The position of paperboy occupies a prominent place in many countries, including the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and Japan.
Newspaper industry lore suggests that the first paperboy, hired in 1833, was 10-year-old Barney Flaherty who answered an advertisement in the New York Sun, which read "To the Unemployed a number of steady men can find employment by vending this paper." .