Mailer (occupation)

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A mailer is an individual employed by a newspaper publisher to handle newspapers from the point where they emerge from the press to where it is loaded onto trucks or other means of transporting the newspapers. [1]

Newspaper scheduled publication containing news of events, articles, features, editorials, and advertising

A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.

Printing press device for evenly printing ink onto a print medium

A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium, thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the cloth, paper or other medium was brushed or rubbed repeatedly to achieve the transfer of ink, and accelerated the process. Typically used for texts, the invention and global spread of the printing press was one of the most influential events in the second millennium.

Truck type of large automobile

A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration; smaller varieties may be mechanically similar to some automobiles. Commercial trucks can be very large and powerful and may be configured to be mounted with specialized equipment, such as in the case of refuse trucks, fire trucks, concrete mixers, and suction excavators. Strictly speaking, a commercial vehicle without a tractor or other articulation is a "straight truck" while one designed specifically to pull a trailer is not a truck but a "tractor".

Preparing newspapers involves identifying the bundles by edition and inserting advertising supplements as well as the physical movement of bundles.

History

Before automation, this was a labor-intensive occupation and at its peak there were thousands of people employed as mailers. In the United States their specialization was incorporated into the International Typographical Union.

The International Typographical Union (ITU) was a US trade union for the printing trade for newspapers and other media. It was founded on May 3, 1852 as the United States as the National Typographical Union, and changed its name to the International Typographical Union at its Albany, New York convention in 1869 after it began organizing members in Canada. The ITU was one of the first unions to admit female members, admitting women members such as Augusta Lewis, Mary Moore and Eva Howard in 1869.

Early in the twentieth century there was a division between the higher-skilled typographers and the lower-skilled mailers over whether they should be represented in the same union. [2]

Notes

  1. "Newspaper Mailroom Manager Jobs".
  2. Reports of the Industrial Commission on Labor Organizations. US House of Representatives. 1901. p. 96.


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