I love this thread. It brings back some great memories!
My first route was an afternoon route delivering the now long defunct Long Island Press. About 70 papers. I used my Iverson Charger, a stingray bike, sissy bar, banana seat and chrome fenders. Man, I loved that heavy bike!
I soon graduated to the NY Daily News, again using my Iverson, but then I got crazy and picked up a Sunday NY Times route, and there was no way the old Iverson could handle a load of Sunday Times. Heck, no bike could handle those papers! So I stole, I mean borrowed, a shopping cart from the local Bohacks Supermarket (wow, that name brings back memories to!). It was the norm back then, all the cool delivery boys had a Bohacks cart! Well one day while delivering my load of Times, a supermarket manager saw the cart and demanded it back right then and there, so I had to unload all the papers on the sidewalk and he took the cart back. So I had to run up and down the streets delivering the papers from the pile that was left on the sidewalk. Quite a few got stolen before I could deliver them all, but hey, I guess I deserved it for stealing that cart in the first place.
Wow, what great memories I have of that great lost tradition in America....
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It never gets easier, you just go faster. ~ Greg LeMond