He came into the newspaper business as a kid walking four miles a day delivering papers in a small town and retired out of it as The Citizen's circulation manager, dealing with up to 300 carriers at any given time.
"Someone once asked me how old you had to be to be a newspaper carrier," said 79-year-old Doug Perry, circulation manager of The Prince George Citizen from July 1, 1962 to June 30, 1991. "I said to them I don't know but if you come in with your youngster I will watch you come up the stairs and by the time you hit the top step I will have a good idea of whether they're old enough or not and once I greet them and listen for their reply I will know for sure."
Perry remembers a nine-year-old carrier who outworked most 15-year-olds. Perry followed many a carrier's career and said that nine-year-old ended up as a hard-working newspaper circulation manager.
There are many other successes.
One became a newspaper publisher, another motivated carrier turned out to be a judge. There are top-selling real estate agents and world-class athletes as well.
It wasn't always easy to find enough people to deliver papers to Prince George homes.
Perry said it was really great when siblings were carriers. He recalls a family of four brothers that each took on a route and that lasted for about ten years. Reliable long-term carriers were like gold.
Some of the carriers were super sellers.
Back in the day the carrier had to go door-to-door to collect the money for the subscriptions.
The worst problem Perry had as circulation manager was when parents would steal the money from their children. The kids would do everything right, deliver the paper on time every day, collect the cash from subscribers and then give their parents the money to deliver to The Citizen's office.
When the cash didn't make it to the office, it was a sad day for Perry and he was thankful that didn't happen too often.
One of the nicest aspects of a paper route for the carrier was the opportunity to learn how to manage their money at a very young age.
"I would tell them you're going to handle a lot of money, you're going to earn a lot of money," said Perry. "I hope you spend some of it but I hope you save a little bit, too."
He had carriers save for all kinds of things, including to further their education.
Perry remembers another family of four brothers who took on their paper routes then would come back to the newspaper office every Friday night and get another 100 papers to sell on the street in front of the liquor store on Sixth and Dominion, said Perry.
"We would sell 500 to 600 newspapers on the streets every day," said Perry. "You know who was one of the best salesmen? Ed Stepski."
Stepski just retired as a pressman last week after 41 years of service at The Citizen. He started out hawking papers on the street at 14 years old, Perry fondly recalled.
But there was a problem with children selling the newspapers on the streets.
"Well, kids would come along, strong arm 'em and rob 'em and I would have to go chasing after them down the street to get the money back," said Perry.
He's always had a soft spot for his carriers.
"I certainly was proud of those youngsters," he said.
Perry was born and raised on a farm in northern Saskatchewan.
"And when I was 15 years old I took the bus and by the time I took the hour and a half bus ride into Prince Albert, I was 16 because it was easier to get a job when you're 16," said Perry. He took odd jobs like delivering telegrams in December and January.
"I don't have to tell you how cold that was - you live in Prince George, so you know," laughed Perry.
After that he became a carrier of the Prince Albert Daily Herald and Saskatoon Star Phoenix for three years in a little town called Paddockwood, Sask., and walked about four miles a day to deliver those papers.
Perry never learned to ride a bike until he was 13 years old because he never had one. The first time he talked on the telephone was when he was 15, because he never had one.
"Because that's what happens when you're a northern Saskatchewan farm boy," said Perry.
After his time in Paddockwood, he landed a job at the Prince Albert Daily Herald delivering newspapers in Prince Albert.
After more than seven years, Perry said he got itchy feet and went to see what kind of job he could find in Medicine Hat, Alta.
The paper there didn't have a position for him but he was told to go be the Penticton Herald's circulation manager in 1959. After three years there, he came to be the five-day-a-week Citizen's circulation manager on July 1, 1962 when the office was located in what is now referred to as the 'old building' at 353 Quebec St.
"My office was the back porch and the roof used to leak," said Perry. In November 1963 The Citizen moved to its current location at 150 Brunswick Street.
When it was time to retire and move to St. Albert, Alta., to be closer to his children, his world came full circle.
He put the house he was able to purchase by working at The Citizen up for sale and used a real estate agent who was a former carrier and the agent who brought the buyer to the sale was another former carrier and wouldn't you know it? A former carrier all grown up bought Perry's house.
"And that's how it was," said Perry.
