Roy Boniface is one of those people you know is there - but you never see.
A newspaper delivery driver for the New Zealand Herald, 59-year-old Roy also owns a company specialising in building management - but it is his strong background in deliveries which has helped shape his life.
He was a central figure, as a country general manager and regional manager, in helping giant logistics company DHL set up and spread their operations throughout the Middle East, North Africa and Europe, including Eastern Europe over 20 years.
Now his day often starts at 3.30am as he readies himself to head a small fleet of drivers delivering newspapers to the Herald's subscribers, those who like the feeling of newsprint in their hands as they peruse the day's news.
Roy works for a franchisee who has the overall responsibility for delivering the papers - and supervises a team of about 16 drivers who deliver papers to an area including Epsom, Greenlane, Remuera, Kingsland, Newton Gully and Khyber Pass.
"If I am only doing a couple of runs [usually comprising 250-350 subscribers on each run], I usually start about 3.30am as all the papers for that whole area need to be delivered before people wake up - it's really vital the paper is there when they start their day.
"But if someone is sick or on holiday, I often have to do more runs so my day might start at 2.30am."
The drivers meet at a regular spot to take delivery of the papers, load them into trucks, vans or cars before heading out on their assigned runs. As well as delivering, Roy manages all that and takes care of the paperwork needed to ensure the papers get to mailboxes and that an ample record is kept.
His drivers can be an eclectic lot: "We get a lot of students, particularly foreign students," he says. "Most of them are not allowed to work more than 20 hours a week so that and the hours they work mean this kind of work suits them down to the ground.
"Drivers can be hard to get out of bed, though, sometimes they have to be called two or three times before we get them along - but most are highly reliable."
Roy was himself a student when he got into newspaper delivering. After 28 years overseas, he returned with his DHL management but no other qualifications - and went to university to do a business degree.
"I just needed to supplement my income as do a lot of other drivers, so you get all types of people and often some highly educated types who are doing the same thing [supplementing income]." Roy himself is a fluent German speaker.
His university studies ended with a business degree which he used to get into building management - looking after properties in Auckland's CBD, with hours dovetailing nicely with his newspaper work.
"It's a good fit because it's not full-time work and I can be selective with my hours," he says. "I often do 7.30am-10.30am at my 'day job' and then have the rest of the day off."
In common with a lot of early risers, Roy's daily life is quite different from the rest of us: "I normally have two sleeps a day, one in the morning, one at night. I got into this habit when I was studying for my business degree; I'd be up early, do my paper run, go home and sleep for four hours, wake up, go to night class about 5pm-8pm, do a bit of TV and then hit the hay, wake up early and do the paper round again."
He says he got used to working when others were asleep in Europe, when helping DHL set up its enormous logistics network round the globe - with Roy working in places, among others, like France, Britain, Germany and Hungary.
"I'd start at 10pm and work through to 6am - just to make sure, when we were setting up, the punters got their documents and parcels through...everything needs to be done overnight so everything can be delivered first thing in the morning.
"It becomes quite a habit, working those hours, and I really like the early mornings with no one around and there is no traffic."
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