pitboss

I messed in 90 - shortlived, yet well-paid! I jumped on as a friend was really into it and I took his word. I took longer runs as the vets wanted to keep the short, fast money runs. I was the crosstown***** - I learned a lot about a lot really. But my job came back (roofing) after about a 10 month layoff and guess what? LAID OFF AGAIN - but I landed a warehouse gig. Free coffee, free donuts, free dryness and heat. And it had health bennies - something I realized I should have after being defeated under Wells by a cabbie who "just got his license"...
I liked the job, but knew that it wasn't my final destination. It gave me a lot to consider.

RedMenace

Ceya is absolutely spot on here. for years i loved messengering. working at TimeCycle in Philadelphia was one of the best times of my life up to now... but the fun is gone. and i should be too.

these are odd days for me... my mind is racing and i can hardly keep up, but at the same time i am sitting still, in a sense. no one is going to know what the hell i am on about, so just ignore it i guess... but yeah. messengering. it's fun. it sucks. it's the best, and it's the worst. it's worth trying, anyway. i didn't know what to expect when i started. i had no messenger friends, i wasn't in great shape, i didn't even know the city that well. after 4 years, i have had some of the most amazing, wonderful, painful, hopeless, frustrating, exhilarating, frightening, intense times of my life. a very large percentage of my best friends in the world are messengers, or were made through messengering. cities i've been to for races and championships that i never would have been to otherwise... and if i had - in a different capacity - i would never have experienced in the special and unique way that a messenger does. people i've met and shared tiny pieces of life with from nearly every corner of the globe... never would have been possible if not for messengering.

but i have to get out. i already tried the corporate thing. detested it. it chafed my soul (i do still have one, i promise) and destroyed my spirit. it was easy, it provided steady pay, benefits, dryness and warmth on **** weather days... i gave it up to be a messenger again. i don't regret it, i don't want to work for a corporation anymore. ever. time to give academia a shot? i think it is. i will still go to alleycats and championships, though. those are the absolute best parts about being a messenger. and i won't feel like a posenger (too much...). and you're guaranteed to see me on the velodrome. just don't make fun of me for being slow.

p.s. i feel like i'm writing a suicide note. i'm not. i would never.

marcelinyc

so many times i've tried doing different jobs but always returned to messengering...

dr.chill

i was a messenger in chicago for 3 years. the last spent at Velocity. I loved it at first but i got tired of being super tired and worn out all the time. Its also a job that when you are doing it, its very hard to get out of. If you work a lame job somewhere else for a couple years you will eventually get promoted and have something to show for it afterwards. After being a messenger while have some good skills and a great sense of direction, you don't really have much to show for, job wise i mean. i loved it and it was a part of my life but i think i'm ready for the next part.

pedex

Open own company, make it grow, hire people, move into office and run it/dispatch, and go from there.........all the room for advancement and progression a person could want. You learn all sorts of skills in the courier business. Sales skills, time management, work ethic, navigation, customer sevice, problem solving, self reliance, self esteem, etc etc etc. Almost every courier company has been started this way, very few buy into one thats already established and have the skills and motivation to make it work. One of the most important skills is just plain old experience and knowledge of where you are, that cannot be bought, it has to be earned and learned, small scraps of info are the difference tween a messenger doing 30 runs a day and one doing 50+. Veterans that are motivated can make lightning strike and make problems disappear and put fires out so to speak are worth their weight in gold.

Ive watched the 3 big companies here get gutted and torn apart by guys like me cause they just dont get it, and Im having the time of my life doing it. It is the essence of capitalism and survival of the fittest.

jyossarian

Did it, had fun, wouldn't do it again. I wouldn't mind delivering pizzas or chinese food as a p/t job after my regular job though.

skelly

I would never do it full time as I have other passions. But getting paid to ride my bike until I graduate in May would be great.

I was actually thinking of applying at the video rental place by my house and I saw they have a bicycle delivery service! haha, my tools and spare tube would weigh more than the delivery.

endform

I can put up for a while with having my labor exploited but in such a dangerous fashion I don't really see that as desireable. Physically I'd have no problem after probably an initial period but still the idea of no beni's and a commission pay sounds a little lame. I must have read too much union literature as a kid.

fixedude

i was messing before i came to japan. i did it for a 3 years and it was a great gig at the time, since i loved being on my bike, but i knew it was not a career. concurrent with being a F/T courier, i was in grad school F/T (no coursework at the time, only research) and working as a TA (marking papers/exams, holding office hours, etc.). it was a very busy period in my life, but what was nice about messing was that it provided a balance to my academic world; there is something invigorating about mixing up intense intellectual challenges with intense physical challenges. also, i had a great dispatcher who was very understanding of my situation and provided time off if i needed it (e.g., writing or marking exams).

i was able to explore corners of the city, i might not have explored otherwise...i met some very sincere and generous messengers, suits, labourers, police, etcetera. the time spent riding often allowed moments to reflect on life, goals and objectives...the downtime often allowed moments to simply observe my surroundings. now, i have completed grad school and am enjoying my 2nd year of life in japan, and while i enjoyed messing, i have other directions i am heading in!

queerpunk

i think i want to be a messenger, but maybe the idea of being a messenger is more appealing than being a messenger. i sure get tired of things like work and school pretty fast, but i don't think i'd get tired of my bike. i'd like to ride around a lot, but i might get tired of delivering packages, of not making much money, not having benefits.

so for me it would be fun, but not as a job.

Ceya

where did u messenger in?
are you staying for good in Nippon?

S/F,
CEYA!

slvoid

Er... I'd probably be dead if I had to work that hard...

fixedude

i was riding year-round up in toronto. i do not expect to stay in nippon for good, but will be here for at least 3 years...afterwards, i hope to take some more time to bike (and sail) back home.

dr.chill

i see your point and agree with you, and while the dudes who own velo are probably millionares or some ****, i don't think i would want to start a company. Its a dying trait that the internet will eventually completely phase out. or robots whatever comes first.

luckycat

To some extent, but then again people said the same thing about being phased out by the fax machine.

Ceya

yep remember that story. It only took 10-15 % of the business. Messengers will always be need in the cities.

S/F<
CEYA!

icithecat

I also think there could come a time when interest in delivering other things by bicyle increases. Cost of running cars is rising. Congestion is not going away.
We have all seen pictures of grocery delivery bikes in N.A. from the past. I think it may one day also be the future as it has always been the present in other places.

12XU

I never realized we had such veterans in this forum...I'm 20 years old, have only lived in a big city for 3 months of my life (this past summer) and would love to be a messenger if I get to know a city well enough. I'm amazed that some of you worked as a messenger for 15+ years...hell, the longest I've worked at one job so far is two years and it was cake compared to what a messenger has to deal with on a daily basis.

aekeroo

i would love to be a messenger, ive been posengering in melbourne AUS for ages and now that im in nashville USA i actually need to get a job (working holiday) and ive only been able to fine one company that will actually consider using a bike messer and theyre not hiring. if i did manage to get work id be the only one in all of nashville (that i know of). what do you guys think it would take to convince a company here to be the only ones using a bike?

Ceya

start your own, mate.

S/F,
CEYA!

freddiesan

Yep, start your own. We have messenger companies using bikes in remote cities as small as 100 000 inhabitants here in Sweden. Not very common but they do exist (did exist anyway).

aekeroo

im only here for 2 more months, how long does it take to start up a new business? a little longer i think. if anyone else is up for starting one in nash then im all about that tho, ill be their first rider.

your_mother

ive been a messenger for a while and i still enjoy it. i make above average money doing it. i read this thread a day ago and thought a lot about this today while working. heres a few things to add..

- no matter how fast you are or how many alleycats youve won or how many worlds youve competed in, youre still a delivery boy. as far as most of our society is concerned, youre not much higher up on the ladder than a pizza delivery boy. the majority of companies who employ messengers are owned and run by scumbags who really dont care about you or give a **** who they have delivering what, as long as its there when it needs to.. they still get their cut. if you're in a serious accident and all by yourself with your radio, they'd sooner dispatch another biker to come rescue youre packages than call for an ambulance.

- for every lightening fast, alleycat champion, cycling-nut messenger in a given city theres a dozen junkies, a dozen ex convicts and a dozen skitzos and other various wingnuts who work as messengers because its the only job they can find that provides a livable income. and for every 21 year old art student who takes a couple semesters off school to live out some fantasy, theres a dude gettin drunk in the park everyday after work whos suddenly found himself 35 years old with 2 kids, no other career options and absolutely no way of making a decent living aside from riding his bike. all im sayin here is that there is really nothing glamorous about the job other than what you might make it to be in your head or what a couple of really cheesy messenger documentaries make it seem.

aekeroo

the same can be said about any job or anything.

freddiesan

Insightful and a fresh angle your_mother. I myself am in a position where I tend to romantizise my years in the saddle which is a long time ago now. It sure was alot of fun but also extremely exhausting. The thing that differs from my point of view is that in Sweden where I come from the diffrences in social status aren't that extreme as in the U.S. for example. There are no junkies or guys not in a position to get another job. Most of the messengers here are still young, well fit and well educated guys who has other opportunities in life that just loves riding a bike or are considering their choices in life while working as a messenger for a while.
I know you are talking about the situation in the U.S. but since this is a forum on the web and for international members also I thought I'd give another angle on the issue.