max5480

whoa, two people from the same city... crazy

Doomride

I know right? Who would have ever thought that two people on a bicycle forum would live in the same place?!? To bad it isn't Salt Lake?

NinetiesKid

I worked at JJ as bike delivery for a few years in Gainesville, FL while I was in college. To be honest, it was one of the better jobs I've ever had. A few things...

Delivering in a college town has its perks. Kids with their parent's credit cards can be generous tippers (obviously they can also not be so generous). The location was literally right across the street from campus. So it was easy to work from 11 til 2 and make $100 on 20 or so deliveries from all the teachers, administrators and other employees at the university. With minimum wage on the weekdays, I could regularly make about $30 an hour.

Also, we had a short delivery area, about a 2 mile radius, and it being Florida it is extremely flat. I'd ride on average about 20miles or so during a shift, so it wasn't that bad. Delivering on football game days was great. Very busy, everyone I delivered to was partying, tipping in cash and booze.

Anyways, it wasn't all great. Bike delivery had a pretty high turnover. Like messengerin' it is pretty easy to romanticize. A lot of people thought they would just be cruising around on their bike having a good time. The aforementioned Florida lunch shifts were also a bazillion degrees with 1000% humidity and during the summer it rains every day during that time. I worked with a bunch of other college kids/restaurant workers who can sometimes not be completely responsible or capable. This meant being the only deliverer on busy days/nights and wrong addresses which are extremely frustrating when you are busting your hump on your bike. Furthermore there is the risk of injury, tickets (I got a couple of tickets for running signs/lights), or even theft (sometimes when you're in a hurry you can not be so careful locking up a bike).

Anyways, like I said, I really liked the job. And I just finished up grad school and am seriously thinking about trying to get the same gig here in Atlanta. It was fun, healthy (if you discount the air pollution) and gets the bills paid. I don't know what it will be like in Birmingham, but good luck, you just gotta survive those bad days.

trystero

Ask these people. They seem a little disappointed about something or another.

MuppetMower

My local Jimmy John's apparently doesn't do bike deliveries because it is too dangerous here -_-

rpf

I find it fascinating that people get sandwiches delivered instead of just making one themselves or going to get one, but then again our ethos and attitude towards food and what not is somewhat different on the other side of the atlantic.

We have that subway garbage, i'd actually shoot myself if I had to eat one never mind deliver one to some fat f&ck. Is it a similar deal ?

uketastic

I just got a job at Jimmy John's too, today is going to be my first day. OP I'll definitely let you know how it goes

c0urt

safe travels and
good luck.

homebrewk

Good luck!

uketastic

well I showed up and apparently the guy who was supposed to bring in my uniform didn't show so I don't start until tomorrow...

c0urt

I went in to see about about training and see what I could about in shop work,
They only need me for delivery. and told me to wait till my shoulder completely healed, but they were over staffed in shop, under-staffed delivery.
There may be 1 or two guys

FTWdave

man this took me back... I painted that JJ's back in 07. I used to eat lunch at Tim and Terry's right down the road everyday (local business/better sandwiches). I didn't go to school in Gainesville but thats where Im from. I did a **** ton of new construction there before we got hit hard with the recession and I had to join the navy to support my drinking habit. I cant wait to move back.

Higher Class

Oh man... Tim and Terry's... that place really went to shyte.

FTWdave

WTF? what happend?

uketastic

so after a few days working it's been pretty good, all my coworkers are chill and my manager is hilarious. I still get plenty of deliveries even though I'm the "new guy" since how it works is there's a list and if you're at the top you get the upcoming delivery and when you come back you go back to the bottom so the faster you get back the quicker you get back onto the list and get to go out again. Riding around town super fast has always been fun and now I get paid to do it, plus the tips are really nice. Yesterday I worked a 7 hour shift and made almost $50 in tips on top of my hourly wage, and this was a closing shift. It wasn't the greatest shift since I had to deliver when it was dark and it was hard to see address numbers but it wasn't awful and closing took less than an hour so having until 1 am probably just means you just had a ****ty manager who was slow at their job. And getting ****ty closing shifts is just a part of being the new guy, everyone has to work those at some point, no one starts and is instantly granted the best shifts.

As for complaining about having to do in-shop work they tell you that when you're hired so I don't think there is any area to complain since it's pretty clear you don't get to just sit around chain smoking between deliveries.

It's a minimum wage job with tips, not a career, so it can only be so good. Honestly, I've had way worse jobs and see no reason to complain.

svmcgover

I've been working for Jimmy's for a couple years now to finance my college and living expenses. I love driving for JJs. It's seriously fun, except recently our Police force has been cracking down on bicycle safety, which means they've been giving out crazy speeding tickets and running stopsigns/stoplights all that fun stuff. I'm all for bike safety, but our drivers are some of the safest on the road. Anyways, I got a ticket for riding on the wrong side of the street. I disputed it and won because the East bound side (the right way) was full of potholes.

Working on your bike will definitely give you a new appreciation for bicycling though. Since I started working there, I pretty much use my bike for anything and everything.

mazdaspeed

I work for jimmy john's while I'm going to school for ME. It's nice having a fun job with no responsibility! And tips FTW!

WoundedKnee

Shorty what your name is?

seau grateau

Big difference: When I was doing it, pay was well below minimum wage. I remember one shift that actually turned out to be a net loss.

svmcgover

I had a pretty crappy day today at work, had 11 deliveries in my 6 hour shift, made $30. Never had a net loss day though, thank God. I've had some pretty solid days as well. When people see you delivering there huge catering order by bike, they tend to tip you a lot more, Best tip I ever got was $120 (with dmr) on a $500 catering order.

conbon

Ninetieskid, do you know a big ass dude named micah that delivered? He worked at the jj's right by u of f,l in gaineville, which I'm guessing is the one you worked at. He moved up here about a year and a half ago and worked at the one up here. He moved on to a better job, right when I got laid off at the bike shop, so I took his spot. Worked there January through march of this year. I'd work 11-2 weekdays, and 10-5 on sunday, made $7.50 an hour, plus $30-60 a day in tips, and there was a couple days I cracked 100 (un-taxed cash money!) It was cold as ****, I didn't even attempt the snow on my fixed gear, just rode my mtb. Overall I enjoyed it, still stay in touch with a couple of my coworkers, and if I'm ever in a bind and need a garunteed job, its something I can fall back on.

Kayce, did you work at cwe or kiener plaza?

-connor

FreakyFast

I be a bike delivery driver for Jimmy John's now. In downtown dallas. Tips be good, ladies be hot, hours be short and profitable. Word.

crackrocksteady

If you get hired by jimmy john's you better start paying your IWW dues or else your going to get ****ed in the long run. Seen it happen to a couple of my friends.

keatonandrew

kinda old topic, but I'm going to assume you're referring to the JJ shop I work at in Midtown ATL. We have about 10 guys on bikes during lunch, I work there full time.

It's hard to beat making $15-$20 an hour to ride your bicycle around 80% of the time.

c0urt

probably.

they keep changing managers here. and it has been hard to get on as a bike delivery. partially it has been cold so they have really only been hiring car drivers and sandwich people.