Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - which nyc messenger company will take newbie?

hi all,
do you have any recommendations for companies in ny that will take newbies? i've never messengered but i'm an excellent city biker and i really want to do it -- and i realize that, while i need to start at the bottom of the ladder like everyone, i'm sure there are companies that are better than others that will also hire those without experience.
thanks
bikiola

The crappy ones.

The crappy ones.

uh... not helpful. everyone knows that you start at the bottom at a crappy place and if you can hack it and get a bit of luck, you move up.

i hear Urban Express will hire 'any drunk with a bike.'

i hear Urban Express will hire 'any drunk with a bike.'

this is true. go there and suffer for a while. be sure to make some friends and get connections while you're on the road. that's how you'll pull yourself up to a better company to work for.

How much does urban express pay, usually, for starting ******s like myself?

Urban Express will hire you and ask you to work the day you get hired. I averaged around $40/day. They suck. Good luck.

$40 for 8 hours of work?

sounds like my pay when I delivered pizza for Dominos, cept 40 a day was a pretty damn good day =)

$40 for 8 hours of work?

you shouldn't do it for the money...cuz you're gonna be disappointed...

you shouldn't do it for the money...cuz you're gonna be disappointed...
these days - amen.

When I drove pizzas in college I made like $100+ a night with tips.

$40 for 8 1/2 of work!
Messengers aren't messengers for the money. If you want to be a messenger for a while make plans to move into an apartment with 5 other people so your bills will be as low as possible. You'll also have to spend a lot of your income on beer. The rest will be spent on slices of pizza.

or if you're in boston on tofu subs from that Vietnamese place in chinatown. . . mmmm or they have those 60cent ham and egg sandwiches. Man I miss that place. . . but I guess I can't complain about getting a free bottle of wine with my lunch here.

why not start in a smaller city?

What is the deal with.. Quik Track messenger company????

why not start in a smaller city?

because smaller cities don't have bike messengers?

Thanks for the suggestions, but i wasn't implying i want to get fat rich off messengering. but, i think there is an undervaluation of the work, and i think it is ethically defensible to point out this undervaluation. why should some fat ****3r CEO get $10 million to push around a few papers? i think that many people in this world, who DO enjoy their jobs, tend to disclaim any problems with pay because of their enjoyment. this shouldn't be the case; you should be paid fairly AND you should enjoy your job. that's all. minimum wage is there for a reason -- humans are humans and society should distribute pay equally because we are all people, not because some perceive their net worth to be higher than others.

Thanks for the suggestions, but i wasn't implying i want to get fat rich off messengering. but, i think there is an undervaluation of the work, and i think it is ethically defensible to point out this undervaluation. why should some fat ****3r CEO get $10 million to push around a few papers? i think that many people in this world, who DO enjoy their jobs, tend to disclaim any problems with pay because of their enjoyment. this shouldn't be the case; you should be paid fairly AND you should enjoy your job. that's all. minimum wage is there for a reason -- humans are humans and society should distribute pay equally because we are all people, not because some perceive their net worth to be higher than others.
Move to China, or some other communist country, if you really feel that way.

Let's not get into China bashing again, please.

hawkear, you're such an elegant spokesman.

sooo.. what are your thoughts on quik track?

Thanks for the suggestions, but i wasn't implying i want to get fat rich off messengering. but, i think there is an undervaluation of the work, and i think it is ethically defensible to point out this undervaluation. why should some fat ****3r CEO get $10 million to push around a few papers? i think that many people in this world, who DO enjoy their jobs, tend to disclaim any problems with pay because of their enjoyment. this shouldn't be the case; you should be paid fairly AND you should enjoy your job. that's all. minimum wage is there for a reason -- humans are humans and society should distribute pay equally because we are all people, not because some perceive their net worth to be higher than others.

Your path is clear. Go to a messenger company, tell them you've never messed before, and ask for $40k or so a year, plus benefits. I'm sure they'd be glad to hook you up.

the bottom line is that a messenger job these days pays about as well as a minimum wage job, if you can deal with that lifestyle and love to ride, then do it. If you can't then don't.

Am I missing something here? A homeless person can't survive in NYC on 40 bucks a day.

What is the deal with.. Quik Track messenger company????
all i can tell you from their website is that they don't link to NYBMA in their links secton. not a good sign.

the bottom line is that a messenger job these days pays about as well as a minimum wage job, if you can deal with that lifestyle and love to ride, then do it. If you can't then don't.
that's just not true, as far as the amount of pay goes. i make well over $20 an hour on good days (today, 9 hours and $205, for example) and still over $12 on the REALLY bad days. you just have to go through a few months of eating poop until your dispatcher trusts you and you know the city and the buildings well. i actually made better money in the early nineties, but times have changed and so has the city.

well yeah I meant when ones first starting out...wade through the $hit first

"Crack Track" (QuickTrack) is an evil company. The main reason is that the have two sets of books, computers and phone operators in two rooms in the office. The first set is for the riders. They beleive that they are being paid 50% percent of a seven dollar base rate. The second set is for the custies who pay ten bucks base rate. So in reality you only make a 35% commision and that sucks. What double sucks is that the company has gone to such enourmous rates to rip off it's own workers. The difference is eaisly a hundred bucks a week, 400 a month and five thousand two hundred a year. F*** the eurotrash drug addicts that run that place, they should be in jail.

$40 for 8 hours of work?

Funny that this is alot of money where I am. I mean converting this to Kenya Money (Shillings) it will be about 100,000 per month.

Just a hint on how much that is:-

a Packet of milk (1/2ltr) - Shs 25
A loaf - Shs 25
Transport - Appro. Ksh 30 for 10km
French fries - Sh.30 a pack
Coke (300ml) (soda not drug) - Sh.15
Coke (drug not soda) - Will have to find out
Beer (500ml Bottled)- from Ksh 35
Six Pack - Ksh 300

I wish there was a way I can work in NY and Spend in Nairobi.

My wage when I started messing in 1987....at least $100 a day (if we didn't make that we would scream bloody murder) The wage for a messenger in 2005.....$100 a day. I find it disturbing that 18 years later the wage is still the same. $500 a week in 1987=JACKPOT! $500 a week in 2005= just getting by.