She had one job...

[bhskittykatt]

In my convo with Other MOD, I found out one of my former coworkers got a paper route, and was subsequently fired from it. This was all within two months.

Being a paper carrier myself, I asked how this could happen. I mean, there's not a lot to the job. You throw papers at houses. It's not rocket science. Furthermore, it's tough for the newspaper to find people willing to get up a 3am every day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, and do the job, so they give us more than a fair bit of leniency on things. (I knew one route where the carrier wouldn't pick up until after deadline, and finish his route about an hour and a half after deadline, but because he was otherwise consistent they let him get away with it.)

She told Other MOD: "Well, it wasn't raining when I delivered the paper, but between when I delivered it I guess it rained. So they called and said I wasn't good enough to be a paper carrier and they fired me."

I was confused at first, but Other MOD then clarified that Former CW wasn't using the plastic newspaper sleeves.

Let's break this down:

• We live in the friggin' Pacific Northwest. It rains here. It rains here a lot. Is it not raining right now? Then it's going to rain.
• Even during a dry period in the summer, you still have sprinkler systems to contend with.
• We live in the friggin' PACIFIC NORTHWEST! I cannot emphasize this enough! It's WET!
• Plastic newspaper sleeves are cheap even before the newspaper company subsidizes half the cost. There's no excuse not to use them.
• You don't get fired for one complaint, or even two or three, especially if you're new. And you see every complaint on your daily report that comes from one of your customers, even if it's something like a billing issue that has nothing to do with you. If it comes from your customer, you see it. Meaning Former CW had to have seen the complaints piling up, and had to have been ignoring them.

Other MOD kinda called her out on being stupid, too. She pointed out that she's ridden along with me before and she saw me bag every paper I threw, so why didn't Former CW do that? (Which I do. Because that's how I was trained and also see above list.)

To be fired from a paper route in under two months...that's pretty dang special.

[corwin02]

I must be missing something , you have to pay for the plastic sleeves on the newspaper ?

This is not something the newspaper company provides, but if you do not use them the company hold you responsible ?

That just sounds wrong to me.

[bhskittykatt]

I must be missing something , you have to pay for the plastic sleeves on the newspaper ?

This is not something the newspaper company provides, but if you do not use them the company hold you responsible ?

That just sounds wrong to me.

As independent contract carriers, we pay for our own supplies, including the sleeves. The company still subsidizes half the cost. We can order them through our District Sales Manager and the cost is automatically deducted from our checks, so it's not like it's a huge fuss to get them. (They also sell us rubber bands, but the only people I know who use them are the ones who have large retirement-home customer bases where you are delivering the papers indoors.)

When I say Former CW was "fired", more properly I should say "her contract was terminated".

[Jay 2K Winger]

"All you had to do was keep out the damn rain, CJ!"

[Pagan]

Hell, even here when we were going months without even a cloud in the sky (I'm not kidding) and were beyond drier than bone-dry, I would often get my paper in a plastic sleeve.

[Aislin]

I live in AZ and I get my paper in a sleeve about 50% of the time and they base it on dew point and weather and issues. We hardly get rain but they are still cautious.

[raudf]

The plastic sleeve isn't just to prevent the paper getting wet. High dust levels like the ones we experienced this year due to drought conditions, can cause issues with reading the paper. Who wants a paper that is more dirt than paper?!

[ShadowTiger]

So I suppose you'd have to put the plastic sleeve on at each house? It wouldn't come pre-wrapped?

[Pixilated]

The plastic sleeve isn't just to prevent the paper getting wet. High dust levels like the ones we experienced this year due to drought conditions, can cause issues with reading the paper. Who wants a paper that is more dirt than paper?!

It also keeps your paper from being scattered all over your yard if it's windy out ...

[bhskittykatt]

So I suppose you'd have to put the plastic sleeve on at each house? It wouldn't come pre-wrapped?

Yep. Unless the customer had a box. Then the paper just goes straight in the box. Some carriers will sit at the dropsite and pre-bag all their papers, but I don't bother with that and I bag as I go.

I hang the sleeves up in my car off my mirror (low enough so it won't block my view much, of course), and it takes less than a second to bag a paper. (The exception are the huge Sunday papers, which come in two sections we have to put together and are unwieldy bricks that don't like to fit in the bags.) For the most part, it's probably faster to use a bag than to mess with rubber bands. Just drop the paper in, tear it off the sleeve hanger, and toss it out the window. Boom, done, next.

[scruff]

I'm very glad I live in UK.
Magazines are automatically plastic wrapped, and papers and magazines get pushed though the letterbox - well, there's no lawn or balcony to leave the papers on in the front of many homes in town.

[raudf]

It also keeps your paper from being scattered all over your yard if it's windy out ...

Oh deities, YES! As a kid I was constantly chasing the neighbor's paper's for 'em, cause she was an old lady who couldn't chase it herself! Plus, it's a lot easier for the elderly to grasp and hold a plastic bag than the Sunday paper.

[greensinestro]

Hell, even here when we were going months without even a cloud in the sky (I'm not kidding) and were beyond drier than bone-dry, I would often get my paper in a plastic sleeve.

So do I. We only get it on Sundays (my wife insists on it), and seems like even back to when I was a kid, the newspaper always came in those plastic bags. Made it easier for throwing from the driveway to the porch (when I was too lazy to take it inside before heading off to play with friends).

[BookstoreEscapee]

My mom loves those plastic bags. She keeps an empty oatmeal container on the counter next to the sink for small trash and food bits, and the newspaper bags fit perfectly in it.