Youths turn wintry Herald Journal route into Hawaii trip

By Brittny Goodsell Jones

March 3, 2008 | A temperature of 7 below zero doesn't affect Ryan's determination to deliver the newspaper at 5:30 in the morning. What keeps him warm is imagining what the beaches of Hawaii look like come October.

With the money made from his paper route, Ryan and two siblings who help him just bought plane tickets to go to Hawaii as part of a family vacation. And with seven members in the family with a mom who stays home, this trip is an unlikely financial wonder.

The triplets have been saving for this trip since June 2007, a few months after Ryan started working as a news carrier for The Herald Journal.

Every time Ryan gets paid, he said he splits the paycheck among his siblings. He also pays his dad for gas money. Nicole, Braiden and Ryan, the triplets, each get about $80, and $25 of that goes toward the Hawaii fund. Mother Kelly Parkinson said each kid contributed a part of their ticket and that she and her husband, Robert, matched that amount.

'He never wakes me up, ever'

One recent afternoon, Braiden Parkinson, one of three triplets, is sandwiched on a loveseat between his mom and his sister, Nicole. Ryan sits on the other side of Nicole with his bare feet touching Nicole's denim skirt, fighting for space on the couch.

Braiden said his brother, Ryan, sometimes won't wake him up when it's time to pile in the car and deliver newspapers, the early job that the 12-year-old triplets do each morning. But since the route is technically Ryan's, Nicole and Braiden aren't required to go. The downside of not going, however, is not having an equal amount of the paycheck to put toward Hawaii.

"He never wakes me up, ever," Braiden said jokingly. "He's selfish."

Delivering The Herald Journal in the Parkinson family is a job for anyone who wants to come along. Kelly said the triplets usually roll out of bed around 5:15 a.m. by dad prodding them awake. Sometimes Britton and Mason, the younger twins in the family, go along as well. Kelly said they all layer a fat coat over their skinny pajamas and stumble to the car with puffy eyes.

"They're ornery," Kelly said. "They fight over who has to run it up to the porch."

Kelly, surrounded on the loveseat by everyone but Mason, said the kids are like zombies in the morning and just get in the car with dad and go.

"We hope they never get in a wreck because you should see what they look like then," Kelly said.

Kelly is interrupted by Mason barreling into the room and announcing himself. Nicole pretends to fight with Braiden by pushing him aside so she can have more room while Braiden, who has cerebral palsy, pushes back and Kelly says to calm down. Ryan peers out of his glasses and watches the display.

After the pushing subsides, Braiden said that when he comes he usually sits in the car and helps fold papers or put in the inserts while Nicole and Ryan run to front doors and deliver The Herald Journal.

Although Braiden's cerebral palsy does not affect his mentality, Kelly said he walks a bit slower than his other siblings. That's why having him in the car can be such a help, she said, when it comes to needing someone to do things inside the car, like stuffing inserts or putting newspapers in bags. But it's not always a productive atmosphere.

'Let go! You're not helping'

"You must know they are in there fighting most of the time," Kelly said. "Let go! You're not helping. You're not going to get paid. Everyone says ‘Oh, triplets, they must get along so well,' and I'm like, ‘Wanna bet?'"

Regardless of weather, the triplets deliver about 100 papers around the Providence area each morning. Kelly said they deliver to about seven miles of houses. The route is usually done in about a half-hour. But with the snow, Ryan said it can take more than one hour, even with the convenience of a car. Windows are rolled down then quickly rolled up as papers are put into mailboxes.

Fred Trujillo, circulation office manager for The Herald Journal, said the hardest part about delivering papers in the winter is the weather. Bundle haulers, who deliver the day's newspapers to the doorsteps of the paper carriers, sometimes get their vehicles stuck in snow piles. When that happens, Trujillo said someone has to pick them up and finish the route.

An article in The Herald Journal stated the snow amount in Cache Valley that fell in January was 27 inches, almost double the average for that month. Newspapers still have to be delivered regardless of the weather.

The Herald Journal has five bundle haulers who pick up the paper in Preston between 12:30 and 1 a.m. The papers are then brought to Logan for distribution, Trujillo said. There are 250 routes in the valley so the bundle haulers break up and take a certain number of routes. Trujillo said the process begins around 2:30 a.m. and is supposed to be completed by 6 a.m.. The lowest temperature bundle haulers worked in this winter was 15 below zero.

But Kelly said Ryan knew getting a paper route meant enduring sub-zero weather. Ryan knew the money would be worth it, she said. Once Ryan saw Nicole make money from babysitting, Kelly said he begged her for three months to get a paper route to earn his own cash. Braiden jokingly said the only reason Ryan wanted to have a paper route is because of the money and greed. But after Braiden and Nicole saw how much money Ryan made in a month, they both pleaded to help out and get in on the wealth, Kelly said.

Underwear and road accidents

Besides Dad hitting a mailbox once, Kelly said the paper route can be exciting because of other things that happen or are seen at 6 a.m.­like seeing people in their underwear.

"In the summer there'll be a guy working at his computer early in the morning (in his underwear) thinking no one is there," Kelly said. "Another time I caught a guy in his underwear. I kind of crossed his yard, he was in the garage turning off his sprinkling system. He opened the door to see if it was on, and I said, ‘How ya doin? Here's the paper.'"

Ryan said one thing he doesn't like about delivering papers is when the Thanksgiving ads come around. With the extra inserts and display ads for big sales, Ryan said the newspaper ends up weighing from 1 to 3 pounds. Nicole turns to Ryan and says yeah, it's something like that.

"They joke that if they got in a crash that people would go into the car and say ‘Oh there's nothing in here but paper,'" Kelly said.

Ryan said another reason that delivering papers is frustrating is a small, yappy dog that has the tendency to chase him.

"I pretend to throw the paper at the dog so it scares him," Ryan said.

Braiden has a different reason, he said, as to why the route is sometimes difficult.

"It's tiring," Braiden said.

"You don't do it!" Ryan said, turning to his left to tease Braiden.

Braiden looks from his mom to Ryan, as if waiting for backup.

Hating that dog

"Remember that one time when you threw the paper in the window well?" Ryan said to Nicole.

"Yeah, a couple times," Nicole said.

"Ryan hit it on the roof once," Braiden said.

"And I hate the dog," Ryan said.

"I like the dog, it's sad," Nicole said.

"It's a fluffy black dog," Ryan said.

"We should bring, like, an air soft gun---" Braiden said.

"OK, no more stories," Kelly said.

"It would be fun, though," Braiden said.

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