Carrier Tip
February 24, 2008 by Sandy Renshaw
Filed under General
When I take my Sunday morning hike to retrieve the Des Moines Register, I am reminded that there is a box labeled “Carrier Tip” on my subscription renewal notice. Invariably I think, “Yeah, I’ve got a tip for you.” The USPS letter carrier comes six days a week, always leaves the mail in the same place, and never asks for extra money.
Editor’s note from the Purple Wren: Sometimes my sweetie is a little cranky on Sunday morning.
Guest Writer: James G. Lindberg (Jim) is the Purple Wren’s sweetie and is a visiting chemistry professor at Grinnell College and retired from Drake University.
[tags] Iowa, Des Moines, Central Iowa News, Des Moines Register, Home Delivery [/tags]
Sandy Renshaw is Sandy Renshaw is a self-employed communications consultant. You will also find her blogging at Purple Wren.
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And now come the promo plugs: With AroundDesMoines.com, you don’t have to trudge through snow or leap over iced-over evergreens to get your news, your favorite columnists, or features on Iowans. With Leading Voices: Iowa, the postal service delivers it so all you need do is keep those steps clear.
As someone who’s done it before, I can tell you that your carrier was walking through your neighborhood in subzero temperatures for next to nothing in pay just so you’d have any paper at all.
Being a paper carrier is a thankless, low-paying, sleep cycle-ruining job. I did it for a month during the summer and couldn’t stand it. I can’t imagine doing it this winter.
But during that month of making sure 100 Des Moines residents had their paper before 6 AM, whether it was raining or just dark, I did accumulate $3 in tips.