It took ink, sweat and maybe a few tears, but thousands of Boston Globe subscribers got something extra at their doorstep Sunday morning when their papers were hand-delivered by the Globe's very own reporters, editors, photographers and other staff members.
The unique operation saw a band of dozens of newsroom volunteers go from reporting the news to personally delivering them after snags with a new delivery service left some readers without their papers.
The employees reported to the Pembroke distribution facility around midnight Sunday where they began bagging and collecting the morning reads.
The idea of Globe reporters pulling duty as delivery men and women came up during a recent meeting and started off as a joke, Globe crime reporter Evan Allen told The Huffington Post Sunday.
"As soon as it came up, people started really liking the idea,” Allen said.
Plans developed quickly and organically, driven in part by what Allen characterized as a spirit of camaraderie in the tight-knight newsroom but also a sense of duty to the Globe’s readers.
"It was hard to listen to people saying they were subscribers for 30 years and were not getting their paper,” Allen said. "We felt really bad about that.”
Come delivery time on Sunday, the Globe staffers’ commitment apparently paid off.
"One of the reporters said they were delivering to an elderly housing complex,” Allen said, noting the Sunday paper deliveries took place overnight and in the early morning hours. “Reporters said as soon as people heard the paper thump down on the door, they picked it up. They were waiting for it.”
Armed with flashlights ahead of sunrise, they scoured the streets looking for address numbers -- making Allen fear customers would think they were burglars.
Instead, some of the very bylines printed throughout the paper appeared at its readers' doorsteps, including metro reporter Milton Valencia, whose name graced the front page.
Though readers didn't know when their paper would arrive, or by whom, they didn't hide their eagerness on social media.
"Should I leave out cookies and milk for whatever reporter is delivering my @BostonGlobe tomorrow, a la Santa? Much love to folks stepping up," tweeted Katie Lannan.
"How much extra is it to request a particular @BostonGlobe reporter to deliver my paper tomorrow?" tweeted Daniel Guzman.
"@GlobeKPD I can see the future: How would you like to have the @BostonGlobe Reporter read their column to you in person over breakfast?" @DrJeffLo tweeted to senior sports reporter Kevin Paul Dupont.
In an endearing 20-second video tweeted by reporter David Abel, Sunday Editor Mark Morrow hand delivers a paper to an excited elderly woman at her front door.
"Are you really?" she exclaims when Morrow is introduced to her.
Other reporters tweeted out photos of signs left at doorsteps for them.
"To whoever deliver our paper: Thank you!" one handmade note read. Another enthusiastic reader shared his doorstep sign reading: "Welcome to #NewtonMA Globe Reporters!"
Others warned of their success being a potential threat.
"Careful, Boston Globe reporters. Once management sees you can create AND deliver the news there's no going back. You're now one-man bands," Brian Bolter cautioned.
The decision to use a volunteer delivery staff followed the Globe's switch to delivery vendor ACI Media Group, the paper reported.
Globe CEO Mike Sheehan, in an interview with the paper last week, said that 95 percent of home delivery subscribers received their papers Wednesday but that 5 percent were missed.
In a note included with subscribers' papers on Sunday they noted that delivery by editorial staff "is clearly not a long-term solution -- but we hope you can be patient as our top administrators sort things out."
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