Becoming a bike courier? (Melbourne)

General Pub
1

Hey everyone, I’m under the impression there are a few bike couriers on here/people in the know, that might be able to help me with this. I have a lot of questions, if you could answer what you know about that would be great.

Firstly I have wanted to be a bike courier for a few years now, before I even knew what a fixie was! Now I have finished school for good :smiley: and am looking for a job over the summer and into the future. Bike courier seems ideal but there is a few things I need clarified:

Is there a courier shortage in Melbourne, or an overabundance? I don’t want to muscle in if its already an overcrowded area, or is it fairly easy to get a job?

What is the pay like? Im still living at home, not fully dependant by any means, Im just looking for a bit of extra cash for all the crap I keep buying. So I guess I want to know how would it compare to say a job in retail? I guess that is my other option.

How does the pay work? Is it entirely commission or is it a small hourly rate plus commission? And also leading into christmas/early 2008 is it generally a quiet time for delivering or fairly busy?

This may be fairly contentious, but how essential is a messenger bag? Personally Im not a fan and I generally prefer a backpack, but I guess if its a necessity I could learn to love. Im also in the market for a decent bag for carrying all my Uni stuff next year, so that could tie in nicely.

Do you need some sort of license or permit? Ive seen a video where potential couriers need to be road tested, this is no problem I just want to know if I need a permit to get a job.

Most importantly, how would I go about getting a job? This Ive never really been able to find out. Does everyone work for the same company (like Auspost or something similar) or does everyone work for different companies? If so, how would I go about getting hired by anyone?

I know this is a lot of questions, there will probably be more to come, but if someone could point me in the right direction or help me out it would be much appreciated :wink:

By the way, if anyone wants to know who I am, I was at Meanstreetz on the pink and green raleigh. I finished a couple of minutes after the pack of guys with the radios. It was great fun. thanks!

2

turn over is reasonably high in most cities, but you will always have a core of long timers. apply and wait. just keep at them.

most places do commission only. it’s supposed to be an hourly minimum plus commission to top up, but it doesn’t usually work out that way. some companies do use hourly only like toll, and the hourly for them is about $19-20
your weekly average should work out to be $650+ after tax if you are any good. if you suck, you’ll starve.

run up to christmas is busy, the first 2 months of the new year, forget it. no work, too many riders.
if you aren’t settled into a company in the next two weeks, you’ll be shit outta luck until end of February. unless you happen to know someone who’s leaving, and snatch their slot.

messenger bags are really only useful for messengers. the ability to really quickly get into the bag 50-60 times a day makes a big difference, but if you like a backpack, use it. messenger bags are not much use for everyday commuting or studying.

that’s canada. no license for australia. just know where you’re going, and don’t die.

find a list of messenger companies, call them. then do it again every week until someone says yes.
don’t just let them say they’ll you back, cause they won’t.
best bet is to get to know the messengers and find out who’s leaving to go do whatever…

right, that’s the basics. it’s not like the youtube videos, you have to do it all day everyday, and you need to be able to just keep going whether you want to or not, or you’re going to starve.
actually, you may starve to start with anyway.
make sure you know all the alleys and shortcuts, all the major buildings, which directions the street numbers run in, and where the major landmarks are.
get a UBD, carry it.
and if you still want to give it try, just jump in and go.

3

thanks, thats great advice, but I still don’t know any courier companies :oops: Only thing Ive really seen is ‘hellocourier’ on the fyxomatosis site. Should I give them a call. Also what is a UBD? Ive got no clue, but I have got a fair idea of Melbourne CBD, and I certainly don’t mind riding all day every day.

EDIT: Ive found a good list of companies in Melbourne, Ill make some calls tommorrow. One final question for today, what do most people ride? My minimal observations guess that 1 in 3 couriers ride SS 1 in 3 fixed and 1 in 3 a bike with gears. The bikes I have at my disposal are two fixies (no brakes, but Im willing to get one) and an old roadie, although I haven’t ridden anything but fixed for the last few months.

4

i know the purists will say that brakeless fixie is the way to go, but for work i ALWAYS run a brake.
too much can go wrong during a 40 hour week for me to run brakeless.
fixie is fine if you are competent.
geared if you haven’t ridden as much as you should have.
ss is the compromise.
and you’ll get hammered.
you are going to feel like pounded shit on a stick by the end of the week, or you aren’t working hard enough and you’ll starve.
it’ll take a while to get into the swing.
best thing is to get to AXA and ask the guys.
if you aren’t a complete wanker, you’ll be fine.

UBD is a street reference. like a malloys or refedex

5

UBD = Melways :wink:

6

UBD make a mini-version of their street directory for Melbourne so it fits in your bag. Otherwise, what Lupine said.

My company (Kings) has four brakeless fixed riders, 2 singlespeeders and a couple of guys with gears. Ride what you like, really.

You’d really need to get your foot in the door this next week or so before all the work goes away… :smiley:

7

… and grow some facial hair and smell bad.

8

Oooh! Cutting, powdah!

I had a ‘bike courier moment’ a few years ago, and I went into some courier office in Melbourne and filled out the paperwork. There was one really perplexing question in the form, which I thought was hilarious. It said ‘Why do you want to be a courier’.

I thought long and hard… And then I just wrote ‘Because I like bikes’.

Anyway, so needless to say I didn’t get the job.

But really, why the hell else would you like to be a courier? For the pension plan? Street cred? There can only be two reasons: You’re bike obsessed, or your stone cold broke. Both of which probably aren’t the answers they were looking for in their ridiculous form.

nick

9

I think most bicycle messengers are stone cold broke, so that might be it :slight_smile:

10

Ride whatever you want, you get paid to ride fast, hard and quick efficiently, not to look good. If you can do that too good luck to you :sunglasses:

11

yep, if you’re working you are going to smell bad.
a lot of couriers (myself included) don’t use deoderant because during summer it will eventually cause a rash/irritation. better to have a long shower in the morning, smell during the day, then take another long shower when you get home. use as much deodorant in the evening as you like. people expect me to smell bad, why disappoint my fans :slight_smile:

one tip, don’t EVER use antiperspirant. you are supposed to sweat for a reason. you will clog the glands, end up with pus filled armpits, and it will hurt.

your bag is going to smell way worse than you will, so people will think it’s you anyway. my old black bag has reached the stage where i can put it through 3 or 4 commercial wash cycles, rinse it another 2 or 3 times, then dry it. it will smell fine. i’ll put it on and ride to work and by the time i’ve reached town to log on, it will smell just as bad as ever.
this bag can work by itself now.

seriously though, expect to get worked hard. peckers and rookies get the long, hard runs full of standards. guys who’ve been there and proved they can do the job get the mass bullet runs and the gravy jobs. sucks, but that’s life.
your operator is going to feed the guys he knows can do the work. you’ll need to prove that before you get the same kind of work.

ok, that was a generalization, but one gleaned from far too many years doing this shit.
i love my job.
you have to love it to keep doing it.
i’ve been all over the world, seen all kinds of people, and i’ve done a good amount of that through being a messenger.
people who last longer than the rookie period (one full winter in most countries, one full summer in australia) discover just how much freedom you have with a job like this.

i earn the same basic average wage as a chef at someplace like coffee club, but i’m outside, riding my bike, meeting people, and generally having a good time.
i earn more than a teacher or child carer, and i enjoy my job more.
most messengers would earn a good living if they sorted out their spending priorities.

i don’t mean that to sound rude to any other messes that are reading this.
you choose your lifestyle, you live your life.
i have more than enough for rent, movies, computer equipment, way too many bikes, savings, hobbies, and other stuff.
or you can earn more than enough to get wasted every night if that is you preference.

i earn the middle third of wages for a brisbane rider. take home around $650 for a full week, 8 1/2 logged on, with a 1 hour unpaid lunch break.
i could earn a lot more with a different company but i’m old, fat and lazy. i’m also quite happy.
guys up here regularly clear $1K plus a week if they want to.
60+ drops a day isn’t hard once you learn how to do it.

if you decide to do it, just make sure you listen to the guys who know.
melbourne has some of the best messengers in the world, as proved by innumerable CMWC’s. don’t piss them off and they’ll help you out, get you sorted, and give you a chance to see if you like.

but as a final point, if after a little while you find yourself not enjoying it, or you don’t feel like riding socially any more, give up the job.
it’s not for everyone.
it’s not even for many.
it’s one of those niche jobs that often sounds better when you think about it than when you actually do it.
sort of gynecology.

12

most messengers would earn a good living if they sorted out their spending priorities.

This is truth, and not just messengers either.

1 hour unpaid lunch break.

:-o

13

re smells…

bad BO usually is a sign of poor diet, too much alcohol/coffee or the eating of lamb :slight_smile:

good BO … mmmm love it!

antiperspirant, perfume or maloderant (aka deoderant) just ruins it.

14

Well thanks for the awesome responses guys! Ive been in contact with Z couriers and the guy seemed pretty friendly, said he would call back. I will call again in a couple of days if I don’t here anything. Toll took my details and that is about it.

The numbers I got for minuteman, DX, and Dart were all disconnected? They must have been from a couple of years ago :oops: If anyone knows some more companies in Melbourne I can try that would be great.

I don’t generally have bad bad body odour, but I guess riding all day everyday will soon yield some smell. I don’t need to fully support myself with this job as I still live with my parents, but I have a good work ethic and want to earn as much I can to buy all the useless material possesions I want :stuck_out_tongue:

The help has been great so far, hopefully I can land a job pretty soon!

15

Just an update: no success.

It seems there may actually be an overabundance of couriers? I got in contact with about 8 companies, all of which said they had no positions, and a few more said they had long waiting lists.

Looks like a job in retail beckons for me, if you know of anywhere who needs a bike courier in Melbourne post here. :cry:

16

Minuteman and Dart were both bought by Toll years ago. I think you’ve got zero chance starting at Toll; they only employ couriers who are ‘proven’ and employ through another company anyway.

Z Couriers is a great company to start working for.

I’m not going to suggest Kings because i work for them and i know they’re pretty stacked at this time of year. I’ll keep my ears open though.

PM me if you have any more questions.

17

Yer Toll took my details and I guess will never get back. Z couriers seemed good but I called today and they said they are full. Im pretty sure I called Kings and they said they are full as well.

My only question would be a courier company who is actually looking to hire people? haha

18

as i said, best is to get to know the guys and then when someone leaves (usually a few don’t come back from the break) you get to about it first.

19

Yeah thats y they steal other peeples rent money to get by eh?

20

If sticking 15 grams of speed up your nose is getting by… oop!