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Wish I had some real data to back it up, but the Columbus Dispatch is known for its awful treatment of carriers (the people who deliver the paper), who are historically underpaid. Under law, they're independent contractors, and they're paid to do a job regardless of the amount of work or time spent on it. This work includes collating (putting the papers together), delivering, and contacting the customers for payment. The contacting of customers is outside the daily delivery, and a very large job, since it includes preparing many bills. The Columbus Dispatch offers little recourse to carriers who aren't paid by customers, and the carriers have to pay what the customers don't pay. In other words, unless the carriers recieve 100% of payments, they have to pay the difference. This isn't the days of paper boys, but rather largely underpaid mostly adult workers.
I'm adding a short mention of these criticisms, but since I don't have true data beyond personal experience (and the experiences of family members) I'll leave it short. Hopefully it could be expanded in the future. --128.146.68.8918:58, 6 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]