
Jeff Talley
I doubt if they were still there in '85 Jeff but back in '66 the names I remember are as follows:
I worked for Leo Evans who had gone off to sell real estate and had surrendered his route to his second son, Dale.
Working next to us was Ed Huot, 22 years old at the time, and the nephew of the supervisor of the mail room, Tom Huot. Tom was actually employed by the Journal -- the rest of us, including his nephew, were contractors. Ed's helper was Jerry Perkins and later a kid named Tom Toles.
Other contractors were "Pappy" Hosmer and his helper, Bob Slosar. Larry Frasier had a route along with a father-son team, the Judsons. (Jim, I think, was the name of the son.)
The rolling machines were not introduced until mid to late '67 so the primary job of the helper prior to that was to assist the contractor in rolling the required number of throws for their route. Rolling means wrapping an individual paper in orange wrapper such that it would survive the flinging of said paper from a truck traveling down the road at 60mph and land in the driveway of the customer's house.
Two of us could roll 1100 papers in about an hour but some of the other route-holders were much, much faster. Larry Frasier was perhaps the fastest with Ed Huot coming in a close second.
That was some great history, Cooley.
"Working next to us was Ed Huot, 22 years old at the time"
Ed Huot is still there until next Sunday when they take his route from him.
"Larry Frasier had a route along with a father-son team, the Judsons. (Jim, I think, was the name of the son.)"
Larry Frazier was there until they canned all the union guys two years ago during the 7 to 3 day change. His son in law is a good friend of mine and was driving for him at that time.
A girlfriend of mine back in 86 and 87 worked for Mr. Judson.. He was a nice guy.
"The rolling machines were not introduced until mid to late '67 so the primary job of the helper prior to that was to assist the contractor in rolling the required number of throws for their route. Rolling means wrapping an individual paper in orange wrapper such that it would survive the flinging of said paper from a truck traveling down the road at 60mph and land in the driveway of the customer's house."
When I got down there in 1983 I worked for "Sarge" aka Bill Viers who delivered my papers to me as a kid from 76 to 83.
The rolling machines were still there and as a "tag run" route my papers were rolled for me on those machines.
Sometimes those papers wouldn't end up in the driveway. On my way to Owosso one day the paper slipped out of my hand as I threw it across traffic and I heard a loud bang as it hit the car coming at me. I kept on going like nothing happened. The next day a state police car was sitting out on Corunna road waiting for me and pulled me over. When the officer asked me if i hit a car and I said "Ooooh nooooo I doooon't think soooo Officer.. Are you sure it was a Journal?" and he said: "yeah it was still embedded in her grill when she stopped to complain.."
They used those rolling machines until we went to hand rolling the papers with plastic wrap and then on to using delivery tubes in 85. That's the year I got my own route.
Back then John Bacon knew all the drivers and sub-drivers. When a route opened up they would let the other drivers have it if it was better than the one they had at the time, and then bring in a sub for what route was left over..
The guy running circulation for the Flint Journal now has no clue who anyone is. 25 and half years is no different than 25 and half days. I have never seen him at the PDC, and never will.
Four more days and I'm out of there.
Jeff Talley
So, you're outta there in four more days, huh? With apologies to T.S. Eliot, sounds like you're leaving with more of a whimper than a bang, carrying with it your memories and many of mine as well. (Apologies also to James L. for our exended comments that are now approaching a high-jacking of his thread.)
First, two more names I neglected in my previous on motor-route drivers. Talerico (Dave or Jim, I can't remember which, because I eventually met both of the brothers, the non-Journal one in connection with something else) and Howard Wittum from Mt. Morris.
I remember John Bacon. He audited our route a couple of times to make sure we weren't taking more papers off the presses than we were paying for. No problem -- that was his job.
You hit a car, huh? Bush league, pal. Sunday morning, three AM, 60 mph on a dirt country road, five pound Sunday paper, lots of energy and momentum to a "throw" of that weight. Mailboxes didn't stand a chance and a couple of times we deliberately decapitated a box or two and then denied any knowledge the next day. I was 17, my boss 18. We thought it was fun and weren't thinking of any consequences.
My last experience in the mail room had to be in Feb or Mar of '67, several months after I had quite working for the Evans. It was just before the rolling machines were brought in. I was just a month or so from going into the Army and on an early Sunday morning found myself downtown with all of my friends having gone home for the night and leaving nothing for me to do. (There may have been alcohol involved fueling my young teen-age energy.) At any rate, I strolled into the mailroom about the time the presses were firing up and the papers began rolling off the line. Ed Huot needed some help that morning so I rolled papers with him, he paid me cash for the effort, and that was the last time I had any connection to home delivery of the Journal.
In a way I still miss those days -- as miserable as they could be from time to time -- because I was a part of a larger team effort and it was satisfying in that sense, satisfying in being allowed to contribute to something bigger than my own 18 year old self.
Best wishes to you Jeff.
And on your way out tell the present circulation manager that he's several decades too late to ever amount to anything more than just another nondescript corporate wage whore. In my day, the presses rolled and we rolled. In his day, the presses roll and he refers to his Excel spreadsheet.
And tell Ed I said hello.
No apologies necessary. These are great stories. I'm putting up a photo of some of what you are talking about. Feel free to hijack the thread.
"So, you're outta there in four more days, huh?"
I'm the one Jim is quoting up above here..
"First, two more names I neglected in my previous on motor-route drivers. Talerico (Dave"
I actually worked for Dave back in 84/85, but never saw him once though I gave his wife the check a couple of times.. I believe he was "retired" from the Journal when they broke the union two years ago..
"I remember John Bacon. He audited our route a couple of times to make sure we weren't taking more papers off the presses than we were paying for. No problem -- that was his job."
You either liked John or hated him but you knew where you stood with him unlike some of the people that came after him. He gave me my job and I'll always think well of him..
"You hit a car, huh? Bush league, pal. Sunday morning, three AM, 60 mph on a dirt country road, five pound Sunday paper, lots of energy and momentum to a "throw" of that weight. Mailboxes didn't stand a chance and a couple of times we deliberately decapitated a box or two and then denied any knowledge the next day. I was 17, my boss 18. We thought it was fun and weren't thinking of any consequences."
The only mailbox I ever broke was on Stanley road just off M-15.. There is quite a black top lip on the edge of the road there and when I took off after putting the paper in the tube my S-10's rear end swung over and hit the mailbox breaking the wooden pole in half.
It's the middle of the night so what do I do? Some how I lift that sucker back into position and put about ten nails in it as quick as I can. Never heard anymore about it.. (Ed McGraw's hand is on his forehead right now.. )
"In a way I still miss those days -- as miserable as they could be from time to time -- because I was a part of a larger team effort and it was satisfying in that sense, satisfying in being allowed to contribute to something bigger than my own 18 year old self.
Best wishes to you Jeff."
Thank you.. My other place of work is hyped to have me for a full 5 days instead of working around my Journal schedule and already plans are in the works to keep me busy.. Maybe I should have told them my last day at the paper was two Sundays from now?
The Journal of today is way different than you remember it to be.. Today's FJ is a place that is more like a funeral home than the place filled with fun people. Walk around the building and you'll see they don't even clean the sidewalks anymore and the "parking lot" painting on the side of the building is peeling off and needs work soon etc.
The people that truly care are few and far between and they know it's not worth the fight anymore.
My two routes plus the one I wanted them to give me are all going to brand new carriers. If Vince cared about his drivers they would have gone to one of the guys or gals down there that had 400+ papers two years ago and only 260 now.. But no, why reward anyone that has been there for years.
"And on your way out tell the present circulation manager that he's several decades too late to ever amount to anything more than just another nondescript corporate wage whore. In my day, the presses rolled and we rolled. In his day, the presses roll and he refers to his Excel spreadsheet."
I had a DM hit me with a excel spreadsheet line just this past week..
Jeff Talley
Jeff, you will be missed in more ways than you think.
Thanks for your service. A number of years ago a young boy came up to me on a reporting assignment and proudly announced that he was a carrier for the paper.
I thanked him for providing a valuable service to the newspaper and told him (as best as I can remember it) that he was perhaps the most important link in the chain. "It doesn't matter what I write, or how good the printing looks if we don't get the paper to the customer," I told him.
Yes, I was trying to make the young man feel important, but more than that it was the truth.
Perhaps the saddest thing about what has happened at the FJ is not the inevitable downturn in business, but the downturn in attitude and team spirit that the paper once had.
So many of us had friends in other departments and shared a common goal to produce and deliver a good product that it truly was a fun and rewarding place to work.
I feel sorry that people coming to the paper now will likely not know that same feeling in the future.
"Every person for themselves" attitude works in prison escapes, but not so much in producing a product.
Thanks for the memories guys.
"I thanked him for providing a valuable service to the newspaper and told him (as best as I can remember it) that he was perhaps the most important link in the chain."
I always joked with my reporter friends that it didn't matter what they wrote because coupons and the TV guide (and the Meijer's ad until they went from Monday's to Sunday) were the most important things the customers wanted.
There is a reason why the Flint Journal has so many people that have delivered it seven days a week for 20, 30, and 40+ years. It's because they paid well for what we did. In 25+ years I never told them how much I wanted to make until this year. They set the prices and they were fair.
Soon the driver force at the FJ will be people on welfare driving cars one brake job, or even a tire repair away on a Saturday night from quitting their routes.
The management vs. driver attitude can be summed up by what one driver told me the head of circ at that time said to him when the driver mentioned "his" customers.
The driver was corrected:
"Those aren't your customers... They're our customers.."
Nuff said..
"My" customers find out Thursday morning that I am giving up my route.
Jeff Talley
That is so true Jeff. One Sunday I was working a shift and a lady called late in the afternoon because she hadn't gotten her paper.
In trying to keep her a happy customer I told her how sorry I was and that we all worked hard to bring her the latest news, blah, blah, blah and she came back with: "I don't really care about the news part, I just want my coupons."
As much as it hurt to hear, it made me realize how important the non-news side of the business was.
Thanks for all you do and have done at the Journal Jeff.
Thanks Jim.. It's over for me.
The mood of the drivers both losing their jobs and staying didn't seem to be that sad, there was just some bitterness in the air. Everyone knows the end is near if they keep doing what they are doing at the Flint Journal and I don't see them changing a thing.
Most of us figure the day will come when the drivers will get there to work one night and the gates will be locked and that is how it will end.
After finishing this morning, I cleaned out all FJ materials from my van, including a stash of those NRA Obama bashing bags in which I lost two customers never to return, (I don't know why I still had those.. ) and threw it all in a dumpster.
My van was cleaned and washed and I was almost home when I realized I didn't even bring today's paper home with me..
Jeff Talley
Check this out Jim:
http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2011/06/honey_im_home_flint_journal_re.html
Jeff
Nothing comes up when I click on the link. What was there?
Cut and paste that into your browser window and it should come up Jim..
I don't know "Smakatus" but I'm quite familiar with that "Soon" character. :-)
Either Marjory didn't recognize his sarcasm or she chose to ignore it and dutifully tow the company "good news" line instead.
I cut and pasted the link and all I get is a blank MLive.com page. There is advertising and links to stories, but in the space where there is supposed to be a story it is simply white space.
Sorry.
Right this moment for the past two years I’d be out delivering the weekly Burton News.
Before the Journal bought these papers it was a almost monthly battle with their drivers because they would try to use my FJ delivery tubes rather than using their hooks or nails to hang them. As soon as I would get one driver to stop doing this, they would quit or be fired and it would start all over again.
After the Journal bought all those papers, the tube battle pretty much ended.
At that time some of the other FJ drivers inquired about delivering these papers too, and were told they couldn’t do both. It seemed like a win/win for both the drivers wanting to make extra money, and the Journal who needed more drivers, but as is the Flint Journal circulation way, while some drivers were told one thing, other drivers were allowed to deliver them. This odd bit of favoritism is still going on today.
Over the years I’d have talked to a couple of these drivers and they would tell me how easy it was. Go around throwing the papers here and there on the main roads and then find a dumpster to throw the rest in. The hardest part of the job was getting rid of all those extra bundles each week.
So two years ago we get to the big 7 to 3 day change and now we are told we all have to deliver whatever rag is thrown out on our routes. When I signed my new contract the FJ circ guy was more worried about how I would deliver these freebie papers than the real one. The kicker now was they were going to pay us only eight cents per paper to deliver them. Before that their drivers were being paid at least twice that and more.
The FJ plan was the deliver them while also doing the Sunday paper, but I was “lucky” to get enough of them to make it worthwhile to go out there and deliver them separately. I would go out as early in the morning as possibly so none of my real customers would see me throwing this thing in all the driveways.
For years I always looked down on these papers as nothing more than garbage, and now I was “that guy” throwing them all out there, and I didn’t like it one bit.
Jeff Talley
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