Quite a nice wee article; I can't watch the video here though.
My only question: a Palm Pilot - really?
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Cycling News
A day in the life of a cycle courier.
(16 posts)-
Posted 11 years ago #
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I would absolutely love to do that. Wish I had the confidence to jack my job and go for it!
A pal of mine done it for a while about 5 or 6 years ago and he's warned me off it as it can be unreliable in terms of income. He told me, "Dunny, if you continue your rate of sprog production, you will need more than just the one job. Cycle courier should not be one of them."
Darn.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I often wonder about it too...
As for the Palm Pilot - it's just a device to receive texts, so why not? The battery lasts a longer than most modern "smart"phones.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I hear 200-250 a week is about what you get. (on a good week) assume £10 a day in bike maintenance and extra food. =net income of <12k a year?
Posted 11 years ago # -
If it were £300+ every week guaranteed, I'd definitely seriously look into it. I'd like to know what a bad week is...
Posted 11 years ago # -
It's piecework, so you'd need to find out what the income per job is, and how many you'd need to meet your expenses.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Quite a nice wee video.
Not negative at all. 40 miles cycled - 22 packages delivered.Lee actually walked his bike over the aquaduct.
Of course the one comment is negative...
Posted 11 years ago # -
Interesting that the reporter comments:
"I also notice the position he adopts on the road, confidently on a par with the vehicles around him not huddled in on the kerb – it offers valuable space on the crowded streets."
- the reporter obviously cycles to some extent himself, yet he thinks this is worthy of comment.Posted 11 years ago # -
the reporter obviously cycles to some extent himself, yet he thinks this is worthy of comment.
David O' Leary normally covers the cycling related stuff in the Chipwrapper.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I was a courier for about 3 years in the early 90's I went back to it for about a year and a half in 98. It's hard work and it's not a guaranteed income. In the summer it's great in the winter your bike dissolves. It's easy to romanticize it but I just have to think back to spending 9 hours a day soaked to the skin in the freezing cold arriving home at 7pm and waking up the next morning with your bag and radio still round your neck from the day before.
Sure I was fit as **** but it killed my love of cycling and it was a good ten years until I rediscovered it. You couldn't pay me enough to go back to it.Posted 11 years ago # -
I would worry about the effect of breathing in city fumes for that length of time.
Posted 11 years ago # -
You would get more sitting in a car
Posted 11 years ago # -
I've heard that yes but with aerobic effort the level will increase. I'm speaking personally. I've been reduced to a coughing wreck kneeling by the roadside several times while commuting. I also had regular chest infections. That stopped when I stopped commuting into Edinburgh by bike each day. Being a courier would not be for me.
Posted 11 years ago # -
There's a well written book about messenger life that I enjoyed.
Posted 11 years ago # -
This is the best article I've read on messengering, from Natural History magazine, 1981
http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/htmlsite/editors_pick/1981_08_pick.html
I'd love to do this next summer (uni holiday). Watching the footage in the Evening News video I felt the cycling seemed quite prim and proper (and the city looked beautiful). I wonder how Edinburgh couriers actually ride... I hardly seem to see any.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Meanwhile in New York (and many other videos) -
Posted 11 years ago #
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