Lubbock Newspaper Kills Paperboys And Targets Mailmen

Long-time readers of the Lubbock Avalanche Journal have been warned.

Apparently, this was announced in mid-September, but I did not hear about it until yesterday. I heard an old coot (I'm an old coot, so no offense) complaining that he had subscribed to the Lubbock newspaper for over 40 years and he was thinking of canceling because of the new form of delivery. I checked out what he was talking about, and he was absolutely correct.

It's been a long time since I've seen a paperboy, but when I was a kid it was pretty much every boy's dream job. The idea of getting paid for riding around on your bike and throwing stuff at houses made it worthwhile to get up early and fold those papers. Adults got into the act too, throwing from their cars. Those days transitioned into the street corner sellers which I still don't approve of (don't they know those corners are reserved for guys with little cardboard signs?).

So here's the long and short of it, the newspaper is really pushing people toward their digital version, but those people who want a physical paper, will have it delivered to their mailbox in the afternoon by the U.S. Postal Service (I'm betting the mailmen LOVE this idea....not).  One of the reasons they cite for this change is the "inconsistent delivery" that some people were getting, which pretty much says, "We've failed to manage this service". So, in effect, the paperboys and adult delivery people are done.

I guess all of this just shows how times are changing. I saw a newspaper yesterday and took a quick glance and they now seem small, and less thick than the old Thrifty Nickels were.  So there you go,  if you want yesterday's news in paper form, you'll have to wait until the mailman shows up. One question though, since the U.S.P.S has limited Sunday delivery, how will the Sunday paper be handled, or will it be discontinued? According to the paper's toll-free information line, the Saturday and Sunday editions will be combined into a Saturday weekend edition and delivered by mail, so goodbye to the tradition of a Sunday paper as well.