A mailer is an individual employed by a newspaper publisher to handle

newspaper 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. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

s from the point where they emerge from the

press Press may refer to: Media * Print media or news media, commonly called "the press" * Printing press, commonly called "the press" * Press (newspaper), a list of newspapers * Press TV, an Iranian television network People * Press (surname), a famil ...

to where it is loaded onto

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...

s or other means of transporting the newspapers. 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, in the United States as the National Typographical Union, and changed its name to the Interna ...

. 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.

Notes

Journalism occupations Newspaper distribution {{publishing-stub