Losing papers and numbers

January 26, 2006 7:00 PM

I have a campus job delivering newspapers, and must keep track of how many were left over from last week as well. The problem has two facets: one, I sometimes forget how many I just picked up less than 5 seconds after picking it up. I normally do not have a problem with this, except with names. Two, I lose the sheets where I record the numbers about one out of every two weeks.

I guess the problem is that I'm very absent-minded, literally, when doing this job. It is so mindless that I don't think about it for even the five seconds every couple of minutes that I need to. Any suggestions?

posted by austin5000 to Work & Money (4 answers total)

What about a tiny digital voice recorder? You could speak into it the number you're picking up, then go back and fill in the tally sheet at the end of each day. I'm sure it's easy to lose paper, but are you the type to lose a gadget?
posted by MrZero at 7:02 PM on January 26, 2006

A lot of cell phones have a voice recorder function -- check yours. Most have tons of capacity, so you can record during your whole delivery run and then transcribe later.
posted by intermod at 7:21 PM on January 26, 2006

Not sure what the process is, but is there a way to keep the newspapers you pick up uncounted until you get home? I'm assuming you are filling racks at various locations, and need to know how many were left at the library, at the university bookstore, at the financial aid office, etc. If this is true, get a bunch of jumbo rubber bands, and wrap each leftover batch seperately, then count each batch when you are back at the dorm/office/distribution center. If the bundles are too big for rubber bands (and there are some BIG rubber bands out there), how about plastic shopping bags/trash bags?
posted by Rock Steady at 7:24 PM on January 26, 2006

A lot of cell phones have a voice recorder function

Really?? Damn! For years I've secretly harbored the fantasy of suggesting this to Nokia or Motorola, and having them give me millions for this idea. I'm happy the feature is availbale, but bummed I didn't cash in on it. ;-)
posted by wordwhiz at 9:13 AM on January 28, 2006