'Carrier of the Year': It's a Labor of Love

By: Shawn Moynihan Many newspaper carriers may find their work rewarding, but not like Douglas Jordan does. Then again, most other carriers haven’t been doing it for more than 60 years. Jordan, who still delivers daily for The Advocate in Baton Rouge, La., was one of three carriers recognized in March by the Newspaper Association of America as the industry’s “Newspaper Carriers of the Year.” “It’s pleasant to be recognized,” says Jordan. “You know, time really goes by. When you don’t have any desire to do anything else, it’s a pleasant life.” In 1949, Jordan approached the Advocate (then the Morning Advocate) about delivering the paper in his town of Ponchatoula, La. He started out delivering on foot — and since he didn’t have a way to pick up his papers from Hammond, a town five miles away, the paper granted him a gas allowance, which he used to pay a Yellow Cab company to bring them to him each day. After saving up $20 to buy a Western Flyer bicycle, Jordan was off. He expanded his delivery area from a starting point of 36 locations both daily and Sunday, and today his route includes some 1,300 copies daily and more than 1,500 on Sunday. Since he started, he’s taken only six vacations, and has passed his tireless work ethic on to his children and grandchildren.