Every morning, you walk out, grab the paper on your front door and get to reading.
But how does the paper get there? Who takes the time to make sure routes are being fulfilled and the community is staying informed?
Gavriel DeLaLuna, a senior at LHS, has been volunteering to deliver newspapers for about two years.
Alongside his grandmother and his brother, Kaenen DeLaLuna, the three work together to deliver the Spokesman-Review’s paper to the Rathdrum, Hayden, Post Falls, Athol and Coeur d’Alene areas. On specific days, they will bundle with different newspapers and clippings.
“We stuff the rubberband papers and deliver them,” Gavriel DeLaLuna said. “It depends on the day as to where and when. Some places get bearings, and some people get the Spokesman-Review, which is the normal paper we have.”
Depending on his schedule, DeLaLuna volunteers one to two days a week. For each night delivering papers, it is about a $30 profit split in various ways, depending on the workload taken by each person. All other money goes to expenses such as gas and supplies.
Apart from the profit DeLaLuna receives from his work, he takes great pride in the job that he does.
“I do care about how a newspaper route is going, considering it kind of is a dying job, whereas everybody wants to go digital,” DeLaLuna said. “Almost nobody wants to read newspapers anymore, but there are a lot of interesting things that people get the newspaper for.”
By now, he has become relatively familiar with and comfortable with the job.
Doing the route for so long, DeLaLuna has picked up several habits to remember for how residents like their deliveries.
“Some people are very persnickety, where they want it specific ways,” DeLaLuna said. “My grandma has a guy she nicknamed Mr. Picky Pants–very funny–it’s because he wants his paper two inches from the door when it was put three inches from the door.”
He can often run into more minor issues like this or trouble finding gate codes, but DeLaLuna and his grandmother have been able to find solutions.
“It’s a good way for me to think but also gives me something to do at night because at night, I tend to stay awake a lot, and I don’t really like being up in the day very often, so it gives me an opportunity to kind of just balance into the night cycle a little more, which is something I really love,” DeLaLuna said.
He has also noticed the experience has opened his eyes to the area, different locations and the architecture in surrounding areas. DeLaLuna deeply enjoys the variety of houses and apartments.
There can be some challenges when running a paper route. DeLaLuna and his family have run into multiple problems, however nothing has been too much to handle.
Weather can change a lot during the night, depending on rain, snow, hail or wind. The DeLaLunas have also encountered several animals, ranging in size from as large as deer to as small as rabbits.
Their biggest concern is making sure they make it to all of the houses on their route.
“As long as you have your houses marked down, you make sure you deliver everybody the right paper and make sure there are no holes in bags, you’re golden,” DeLaLuna said.
