Not Entirely Bonus Content...
Don't Look Back? Issue #86
This is an interesting time in the world. We’re recovering from the pandemic, but there still is a pandemic. We’re recovering from intense inflation and economic pressures, but we’re still suffering from inflation and an uncertain economy. We want our politics to cut it out already and go back to normal. But our politics are anything but normal and haven’t been that way for a long time.
In the past few weeks I’ve learned that a much younger colleague passed away from a devastating stroke and left behind a young family. A good friend of longstanding suffered a heart attack that left him hospitalized for several weeks. A cousin had surgery to remove some cancerous tumors and while the surgery was successful, the road to recovery will be long, painful and there’s no guarantee that the cancer will not return.
Meanwhile, I have apparently reached that awkward age where the people who came into my professional world ahead of me and mentored me during my formative years are starting to pass away. I learned this past week that another one recently died. Shame on me, for sure, for not even thinking of him until I got the news.
So this week, instead of the planned “Five Questions” interview, I think I’m going to dust off and lightly edit a post from my old blog, “From the Foredeck of the Titanic.”
Please take this journey with me. It’s not intended as a look back to a “simpler time” when things were “better.” It’s just a look back. It’s a remembrance. It’s a visit to another world. It was another time, another way of doing things. Let’s look back. Let’s remember. Let’s learn.
Some Places Remembered
From the Foredeck of the Titanic: January 14, 2014
In the very first post of this blog I said that one of the reasons I started it was to write about some of the great “characters” I had met along the way. Back when I used to travel almost every week, some of the people I met and worked with left indelible memories on me. Most of these folks were friendly, hard-working and wanted to do a good job. Some of them were complete characters. Honestly, a few of these “characters” were lucky to avoid incarceration.
Earlier this week I wrapped up rolling over all of my files to the new year. More than 90% of them are now completely digitized. That meant it was time to clear out some old “analog” files, folders and binders. That meant it was time for the remaining magazine “wholesaler” files to make that final trip to the shredder.
But before that last trip, here’s a few memories I’d like to share:
The “old” Rep Room at CLCC’s (Chas. Levy Circulating Company) 1140 North Branch location in Chicago was one of the loudest places I’ve ever worked in…
That is, until we were moved to 1200 North Branch. Then it was one of the more unsettling places to work because I could never get used to the feel of the building trembling when the semis backed into the loading dock and bumped the wall.
Whenever I drove to Southern Michigan News in Jackson, MI in the first quarter of the year, it always seemed to snow. I kept a count of how many cars went off the road and into the ditches on I-94. It was a big number.
Ron Lankerd, the general manager of Western Michigan News in Grand Rapids wouldn’t let me park my foreign-made car close to the building. He was a GM man.
While working for a publisher early in my career, I was sent on a trip in November that took me from the ARA magazine wholesaler in Spokane, WA to the wholesaler in Coeur D’Alene, ID, and finally on a circuit of all of the magazine wholesalers in Montana (There were at least five at the time). When I arrived at the agency in Missoula, the manager looked up from his desk and said, “You’ll probably never get out of here if it starts snowing. Can you work a tie line?” I could work a tie line, and it started snowing, but it was the last thing I wanted to do. So in spite of the snow, I got out of there as quickly as I could.
It later dawned on me that my boss sent me on that trip to Montana in November because he was hoping I wouldn’t come back.
Ladies of a certain career choice used to walk the street next to Buckeye News in Toledo, OH.
The state of Iowa serves really good pie.
The state of Minnesota also has good pie.
I never found a decent Chinese restaurant in Mankato, MN. Maybe there are some good ones there now?
The original location of Iowa Periodicals in Des Moines, IA (pre-consolidation) was next to the airport and you could hear the Iowa Air National Guard practice take offs and landings.
On a long ago March week at Badger Periodicals in Appleton, WI the thermostat read -40F before the wind chill. Obviously, I stayed in my hotel room to work that day.
Ohio Periodicals in Cincinnati, OH had one of the smallest Rep Rooms I ever worked in. I believe Tom Doddy liked it that way. That is one of the numerous reasons I liked Tom Doddy.
I often wondered if the pipes that ran next to the Rep Room (located in the basement) at Klein News in Cleveland, OH carried toxic waste.
There was a “warehouse cat” in the pre-Anco Lexington, KY warehouse.
One of the owners of M&M News in La Salle, IL brought his dog to work every day. Dogs, warehouses and magazines all go together better than you would think.
I used to time how long it took for the donuts I brought in to disappear from various break rooms. In Jackson, MI, they were gone in about 5 minutes. At Ludington News in Detroit, they took about an hour. Steubenville, OH took most of the morning (it was a small office). Lima, OH, about the same (also a small office). The nice folk in Dubuque, IA preferred bagels.
Pat’s Donuts in Lima, OH are incredibly good.
The security guard at the Ludington News parking lot often seemed pretty angry about something and I always wondered what it was.
The rep room in Ludington News was surprisingly nice.
The reps in Ludington News were all pretty nice to work with.
Actually, everyone at Ludington News was good to work with.
The Scottsbluff National Monument in Scottsbluff, NE is very impressive.
It seemed like I always had to schedule a special trip to Gopher News in Minneapolis in either the dead of winter or the height of mosquito season. Timing is everything.
The warehouse at Wholesale Distributing in Burlington, IA was a former WWII era Quonset hut. John Sandell, their owner, was one of the most interesting (in a good way) people I ever met.
For a few years, I would take a trip in early spring that would start at Norton News in Dubuque, IA and then run down the Mississippi River to the agencies in Burlington, IA and Quincy, IL. Then I’d either turn north and finish in Springfield, IL or south and wrap up the week in Johnston City, IL. We flatlanders often only look at Lake Michigan and forget about the river and the prairie. They are truly impressive sights.
Bob Pilkey, the general manager of Joliet News and later M&M News in La Salle, IL was one of the nicest people I ever met.
The warehouse for City News Agency in Canton, OH was a former horse barn. As late as the 1990’s, the office decor was strictly 1950’s.
The best MAPDA/PACIMWA convention I attended was in Tucson, AZ. But that was because I mostly wanted to sit on the balcony of my hotel room at stare at the mountains for the duration.
It was generally considered unwise to attempt to visit Louisville News during Kentucky Derby week.
It was generally considered unwise to attempt to complete any work at Louisville News after lunchtime at any other time during the year.
I recall particularly good bar food served in the bar across the street from Indiana Periodicals in Indianapolis.
The Pekin News Agency in Pekin, IL was located in a candy shop. The candy shop was also a newsstand. Their records were not computerized.
I could never get a trip approved to the ARA agency in Hawaii.
I’m not one of those believers that “things were better in the good old days.” Times change. The culture changes. We can fight that all we want, but change comes and it’s inevitable. Roll with it. Embrace it. Learn from it. Make it work.
But let’s not ignore our history. What worked in the past? How did the creative and hard-working people who came before us solve the problems they encountered? What did they do right? What did they miss and screw up? What can we learn from the lessons they learned, or failed to learn?
It’s only Tuesday and I hope your week is not off to a rough start. If it is, try this: Call up a good memory from your past. Go ahead, put a smile on your face, and then go and dig into your day.
In the comments below, please drop in some of your favorite work bestie memories. If you have something longer to share, or a photo or two, send them my way via email. If you want me to, I’m happy to post them here.
Your Moment of Magazine Zen…
That’s all I’ve got for you this week. We’ll return to regularly scheduled reporting next week and next month we’ll have a shiny new “5 Questions” for you.
I hope you enjoyed this newsletter. If you did so, please give it a boost by clicking “Like” and then subscribing. You’ll get a brand new release in your email in-box every Tuesday (Or sometimes Wednesday if things get a little crazy around here).
If you’ve got a question or comment, please drop me a line. You can always reach me at joe.berger@newsstandpros.com.
Before we wrap this all up, let’s take a quick peek into how our favorite stressed out magazine media marketing team is doing as they approach the end of the first quarter….
Want to find me on the social sites?
My Instagram link is here.
I’m now lodged at Post.News and you can find me here on this new app.
Every now and then I put on a suit and tie and comb my hair. Here’s my LinkedIn profile.
Yep, I’m still on Twitter. You can find me here, but I’m not spending a lot of time there and I’ve turned off my notifications.
I hope you have a great week. In fact, in honor of maple sugaring seasons, this former New Englander hopes you have a sweet pancakes and maple syrup kind of week.
