Originally Posted by SamHouston

I worked a night shift for 2 years in Houston, on call from 2-5pm (whenever) to 5am, and every other weekend was on call 24 hours, and I was given calls as far as 150 miles away, for which I would use my car. Apparently they had expected me to use my car for all of my calls, instead I did anything inside the 610 Loop on a bike.

But I was the only one, Jess would help until midnight sometimes, no other bikers worked after 7pm unless working late at a courthouse or library. The night rates were great, even short, one zone dt to dt deliveries paid 3x & 4x the daily rate, depending on the client anywhere from $20 to $45 per call. This was at a high end messenger company w/good wealthy clients

It's a peaceful time to ride, between 3 & 5am, it's easy to remain vigilant with traffic when the only thing out there are cops & drunks.. But long on call stuff like that is only good for single people.

Most 24-7 delivery agencies I've worked with turned all dispatch over to a night driver who would double as dispatch & run just 2-3 vehicles, even at a large company running 20 bikes & 50 cars during the day.

Originally Posted by fungis

hahahaha! you worked at mach 5. that's the only company i can remember that ever had a jesse. tall guy with dark hair. ex-military. good guy. i was a messenger in houston, though i worked at package express. 910 louisiana was my building the company gave me to run all the packages in and out of for bike runs and driver pulls. exactly like 333 clay as well.

Originally Posted by SamHouston

I did on occasion work there, but no, my on call night years were at RoadRunner where I spent 8 years, I worked for Mach 5 for a year before returning to Canada though, good people at both companies.

Originally Posted by stachemaster

i dont work for a pizzeria, but almost every pizza place in nyc uses bicycles for delivery, and i think they have it figured out pretty well. how many pizzerias does louisville have? how far away is a typical delivery? dont see why it wouldnt work.

you dont carry them by hand, they go in an insulated bag and onto a front/rear rack. many delivery dudes have cut the front section of a wald large basket so it makes a 3 sided support.

what do they do in ky?

Originally Posted by teiaperigosa

deliver greenery

Originally Posted by reckon

I'd get a digital video camera and a police/fire scanner and get some juicy news video,....then your not a papparazzi, your a "STRINGER", and TV stations pay anywhere from $150 on up for a 2 minute stringer video,....thats $150 for EACH STATION IN TOWN(because you shot it, you own the rights, it can't be re-sold-legally anyway) fires, rescues, collapses (you guys seem to have lots of those) anything you have seen on the news before, can be a news story. if your really slick, you'd get some sort of mobile internet access, then you can check the news wire, and the highway patrol page, real time traffic reports, yada yada,.... if the wire services post it, and you have video that no one else does, you gotz money.

the hours you describe: midnight to 7am,...thats when the **** goes down.

I made over 5K a month in NYC from 1997 to 2004 (I retired from the buisness) doing nothing but stringer work, sometimes graveyard shift, sometimes daylight and during daylight hours, a bicycle or motorcycle is THE ONLY way to get around the gridlock (the news vans get stuck ALL THE time) I ALWAYS had video they were late for: I'd just wait around after the FDNY put out the flames, then the news vans start showing up,..I'd just walk around to each van, call their news desk, get the PO number, have the van make the copy, give the news crew the PO tag, send in the bill later, and get a check in the mail about 2-3 weeks later FROM EACH STATION,...sometimes there was like a couple of GRAND in the mailbox each week. crazy money if you have skills and papparrazzi desires.

call your local news station and ask to speak to the "desk", say your a stringer, and then ask what they are paying for stringer video, and if there are any caveats (like they only take digital, or they want a spanish sound byte, or you MUST have a PO [purchase order] (which is bull****, because if aliens landed and you had video they'd ALL buy it, PO or not!) etc..) then go get your gear, and get to work!

it's actually rather fun and challenging, and great if you like puzzle games for money (papparrazzi work is WAY harder)

Originally Posted by craigmoyer

Serious question. Anybody have any experience delivering 'greenery'?

Originally Posted by dayvan cowboy

I've been seriously considering quitting my current job as a theater stage hand(inconsistent hours, difficult but sort of enjoyable work, cool coworkers, maybe work 10 hours on average a week) and looking for a place that will hire me as a bike delivery guy, probably Jimmy Johns because those are the only ones i've seen around.

Like right now i live in a dorm so i don't really need that much money to survive(rent and food is already paid for) but after June when my lease on my house starts i'm gonna have to pay for rent and ****, I'm gonna need a little bit more money than I do now to buy like enough beer to get drunk on weekends and the occasional out to eat dining.