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HAB911

(10,408 posts)
Tue Mar 3, 2026, 06:41 PM 7 hrs ago

How many are old enough to remember

an old school newspaper box? My neighbor who lived here since the 1940's had one and asked me to remove it years ago. I saw the potential, and it has been the home of many Carolina Wren families. This year, a Carolina Chickadee family to be, beat them to it!



18 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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How many are old enough to remember (Original Post) HAB911 7 hrs ago OP
Nice adaptation. We had some that were cylindrical. For the paper I eventually went to work for us an adult. Walleye 7 hrs ago #1
Great Beringia 7 hrs ago #2
Now *that's* how you recycle! Deuxcents 7 hrs ago #3
How cool is that??? I remember back in the day, the mailbox and newspaper box under it. niyad 6 hrs ago #4
I still have that combo..but the local newspaper is no more,alas. BattleRow 6 hrs ago #6
Alas, the daily fishwrap here is still extant. niyad 5 hrs ago #10
Yep! Those boxes used to be everywhere. Diamond_Dog 6 hrs ago #5
what a great use for that paper tube! RainCaster 6 hrs ago #7
I hadn't thought of those in years Auggie 6 hrs ago #8
Our paperboy would drop it inside the screen/storm door. BidenRocks 5 hrs ago #9
I hope that your parents gave him a tip Squaredeal 4 hrs ago #16
Have one next to my mailbox. Still gets used occasionally for larger envelopes orders Cheezoholic 5 hrs ago #11
We had the paperboy on a bike hurling the paper up to the porch... Beartracks 4 hrs ago #12
I hope your paperboy's aim was good enough for close enough! I had a route growing up. George McGovern 3 hrs ago #17
cool! Kali 4 hrs ago #13
Love the remodeling into a bird condo! debsy 4 hrs ago #14
The HOA where my now wife once lived was told newspaper boxes weren't allowed. Squaredeal 4 hrs ago #15
Excellent job HAB911. Nowadays your project would be called "repurposing and rehoming". But you fixed it up nicely. George McGovern 3 hrs ago #18

Walleye

(44,412 posts)
1. Nice adaptation. We had some that were cylindrical. For the paper I eventually went to work for us an adult.
Tue Mar 3, 2026, 06:44 PM
7 hrs ago

niyad

(131,508 posts)
4. How cool is that??? I remember back in the day, the mailbox and newspaper box under it.
Tue Mar 3, 2026, 07:49 PM
6 hrs ago

Diamond_Dog

(40,308 posts)
5. Yep! Those boxes used to be everywhere.
Tue Mar 3, 2026, 08:15 PM
6 hrs ago

What a great idea to recycle them into birdhouses!

I wonder how much longer before mailboxes disappear ………

BidenRocks

(3,108 posts)
9. Our paperboy would drop it inside the screen/storm door.
Tue Mar 3, 2026, 08:55 PM
5 hrs ago

The Milwaukee Journal and The Milwaukee Sentinel.
Our neighbor liked the horses in Illinois, so they had a paper box for The Chicago Tribune.
About 1963. I was 8.

Squaredeal

(714 posts)
16. I hope that your parents gave him a tip
Tue Mar 3, 2026, 10:26 PM
4 hrs ago

That took extra time to that of just putting the paper in a box on the street or tossing it on a porch. At that time, newspaper boys earned 2 to 2-1/2 cents per delivery (5 cents for each Sunday paper) plus collecting weekly and being responsible for paying for the deadbeats.

Cheezoholic

(3,658 posts)
11. Have one next to my mailbox. Still gets used occasionally for larger envelopes orders
Tue Mar 3, 2026, 09:09 PM
5 hrs ago

I've learned to check it for yellow jackets frequently lol

Beartracks

(14,525 posts)
12. We had the paperboy on a bike hurling the paper up to the porch...
Tue Mar 3, 2026, 09:39 PM
4 hrs ago

... or close enough.

====================

George McGovern

(11,550 posts)
17. I hope your paperboy's aim was good enough for close enough! I had a route growing up.
Tue Mar 3, 2026, 10:50 PM
3 hrs ago

Small section of a small town. Papers were dropped off around 4-4:30 am. I'd walk my bicycle down the driveway to the newspaper box right around the corner. Load up the delivery bag, sling it over my shoulder and pedal off. I was taught by the previous paperboy to walk up to a customer's door, open the storm door and slip the paper between the doors. I imagine a larger route would have required hurling the paper toward, if not onto, a porch.

Complete the schedule, get home, eat breakfast, go to school. The route was year 'round, no mornings off. Fond memories, except for snowfallen cold winter mornings. Those were not so fond.

Kali

(56,779 posts)
13. cool!
Tue Mar 3, 2026, 09:42 PM
4 hrs ago

we still have one up at the end of our road. I have been using it to leave things for people to pick up when I don't have time to actually meet them up there.

debsy

(875 posts)
14. Love the remodeling into a bird condo!
Tue Mar 3, 2026, 09:57 PM
4 hrs ago

My mother always asked me to get the paper for her. We would sit down together, she in her rocking chair, and we’re would do the crossword together.

Squaredeal

(714 posts)
15. The HOA where my now wife once lived was told newspaper boxes weren't allowed.
Tue Mar 3, 2026, 10:12 PM
4 hrs ago

As a young woman, she worked for a taxi cab company and drove one of the secondhand vehicles to and from work, which the firm would buy at auction to convert into cabs. She had one of the shop employees bolt her box onto the car’s trunk and she parked it at the end of her driveway, which wasn’t against the rules, and she then drove another future cab between home and work. She wasn’t about to let her daily paper get wet whenever it rained.

George McGovern

(11,550 posts)
18. Excellent job HAB911. Nowadays your project would be called "repurposing and rehoming". But you fixed it up nicely.
Tue Mar 3, 2026, 10:55 PM
3 hrs ago
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