cycle couriers

[Twilkes]

Still see quite a few round Glasgow, not as many as there used to be though, Blythswood Square in the summer used to be a good meeting place for them. Get quite a few coming into our building but there are two law practices there so that will explain why so many around here.

Do they still ride single speed bikes, given that Blythswood Square is about as high up in the city as you can get?

 

[Booyaa]

Do they still ride single speed bikes, given that Blythswood Square is about as high up in the city as you can get?

Most do, proper cyclists these kids.

 

[sidevalve]

If anyone's really thinking about it just make sure it doesn't end with with turning something you love ie cycling, into somthing you hate. Remember you're riding all day, every day, in all weathers and always at someone else's command. I watched a friend who took up m/cycle couriering go through exactly this a few years ago. Yes you can make money but it is a job not a hobby.

 

[musa]

Think twice about it. While it may look its far from that. I did when I got back into cycling and to be frank its shoot. I was 20/21 at the time

 

[Last Mile Leeds]

And there is also something of a resurrection (or perhaps reincarnation is a better word) of the cycle courier. This reincarnation coincides with a transition from cycle couriers to cycle delivery firms, which are operating cargo or freight bikes in city centre locations to deliver goods that might otherwise be carried by the ubiquitous van.
I attended the inaugural meeting of the European Cycle Logistics Federation in Cambridge last year, where there were a good number of people representing cargo bike delivery firms operating across the country. Last Mile Leeds, is just one of these, but there are others operating in Cambridge (Outspoken), Cardiff (Big Blue Bike), Hereford (Hereford Pedicargo), London (gnewt) to name but a few.

 

[Teuchter]

And there is also something of a resurrection (or perhaps reincarnation is a better word) of the cycle courier. This reincarnation coincides with a transition from cycle couriers to cycle delivery firms, which are operating cargo or freight bikes in city centre locations to deliver goods that might otherwise be carried by the ubiquitous van.

Given the spiralling cost of fuel these days, this makes a certain amount of sense and is good to hear.

I've never worked as a cycle courier but did do 4 months as a motorbike courier in Edinburgh ten years ago, between IT jobs when the industry seemed to be suffering a bit of a lull. Once I'd paid for parts worn out on the bike (I did all the mechanical work myself, luckily and would do jobs like replacing brake pads before starting work in the morning), I'd have earned more working as a call centre temp but I did love the work - real boy's own adventure stuff racing around town on a motorbike with a radio (which I wasn't charged for).

I had no experience and had just moved back to Scotland from England. I just walked into a random courier company and asked if they were looking for motorbike couriers. The conversation went something like
"How well do you know Edinburgh?"
"Not very but I can read a map and learn quickly."
"Okay, you get paid by the job so if you're slow you won't earn so much. When can you start?"
"Tomorrow"
"Ok, you can spend the morning accompanying one of our van drivers to see the ropes then you're on your own."

I spent much of the following week in a state of lost confusion but started to get it together after that.

Most jobs were either banks (we did the mail runs between the offices of one big bank first thing in the morning and last thing at night), hospitals (medical notes, X-rays and blood samples rattling around your top box next to your sandwiches) and solicitors (mortgage documents). A good controller was essential and you'd hope to be carrying several packages between similar parts of town at the same time so you were earning for multiple jobs at once.

The bicycle couriers I knew who worked for the same company were generally nutters and seemed to be either failed students or foreign backpackers who earned just enough money for digs and beer and always seemed to be in need of a wash (a day of city riding through winter road grime will do that).