Illiteracy and the Newspaper

I had to laugh at the irony.

I was out running a few errands last Saturday. There’s nothing really unusual about that; it’s a common fate of most of us on our days off. However, when I turned back up my driveway later that morning, I couldn’t help but notice a newspaper on the ground by my front door.

“Strange,” I thought. “I don’t subscribe to our local pseudo-news rag. What’s that doing here? Must be a new guy on the route.”

As I thought about this further, and wondered why I was now getting slightly ticked about the situation, I suddenly had an epiphany. It occurred to me that it wasn’t really a case of it lying on the ground, not half a foot in front of an otherwise perfectly good mailbox that bothered me (all though that in and of itself revealed something of the laziness of its earlier carrier). No, what really struck me as funny, in a sad sort of way, was the fact that there is a little sign immediately above my mailbox, which clearly stated,

No

Flyers

Newspapers

Solicitation

I couldn’t help but wonder as to which part of that sign the newspaper carrier couldn’t understand. Here was free Saturday edition of our local newspaper, clearly labeled as being a “Complimentary Copy,” and thus obviously designed to boost their subscriber levels. Here was something being offered gratuitously, obviously aimed toward those who are at least semi-educated and who aren’t illiterate, being delivered by someone who apparently can’t read. How ironic!

Don’t get me wrong; I appreciated the free newspaper, and I am not mocking illiteracy, but why on earth would I now subscribe to a newspaper that so blatantly and obviously didn’t subscribe to my clearly posted wishes, or at the very least, didn’t properly train their carriers on respecting this homeowner’s wishes?

Or am I missing something here? Hmm.

First Photo Credit: Flickr Creative Commons