Thursday, January 20, 2011

Service, litter, or safety issue?

Do you know which houses in your community are vacant? You need look no further than the piles of orange and blue newspaper bags piled high on front porches to identify these unoccupied properties. While the free Sunday papers offered by the Daily Advocate and the Early Bird are appreciated by the residents of Greenville and Darke County, a little commonsense on the part of the carriers and newspapers’ staff would be valued as well.

I recently did some research on vacant property security. After installing security cameras, maintaining the external appearance is the number one deterrent for vandalism, breaking and entering and theft. When leaving for vacation, most people stop the mail at the post office. However, calling the Daily Advocate and/or talking to the carrier to stop service is a quick way to become frustrated and see no results. I recently bought a property and fixed it up with no intention of living in it. After three discussions with the carrier and two calls to the Advocate over two months, I am still receiving papers at this address. With foreclosed properties this issue becomes more apparent. I live across from a home that was foreclosed on in the fall there are currently ten newspapers on the front porch. Commonsense tells me, and anyone walking by, that no one is picking up these papers and the house is vacant, but the papers keep coming anyway.

Who is responsible to remove them, the banks who own the property, the realtor who was assigned to take care of it, the police who are charged with the community’s safety, or the newspaper carriers who deliver it? The banks are often out of town and therefore unlikely to have someone local to perform this service. The realtor, maybe, but they are sometimes out of town as well. I think we can all agree that our police force can be put to better use than cleaning up vacant properties. I believe that the responsibility falls squarely to the newspapers. If the paper you delivered last week is still on the porch please do not deliver a new one.

I thought about urging the community to gather papers of vacant properties and delivering them back to the Advocate and the Early Bird on Monday so the papers can discard of their own waste. Then it hit me, isn’t that littering? Isn’t that what they are doing? So as someone who participates in community clean up days and believes in the mission of cleaning up Greenville, I ask the newspapers to rethink or to just think about their delivery service. I am not trying to stop the Sunday paper. I read it regularly at my own residence. I am simply asking for the community’s newspapers to take a little pride in our community as well.

Submitted by M.D.

19 comments:

  1. the carriers may get paid by the amount of papers they deliver

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  2. Thumbs up +5 Like
    if you figure out a way to get these papers stopped on request, please follow up here.

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  3. I own a home in darke county and calling the Advocate to no avail they continue to deliver them anyway. The Early Bird I had to call once and they stopped delivery the very next week. So the only one I have to deal with is the Advocate, they don't seem to care that you do not want them delivered. So maybe the best way is to gather them all up and drop them off at their office and maybe that will get the point made. Not sure what to do.

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  4. How about an ordinance (hopefully in Arcanum)that they must be on the porch or they cannot be delivered. I have caught them in my snow blower when there is a deep snow because you can not tell they are there. If I drove down the street and threw anything out the window like happens with the papers, I'd get arrested. Can a person press charges against the delivery person?

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  5. It's got to be littering! Not surprised because we are talking about the Advocate-they just want to inflate their circulation numbers. Call the police? Gather them up and return them to the Advocate? This is a problem for neighbors I have. Arcanum has a great idea-First time one of their "rags" got caught in my snowblower, I'd take the bill to Advocate.

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  6. In the area I live in, there is another problem concerning newspapers. People are asking "Where is the newspapers"? Newspapers are taken from people's porches. There are a few people involved in stealing newpapers. One was caught red handed, a known criminal. Police was call on the great newspaper theft. The real concern is are they checking out the property as they steal the newspapers.

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  7. What I find annoying is sharing a mailbox post with neighbors who don't pickup and discard their free Sunday papers because they don't want them. They tend to stack up in the ditch until one of we other neighbors gets tired of the eye sore and collects them.

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  8. I just wish they'd get them on the porch and not the yard. Most people couldn't see the papers on the porch unless they were going to the house. It seems most of the papers end up in the yard or beside the porch. Teach the carriers to put them on the porch or in the paper box. That's what they are paid to do. That would be a big help.

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  9. I have an idea, maybe all of you complaining should get a paper route.

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  10. I posted at 10:13 last night and forgot to mention another issue I have with the "rags"! There are several older ladies who live on my street in Arcanum, one of them is my mother in law. I know for a fact, they will risk life and limb to get to the "rag' on their driveway in slick weather.

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  11. I have called the daily advocate and early bird many times regarding the delivery of my papers. I have a large spot for them to place the newspapers, but they continue to throw them beside the mailbox. I have even watched the early bird throw the daily advocate out of my box and put theirs in. One of these days im going to pick up last weeks paper and stand behind a pine tree in my yard. If they throw the paper on the ground i just may return the favor of throwing newspapers in their laps :}

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  12. I work in public safety. In years past, if a newspaper or mail carrier found papers or mail stacking up they called the police or rescue in case someone was sick, injured or dead. Now, they just stack up I guess. It seems like nobody cares anymore about people or their own work ethics.

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  13. I had a phone conversation with the Early Bird about the delivery of their newspaper. If you experience problems with the delivery of the Early Bird call 547-0851 and discuss your issues with Carol.

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  14. Earlier this year, my neighborhood's Sunday Advocates arrived without being bagged. Within a few days, the whole neighborhood was littered with pages from that poor excuse for a newspaper. I phoned in and asked that that never happen again.

    When I think about all of the trees that have been cut down to print the Advocate, I can't help but feel sad.

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  15. I've delivered for the Early Bird on a walk route. Carriers are instructed to put the papers on the porch/front step. Not throw them from their car, not throw them from the sidewalk - place/put them on the front step/porch. They are also to bag the papers. If a complaint is made, the complaint is passed along to the carrier.
    Instead of complaining online, why not call the paper yourself (as some already have, and others have suggested)? Most of the complaints seem to be about the carriers who are failing at their jobs, as opposed to the paper company itself.

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  16. If they could get the papers on the step/porch I would be happy. Most weeks I have to go out and look around the flower bed for it. My porch is pretty big so they have to really try not to make it up there. I feel most probably walk along and give it a pitch and where it lands it lands. I do realize the Early Bird is a free newspaper, but they are getting paid to deliver it.

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  17. Jan 21 @9 am-Had one forever!! Had no trouble putting them where they went. All you had to do was put a note on your collection card(ie.inside fr door; mailbox; basket)If they can't deliver the paper to people who pay for it, they should QUIT or BE FIRED.

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  18. Get a paper route? Who would work for the Advocate?! Had a paper route for Dayton Daily when younger. Wouldn't want to empty the garbage or clean the windows of the ADVOCATE!

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