Mr. Shaik Nainar, standing with his newspaper delivery stack at 6am in the morning, outside a petrol station in USJ 2, Subang Jaya.
Every morning before the sun rises, he puts on his helmet, straps the newspapers to his bike, and delivers newspapers to houses and shoplots in the neighborhood.
This is Mr. Shaik Nainar, and he has been a newspaper deliveryman for over 30 years.
When getting ready for school at 6 am, you might remember the childhood memory of hearing the loud slap of the newspaper hitting the pavement on your front porch, in the darkness before the sun rose.
Now, in the days of digital media, the role of the newspaper delivery man is sadly dwindling.
Mr. Shaik tells me: “Back in the day, we used to move 1000 copies a day. We had morning editions and evening editions. Now, we’re lucky if we can move 300 copies a day.”
Despite the decline, Mr. Sheik, who also is the former president of the Mainstream Media and Publication Vendors’ Association of KL/Selangor (PAMUP), has continued to work as a newspaper deliveryman.
When asked if he was worried about the future of newspapers, he had this to say:
“I have two daughters and one son, with 3 grandchildren. One is an electrical engineer, one is an accountant, and one is a restaurant manager with her husband, the owner. I was able to put them all through college,” he said, beaming.
“I’m not worried about the future. If every day I can work, I just work. I will retire when I simply cannot work any more.”
Mr. Shaik Nainar, sitting astride his motorcycle as he gets ready to make his delivery rounds.
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