Fired on Main Street - plight of the carriers

Considering making extra money as a newspaper carrier at the Register & Bee? Better ask someone who's done it...or talk to Pat - a carrier there for five years.

Pat says she never missed a day, took a vacation or called in sick. As a reporter I know she called in dozens of story tips - many which made the front page of the paper. She did it because she loved her job and loved being part of the community. You may remember a story about a swarm of bees in a yard in Danville that a local bee-keeper was called to remove. That was a Pat tip. When a local church was flooded, a dog needed rescuing, or whatever it was, Pat was often the person who gave us our first heads up.

Shootings, an arrest of a naked man outside a hotel, a business closing....Pat was our woman on the street. She brought good news as well as bad and loved her job. She had the worst route in town - through bad neighborhoods where she was confronted a time or two with guns, gangs and threats. Many of her papers were stolen after she delivered them - and she had to pay for each one!!! Because if someone calls The Danville Register & Bee and says they didn't get their paper - the CARRIER has to pay for that paper!! If your neighbor steals it, or it's under a bush - or whatever happens....the carrier must eat the cost. And Pat paid for a lot of papers she delivered.

Well, Pat was fired recently. But no one told her. She showed up for work only to find someone else had taken her papers and her route. No one would tell her what was going on. Then later that morning she was on Main St. and her manager saw her driving and told her NOT to come back to work, that she was fired for "being a bad carrier." FIRED ON MAIN STREET?? WHAT kind of jackasses are running the newspaper that they fire their carriers or any contractor when they run into them outside of the business??? Just how far up their butts are their heads over at Media General??? Not only that, she was told not to set foot on the property or risk being arrested. Other carriers have come into the Register & Bee offices - one paper carrier who was arrested because he shoved an employee WHO WOULDN"T GIVE HIM HIS PAYCHECK! Media General forgot to tell him that they CHARGED him for every rubber band and plastic bag used on the papers!!

Three days later she got a letter telling her she was fired. In the meantime, she said, she never got the $1,000 she says the newspaper allegedly owes her. She's preparing her paperwork and looking for a lawyer to file against the paper. If you are a current or former newspaper carrier - you know who she is. Contact her with YOUR story about YOUR TREATMENT at the paper. It would help her, you and future carriers protect themselves.

Reasons not to carry papers for the Register & Bee

You're a contractor - not an employee. You are responsible for your own taxes, insurance and supplies. You don't get mileage. You will drive hundreds or even thousands of miles a month and will need to factor in your cost of insurance, repairs, tires, gas and risk - remember - two carriers have been killed and others who deliver in so-called "rough" neighborhoods have been threatened.

You will have to sit around and wait on your papers - often in the cold and dark and in a high crime neighborhood

You will not have access to a bathroom while waiting. But hey - the world can be your urinal....or at least the R&B parking lot carriers say....

If a neighbor or stranger STEALS the paper from someone you've just delivered it to - YOU will be required to pay for the paper. If the resident just doesn't like you and calls and complains and SAYS they didn't get their paper, you will still have to pay for the paper.

You can be fired at any time for any reason, without even knowing what is going on...and maybe even get fired on Main St., like Pat.

The Register & Bee cannot give their side of the story - they'll cite "Employee confidentiality. But the fact is, they treat their employees poorly and no one is safe. Ask anyone who was recently laid off if THEY had any warning their head was on the chopping block.

Our sympathy is with Pat - who was and is still very supportive of the news - who has given tips to Susan Elzy, Denice Thibodeau, myself, and Arnold. She has saved a life, stopped flood damage to buildings by sounding the alarm during early morning hours when no one else was awake and she was delivering papers. If anything - the city or someone ought to be giving her an award for her tips - not firing her in passing on Main St. Geesh Steve.....don't you TRAIN the managers you hire? Leadership in action...Steve Kaylor and Media General....pissing off and screwing over as many people possible as quickly as possible.