On the last day of Wiesn this year, the Poschner chicken and duck roastery is filled with employees of Süddeutscher Verlag, who mostly work in the background: They deliver the printed newspaper to your doorstep early in the morning every day. More than 410 messengers of the South German newspaper had announced themselves – and just as many fit into this Oktoberfest tent. Neon green ribbons are distributed outside and inside there are pretzels and gingerbread hearts on the tables with the inscription “SZ-Wiesn Erlebnis 2023”.
“Without your nightly work, the newspapers wouldn’t end up in the mailboxes,” said Jürgen Baldewein, head of logistics at Süddeutscher Verlag (SV), and thanked the delivery people. SV managing director Christian Wegner agreed. “I delivered newspapers in my delivery area for one day,” said Wegner. But it was easy for him because the weather was good. “You deliver in rain, storm, wind and sun. Without you we would have no business.” He himself felt a bit overwhelmed because of all the complicated descriptions of where exactly which newspaper should be delivered. But the delivery app, which bundles all the data clearly, helped him a lot.
After the speech and the first toast, duck, chicken and sausages were served, with red cabbage, dumplings and potato salad. “The potato salad tastes best at the Oktoberfest,” says Judith Weisz. She came with her husband Georg and daughter Dora.
There every year: Judith, Georg and Dora Weisz (from left).
(Photo: Robert Haas)
Georg Weisz, 76, a former electrical engineer, has been delivering since 2014 Southgerman newspaper out of. Since his retirement, this has given him a new daily structure. His wife now accompanies him on tours. The two of them start between two and half past three in the morning and are out in the city until around half past six. “I read the SZ myself later in the day – after the taz and before the world,” he says.
For the second time, Süddeutsche Verlag is inviting newspaper delivery people to a beer tent. In recent years it has taken place in different locations: from the beach club at Ostbahnhof to the reconstructed Alm in Daglfing or the publishing house on Hultschiner Straße. “I liked that best so far. Jugglers and magicians also performed there,” says Dora Weisz.
Heidi Wanderer has been running the SZ for half a century.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
“I delivered newspapers as a child, and I was also looking for a mini-job,” says Sarah Cooke, who works as a bookseller and has been delivering the SZ in the city since February before she started working at the bookstore. Heidi Wanderer does this for significantly longer. Even pain in her knees can’t stop the 73-year-old from Munich from delivering newspapers. If she ever gets sick and is out, as was the case in April due to a Covid infection, her answering machine is full of calls and well-wishes from subscribers she has known for years, nay, decades. “That’s why I’m happy to continue,” says Heidi Wanderer. “I’ll complete my fifty years in January!”