middy

People really make a career out of it?

It seems like a great job to have for a few years while you're young, but pretty stupid to try to do it for more than that....

dylandom

i think squid is a great example. he has been doing for 15 years or so. He now has his own business. He organizes a million races/events here in the city and every time i see him, there is a camera crew with him. Not to mention, that squid is the nicest guy on the face of the earth and he is from queens. got rep queens all day every day.

uke

I enjoy riding my bike, but having to do it while being treated like dirt would get old real fast. Props to y'all who stick it out.

bigbris1

I'm not sure if this is still true but we would ask each other how the company was & if it sounded good just bounce over there & get hired.

Viva.Viagra

Sorry BigBris1, gotta call BULL**** and take away you few remaining credability points..........

You previously posted

So which is it. A thief or a liar? A cowardly keyboard commander or a blow-tard?

Fess up..........not that you have an ounce of credance.

bigbris1

Minor details of my life were not needed to make the point the story was intended to make. You're trying so hard to make me look like a liar or whatever but I don't care. When you're ready to make the movie about my life, I'll fill you in on all of the minor details I can remember when I'm sober.

Viva.Viagra

Don't have to make you out to be a liar, you're doing that all by yourself.

bigbris1

I'm happy & thank all of you who enjoyed this snippet of my life.

TheSodaJerk

Wow Viva has a stick up their ass. Thanks for the post(s) Bris, Id love to work as a bike messenger, but dont live in the city.

Treespeed

I miss that life. It's one of those wierd jobs that doesn't translate much into other careers. It's a bit like coming out of the military into civilian life.

G piny parnas

Makers Mark Makes the day Much More Memorable----- I do this crp for my rent-- 9 hrs a day--
like I said-- BF needs a seperate messenger forum...... so many kids ask me "I wanna be a messenger!" look kid....... drink this..... have a Camel... this job is a great transition from
Homeless to, well, homeless on a bike..................................... cheers... lets hear from some
more couriers-- cause im not a "messenger'__ I am a "Legal Courier"!! damn it... urp.(step-up-yo)

Jabba Degrassi

Shut up.

phillypino215

nice thread.

ufgood

I worked for a few years as well, ending five years ago. It's amazing how hard it is to translate the experience of that job. It's a bizarre combination of physical labor, customer service, and office work, any one part of which is sort of boring after a while.
I still spend a lot of time cycling, and am continually amazed by how

a. long bike parts last when you aren't riding 40 hour weeks (MKS steel toe clips don't usually wear through in six months, for instance). I have to remember to check things periodically to see if they're wearing out, rather than automatically forking part of each paycheck over to a bike shop.

b. how completely "use it or lose it" messengering-specific cycling skills are. I commute by bike now, and log about ten or so hours on my road bike each week, but I've completely lost the ability to casually zip into and through traffic. My basic handling skills are good, and I haven't lost street sense, but the higher-order things I used to be able to do? Gone.

I definitely miss the social aspects of the job, and of not taking work home with me, but, as people have said, it's a good thing to do for a while and then head off to new things.

beerfilter

I too, used to mess back in the 90's. Here is a picture to prove it:



bf

Treespeed

The parts wearing is epic. When I was messengering in Seattle I actually wore through a few set of rims with all of the rain and grit.

I also have to agree with the skills aspect. I still feel super confident in traffic, but some of the stuff I used to do would never happen now that I'm a father.

The other part that gets left out of this discussion is the lack of insurance and being sick all of the time. I remember riding in on some mornings being soaked through by 15 minutes in and knowing that I would be wet for the rest of the day. It's hard to stay well when you can't stay warm and also can barely afford food.

Still it makes simple office life seem super cushy.

Adam G.

Cool post and thread. Being a bike messenger was something I always wanted to do when I was younger. My mom who is 60 said the other day out of know here, that she is fed up with the office job and just wants to become a bike messenger. Jokingly I said you can have my bike but it doesn't have brakes, her response was I didn't ride with brakes when I was young why would I start now. Nice!

triplesixer

No read ever.

GayestManAlive

being a messeger is totally ****ing awesome and really ****ing terrible at the same time

and its funny because im sure a lot of people in their offices look at messengers and think "gee i wish i was outside excercising all day" while messengers are looking at a catered company lunch and thinking "gee i wish i was sitting on my ass all day"

Sixty Fiver

I graduated in '82.

I spent my day riding the line, breaking the law, slamming back more than a few coffees, and getting to know all the nice ladies in the many offices I will be hitting every day.

The toughest part of the job was figuring out that Blackberry we use for dispatch and communications.

dobber

Yawn

Mayonnaise' stories were much more engaging. You just seem to be trying to build some type of mystic for yourself and your off the peg Windsor.

sfcrossrider

Cool story. I worked as a messenger my junior, and senior years of high school (three summers, actually). Great experience that taught me what VERY hard work was. This was also the early 90's, so the mystique that the job now has wasn't there... it was just hard effing work with no glory.

ufgood

I worked in Portland, OR, and totally hear you on the cold and wet thing, by the end of the winter, I"d be stuffing a couple of extra pairs of socks into my bag, even if they get soaked after a half hour, it was worth it. Ditto burning through rims, some guy (this was probably around 1998?) laid hands on a set of Shamals, got them built into road wheels, and burned through them in about two months during a winter.
The lack of insurance is really bad, one of the things that tends to drive people out as they get older and take on more responsibilities outside of work.

andre nickatina

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz0NRNudFXA

If that's not romanticizing, I don't know what is...

bigbris1

I miss the camaraderie of the guys out there grinding. It was almost like you were family, even tho you never saw each other before. Like how you can walk through any rough neighborhood with a blunt & be OK.

The bad weather days sucked but those were the big money days because the weak wouldn't show & most companies gave rain bonuses. You had to have a Columbia rain suit though.