Newspaper deliverer Andreas has been delivering freshly printed news to the kitchen table in the Waldviertel for five years. A job with passion, as he emphasized in an interview with “Krone”.
Andreas is out and about seven days a week between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. And for one reason: so that the newspaper is on the table at breakfast and the latest news can be enjoyed with the first cup of coffee – as is still a tradition that many have grown fond of. The Waldviertler is a newspaper deliverer with body and soul. He winds down tens of thousands of kilometers every year on his tours through the far north. “I really like driving a car,” he explains in an interview with “Krone”. He guards his car like the apple of his eye – because without it nothing works in this job. He covers around 220 kilometers every day to bring the newspapers to their subscribers. Most of them in villages, where he sometimes drives to just one house. He often gets active support during the hour-long journey from his wife Gerda. “I accompany him voluntarily from time to time so that he doesn’t get bored. That welds us together,” says the pensioner. She has met a lot of nice people along the way. “You can tell that people appreciate and reward their work.” Especially at Christmas, people like to thank the newspaper deliverer with sweets or a drink. For the couple from the Zwettl district, this is both an incentive and an emotional reward. International Newspaper Carrier Day commemorates the first newspaper carrier in history: in 1833, Barney Flaherty, who was only ten at the time, responded to an advertisement in the New York Sun. His application was accepted by the paper’s editor at the time, Benjamin Day, and he became the paper’s first paperboy. The day he was hired, September 4th, draws attention to the many suppliers today. Thousands of couriers reliably deliver the “Krone”, by far Austria’s most popular daily newspaper, every day between Lake Constance and Lake Neusiedl. That’s a total of almost 170 million pieces per year. For five years, Andreas carries 400 newspapers from house to house every day. Also on Christmas or New Year’s Eve. “When others celebrate, I’m on the road,” said the delivery man. “But I like doing it,” emphasizes the man from the Waldviertel quickly, and the celebrations follow later. It has been delivering newspapers reliably for five years now – making it a real rarity in the industry. “It’s difficult to find people. Many don’t want to work at the weekend.” The job is a good opportunity and worthwhile, especially for older people or pensioners. “We work in a great team and can rely on each other,” he says, pleased about the nice colleagues. He now gets his news online – because “I see newspapers all day”.
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