The problems paperboys face

For paperboys, the day begins at 5 a.m. They ride to the nearest newspaper distribution centre on their bicycles or bikes. The city has many newspaper distribution centres, each having its number of newspaper hawkers. As such, Rawalpindi itself approximately has thousands of paperboys.

“They work more or less all the thirty days of the month, except for the public holidays observed by the newspapers; these hawkers are quite content with their daily jobs and life. Most hawkers in their early twenties have other jobs besides these, where they try to earn some extra money,” says Aziz Hussain.

“The monthly salary of a hawker is not enough; therefore, they have to do other jobs to support their families. I usually get done with this job by 7:30 a.m. and then make my way to my next job which starts from 8 a.m.,” says Mohsin Ali, who is also a garments worker and has to support a family of five members.

“It would be more helpful if the concerned authorities raised our monthly salaries which have not changed for over some time now. If such conditions persist we may just revert to other jobs shortly,” says Shahid Hasan, a newspaper distributor at the Hussaini newspaper distribution center.

“I have been working as a hawker for over nine years now and I prefer this job more because of all the friends and the people I got to know while working in this sector. I have to do this job and work in a shop, later. I have been the only backing and support for our family for the past nine years,” says Naveed Haider.

“Most of us are paid staff members of some important hawkers association of the city. Some working with the hawkers’ association receive the commission based on the units of newspapers sold. This commission rate has been existing for years and has not changed ever since,” says Baseer Ali.

“The paper’s management is going to to rely more on the street vendors, and over the weekend, the newspaper publishes more advertisements seeking friendly, energetic people to do street sales. We go to areas where people have difficulty getting a newspaper,” says Salman Askari.

“I am a needy man who usually pumps gasoline and washes windows at a nearby gas station, now dash from car to car, selling papers given to me by a man who promised to split the proceeds with me. I also weave through traffic trying to seize the attention of motorists and pedestrians scurrying through the city,” says Zahid Alvi.

Jawad Naqvi says, “I am an independent contractor with a daily newspaper. I handle several subcontractors. Newspaper hawkers stand on sidewalks at major intersections. Some hawkers are in different markets trying to sell newspapers. The time given to the work adds to their earnings.”