Adams aims for good customer service

Published 5:00 am Friday, October 9, 2009

Thirty years in one industry will pretty much make a man anexpert, but there’s always going to be a few hic-ups here andthere.

Lincoln County’s Eugene Adams has been a newspaper carrier forThe DAILY LEADER for 30 years, but even he has recorded a fewmisfires during his long, adept career. The 54-year-old Adams, whobecame a carrier for the Brookhaven paper in 1979, recalledbulls-eying a sleeping cat in a subscriber’s yard once, much to thescurrying feline’s chagrin.

But that’s all in the past now.

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“I’m getting good at my aim now,” he said. “I can just about putit where it needs to go.”

Of course, the subscribers along Adams’ route would be willingto overlook the occasional misfire or terrified cat.

With 407 daily deliveries, Adams and his wife Dottie, 51,operate one of the longest routes at the newspaper, hand-deliveringthe news to businesses, city slickers and residents way out in thecounty. He loves his subscribers, and they love him back.

“We just enjoy putting the news out for everybody, and everybodyseems to enjoy it,” Adams said. “We have met some kind of people inBrookhaven since we’ve been on the route. We talk with someoneevery day. They just know us. They say, ‘Hey, Paper-lady! And,’Hey, Paper-man!'”

Saturday, Oct. 10, is the day designated this year for newspapersubscribers to love their carriers even more.

International Newspaper Carrier Day was founded to salute thosewho deliver the news. The day marks the end of the annual NationalNewspaper Week.

And with the amount of work that goes into delivering a paper,every now and then, carriers need a quick salute.

“There’s more work to it than you think – it ain’t just gettingin a car and riding the roads,” Adams said. “You’ve got bookwork todo, you have to get your papers sorted, you have to keep an eye onthe road and watch those other drivers. There’s a little pressureon you.”

The DAILY LEADER publishes six times per week, and the carriersdutifully deliver the hot-off-the-press papers to the subscribers,no matter what’s going on outside.

“Rainy days are the tough part,” Adams said. “Especially herelately, when that rain’s coming in that window every day. Coldweather is tough, but none of it’s that bad. There’s always somethings that are difficult, but there ain’t enough to cause a personto fall out.”

It doesn’t take much to be a carrier – Adams said all one needsis a small, economy car that is well maintained – but it takes alot to be a good one. In 30 years, Adams knows how to spot the goodand bad, who will do a good job and who will give up in a week.

“You just have to deliver the paper in a decent, readable way,”he said. “That’s why you’re out there. And if someone calls anddidn’t get a paper, you go back and you tend to it. They want thatnews today.”