1950s paper boy recalls lessons.

• Position: Letter to the editor

I enjoyed your article on paper routes. ("Paper routes no longer kids' stuff," Mike Taylor, March). From 1954-1956 I carried The Denver Post in Southwest Denver where I had 140 customers daily and 200 customers Sunday. I made a penny a paper.

The Sunday papers were so big that my father drove me in our station wagon as I threw the papers off the back tailgate because I could not pedal my bicycle up the hills because of the weight of the papers.

Paper boys had to buy their rubber bands so we learned how to lock-fold the papers to save on the cost of delivery.

At one time I was a Denver Post Champion Carrier and proudly wore a sweater that said the same. I won trips to the Cheyenne Frontier Days and to Winter Park for skiing.

The lessons I learned as a paper boy were how to always provide service with a smile, how to be punctual, how to be responsible with money, and how to remember to place the papers in a certain spot for individual customers. I was rewarded for my diligence in the tips that I received for faithful service.

It is too bad that times have changed and not all changes are for the...