Just another soggy news day

I've been having trouble with the delivery to my home of our local neighbourhood newspaper during this very wet Autumn. While I consider myself to be a reasonably patient person, I must admit I had had my fill last week. The following are 2 letters I sent to their circulation department, complete with photos:

First letter dated Nov. 24th

"Dear Vancouver Courier,

I have resisted the urge to complain about my home delivery of the Courier in the past largely because it’s not a paid subscription. But recent rainfall, combined with the lack of a basic standard of delivery service has prompted me to point out that my area carrier is getting paid for a job poorly done.

Last Wednesday I noticed the paper had not been delivered. On Thursday I noticed it still had not arrived. Then on Friday evening, upon arriving home in the rain from work, I was greeted by a sodden lump of newsprint in the middle of my front sidewalk. But what really annoyed me was Tuesday morning (yesterday), as I walked up the side of the house to exit the yard, there was Wednesday’s paper, lying between the fence and garden, nowhere near the front door or even the sidewalk! (photo attached)

Our front door has a generous overhang, and it really doesn’t take much effort to open the gate, and take 3 or 4 steps before lobbing the paper so it lands in a dry place. Is requesting dry delivery of a free newspaper asking too much? Because really, if it’s not delivered dry, what’s the point?

I realize it’s a free paper, but it’s not like you don’t pay your paper carriers. Your advertisers no doubt spend a lot of money to have their ads inserted into the Courier, and people don’t read sodden lumps of newsprint. They go straight in the recycling bin.

Thank you for your attention."

That wasn't too harsh, was it?

Letter No. 2 dated Nov. 25th

"Dear Vancouver Courier,

Well, it happened again last light; a sodden lump of newsprint was left on the topsoil beside my front walk (see attached photo) about 10 feet away from my dry front door overhang. I figured I might as well have some creative fun with writing this evening since I don’t have a legible edition of The Courier to read.

I was thinking, my neighbours and I would be just as well served by our local paper carrier if he were to simply dump his bundles of papers in a ravine somewhere rather than go to the trouble of walking the city sidewalks lobbing newspapers onto wet residential front walks in November downpours. At least he’d save some fossil fuel by not having to drive to our ‘hood.

If you insist upon delivering The Courier twice a week to my doorstep, which I’m quite happy to receive under normal circumstances, could you please (at least reasonably) ensure that the paper is dry? Otherwise, as I asked in my last complaint, what’s the point? Yesterday the bundle containing newspaper plus Christmas flyers was so waterlogged I couldn’t even separate the pages.

In stark contrast, my Vancouver Sun was waiting for me this morning completely dry on my doorstep (see other attached photo), a mere 10 feet away from the wet resting place of the Courier.

Of course, it’s a paid subscription, but it’s not like it requires any expensive special equipment to deliver a dry paper. The same delivery tool set applies both to free and subscribed newspapers. I know; I was a paper carrier myself for several years in my teens.

And I never left a newspaper in the middle of a sidewalk in the pouring rain.

Thank you for your time."

OK, it probably was a bit harsh, but I have a very low tolerance for poor service. But I stand by my conviction that there's no point doing the job if the end result of said effort has no purpose whatsoever, e.g. providing an unreadable newspaper. It only incites frustration in the homeowner, and creates more work to retrieve the sodden lump and throw it out.

The reason this whole newspaper thing burns my britches probably stems from my pre-teens when I took on a job delivering a free neighbourhood weekly, The White Rock Sun. I think I must've been around 12.

I vividly remember one incident in particular. It was a hot afternoon and I was walking my route with a fully stuffed canvas newspaper bag slung over my shoulder. I walked up the driveway, veered onto the concrete sidewalk, and lobbed the paper onto the front doorstep (a covered doorstep, I might add). No sooner had I turned around to exit the yard than the front door and screen door whipped open and an elderly woman’s voice said. “Young man! Do you realize that my newspaper blows all over the yard when you throw it on my steps? You’ll open the screen door and slide it through the mail slot next time, or your manager is going to hear about it!”

The door closed before I could say anything. And really, what could a twelve year old have said in defense? I had only been trying to do a good job. On windy days I did regularly take precautions by slipping the paper under the corner of a front door mat, or looking for a rock with which I could anchor the paper.

Of course, I'm sure my memory is crystal clear on that event some 30 years ago, and in my mind I had done all that I could to ensure that an intact and dry weekly edition of The White Rock Sun reached all those intended.

So, in firing off a couple of letters to the circulation department this past week, I must say I did so with some trepidation. I didn’t want to adopt that ”cranky senior citizen” stereotype. I may have sprouted a few grays since becoming a homeowner, but I like to think I’m encouraging a base level of service for me and my neighbours, by expecting the same service from my local carrier as I delivered when I was twelve.