Back in the Day: Kids worked hard for the money | Back in the Day
Many of you recall having jobs when you were growing up, back in the day. I make this observation knowing that many families did not have the means to provide the things that their children needed or wanted. If you flash back to the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s, you will recall that many parents did not have those so-called good and well-paying jobs, which meant children often found ways to earn money on their own. In fact, children were industrious; they found ways to keep a few dimes, quarters, even dollars, in their pockets to do and buy things they needed or wanted. Our youthful entrepreneurial spirit took some of the pressure off of our parents. Let us examine some jobs we held as children, back in the day.
The paperboy is one of the first jobs that comes to mind when I think of jobs performed by boys in the past. Newspapers were not always delivered by an adult carrier covering a massive route, nor were they only purchased at newsstands as is the case today. Not long ago, little boys went door to door delivering papers. At one time when newspapers were in demand, they were printed several times a day. Some of you remember the Philadelphia Bulletin. Newspaper boys would fold their papers, wrap them with a rubber band and then stuff them into canvass or heavy cloth bags. Then using a prescribed route, paperboys would deliver the papers to homes either on foot, with wagons loaded with the newspapers or riding their bicycles. They also collected money. Can you imagine a paperboy today collecting money for newspapers from subscribers as was done in the past? Back then, the work of a paperboy was safe and brought a sense of real customer service as they got to know those receiving the newspapers. Paperboys made a point of good service as good service was recognized at Christmas time through gifts that increased the amount of money in their pockets. This was helpful at a time of the year when gift giving was very important. Unfortunately, little boys cannot earn money delivering newspapers today; this is now a job that is in the hands of adults. By the way, delivering circulars was an option if you did not want the regular job of delivering newspapers.
Another job for young people was to offer services to elderly food shoppers. Perhaps you pulled your wagon to the neighborhood Penn Fruit, A & P, Thriftway, Pantry Pride or Food Fair markets to offer your services to that elderly food shopper. In some cases, you took food orders in advance before going to the market. Can you still see young people asking, very politely if anyone needed help as they left the supermarket with items in the store cart? Maybe you remember young people negotiating with adults to determine the amount to charge for the delivery service. There was little negotiating because the delivery boy would invariably say, “You can give me whatever you want.” So, after the wagon, filled with groceries is pulled two or three blocks and the foods are carried into the home, sometimes up the stairs to a third floor apartment, the young entrepreneur received fifty cents. Not much you may say, but six or seven deliveries meant a whopping three or four dollars; an amount that went a long way for a ten or twelve year old boy, back then.
I would love to go back in time to see little boys walking along side of a grandmother or mother, pulling their Red Ryder wagons filled with grocery bags. What I would not give to have one of these images, in a poster format, to hang on my wall at home or on the wall in my office. This is the kind of image that gives true meaning to little children earning money, back in the day.
I recognize that some of the money making ideas we pursued in the past as children are not applicable today. The world today is quite different! Technology, other creations, and various inventions have altered our way of lives in so many ways. But let us return to some of the other ways in which children and teenagers made money in the past. Some of you recall gathering up and returning soda bottles for a few pennies. How many of you traveled through the streets shining shoes with barbershops being great places to obtain customers as men waited to get their hair cut? Snowstorms and cutting grass always provided opportunities to earn money. Washing windows, operating lemonade stands, caddying, taking items to a junkyard, babysitting, collecting tickets or selling refreshments in the movies, washing dishes, walking a neighbor’s child to school, walking a neighbor’s dog, helping to clean a neighbor’s house, carrying heavy gliders and rocking chairs to and from the porch, washing down porches, steps and sidewalks were some of the many other ways that children earned money in the past. Of course, I cannot forget doing hair. Nor, can I forget those so-called desirable jobs that required one to be age appropriate; flipping burgers at a restaurant, selling merchandise in a store, working as a lifeguard, ice cream parlor helper that made ice cream sundaes, milk shakes, and other ice cream favorites, and a gas station helper that pumped gas, checked oil and washed the car’s windows.
The next time your child or grandchild asks for money to shop or go out for fun, encourage them to take a page out of your childhood playbook. Encourage them to read this column. Hopefully, reading this column might result in stimulating thoughts of creative ways of making money in today’s highly technical environment. Today’s youth can use their creativity just as many of us did to earn money, back in the day.
Alonzo Kittrels can be reached at [email protected] or The Philadelphia Tribune, Back In The Day, 520 South 16th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19146 The views expressed in this column are not necessarily those of The Philadelphia Tribune.
