Washblog

One of my neighbors cancelled his PI subscription. (I grew up in Bellevue.) When I asked "Why?" he replied "I can't stand the editorials." Seeing my confusion, he asked "You don't read the editorials?" to which I said "Not unless they're on the comics page." He was disgusted with me.

I was a horrible delivery boy. Every now and then, I would be on time. I mostly used the paper route as a way to stay out of the house; so I had no reason to hurry. To this day, I love wandering around in the rain as well as watching the city wake up.

I was also horrible collecting subscription fees. This is part of my life long reluctance to ask people for money. As for getting the money, we twelve year olds were pretty much on our own; we still had to pay up even if we weren't paid. As an adult, I now acknowledge this arrangement as a WalMart-esque way of stealing from your employees.

No matter. I'm told paper delivery (and stuffing inserts) is now mostly done by adults and collections is done centrally. It's kind of too bad; paper delivery was a good ramp for kids to enter the working world, with all of its pitfalls (corporate wage slave, perennial disappointment) and benefits (pocket cash, a little bit of financial independence).

(I delivered The Times for a while too. Having both morning and afternoon routes; I thought I was rich.)

I do check out crosscut.com now and then. It's very nice. I hope the PI has the resources to do a makeover for their web site. The current strategy and design are more of a turnoff than compelling.