Bike Couriers in Melb



G

Gags

Guest
I have almost convinced the chief officer of finances and entertainment that
it would be a good idea for me to take some of the long service leave that I
have owing (4 months or so) and spend the time working as a bike courier in
Melbourne. The plan being to get fitter and earn some extra cash that I
could then spend on a bike and bike gear (and hopefully claim on tax).

Does anyone know much about being a bike courier in Melb?

ie.
How flexible are the hours?
What's the money like?
What are some bike courier company names in Melb?
How hard is it to get a job?
How many k's would an average day entail?
etc, etc.......

Any info would be appreciated.

Ride On,

Gags
 
Gags said:
I have almost convinced the chief officer of finances and entertainment that
it would be a good idea for me to take some of the long service leave that I
have owing (4 months or so) and spend the time working as a bike courier in
Melbourne. The plan being to get fitter and earn some extra cash that I
could then spend on a bike and bike gear (and hopefully claim on tax).

Does anyone know much about being a bike courier in Melb?

ie.
How flexible are the hours?
What's the money like?
What are some bike courier company names in Melb?
How hard is it to get a job?
How many k's would an average day entail?
etc, etc.......

Any info would be appreciated.

Ride On,

Gags
Click to expand...
Dunno bowt the fit part!
The amount these lads drink after hours is impressive!!

Seen lots of 'Minuteman' (red-black) people flying about.
Byron27 probably can fill you in on many of the ins-outs
Come along to the CM 'Tunnel-of-Love' ride this month as there should be plenty of couriers to ask. Or just loiter rund the front of one of the bigger CBD buildings for the goss.
 
Gags said:
I have almost convinced the chief officer of finances and entertainment that
it would be a good idea for me to take some of the long service leave that I
have owing (4 months or so) and spend the time working as a bike courier in
Melbourne. The plan being to get fitter and earn some extra cash that I
could then spend on a bike and bike gear (and hopefully claim on tax).

Does anyone know much about being a bike courier in Melb?

ie.
How flexible are the hours?
What's the money like?
What are some bike courier company names in Melb?
How hard is it to get a job?
How many k's would an average day entail?
etc, etc.......

Any info would be appreciated.

Ride On,

Gags
Click to expand...
i think this has come up before and i have definitely written about it from a general perspective on this forum. Search for "bike couriers" and see what comes up.

Money is good if you hammer yourself into the ground day in, day out, but it takes awhile to get the hang of it and 4 months isnt enough to become top dawg, but your getting paid long service, so you are gonna get paid twice for four months anyhow i guess...

if you still have some more questions after reading the old posts im always willing to harp on ad infinitum about my "glory days" as a bike courier. These are the stories i will be boring my grandkids with so i want to get some practice in telling them :)
 
oh, and if you want fitness flexible hours and still get the majority of the day to yourself, become a garbo. those lads look hard!
 
flyingdutch said:
oh, and if you want fitness flexible hours and still get the majority of the day to yourself, become a garbo. those lads look hard!
Click to expand...
jesus dutchie, how the hell did you manage to post 1647 posts!!
 
> >
> > Gags
> i think this has come up before and i have definitely written about it
> from a general perspective on this forum. Search for "bike couriers" and
> see what comes up.
>
Did the search......came up with nada...........

Gags
 
On Thu, 04 Nov 2004 at 08:54 GMT, byron27 (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
>
> flyingdutch Wrote:
>> oh, and if you want fitness flexible hours and still get the majority of
>> the day to yourself, become a garbo. those lads look hard!
> jesus dutchie, how the hell did you manage to post 1647 posts!!

There are certain other froups, where I manage to psot a good couple
of hundred a month. I've been there for a few years now.

Pity I don't get afafda on my current newswerver.

--
TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/
Octopuses don't like astro turf much. That's a *great* piece of trivia
to drop into conversations. I must remember it.
-- Lloyd Gilbert in AFAFDA
 
On Thu, 04 Nov 2004 at 08:48 GMT, flyingdutch (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
> Dunno bowt the fit part!
> The amount these lads drink after hours is impressive!!
>
> Seen lots of 'Minuteman' (red-black) people flying about.
> Byron27 probably can fill you in on many of the ins-outs
> Come along to the CM 'Tunnel-of-Love' ride this month as there should

Tunnel of love? I don't recall reading about this. Hopefully, I'll
remember to google it when I am less drunk than now. Now, I bess I
guetter ride home, eh?

--
TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/
We don't need no education
We don't need no thought control
-- Pink Floyd, Another Brick in the Wall
 
"DRS" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "Gags" <gags_44nospamatnospamtpg.com.au> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]
> >>> Gags
> >> i think this has come up before and i have definitely written about
> >> it from a general perspective on this forum. Search for "bike
> >> couriers" and see what comes up.
> >>
> > Did the search......came up with nada...........
>
>
http://groups.google.com.au/groups?num=100&q=bike+couriers+group:aus.bicycle+author:byron27
> --
> A: Top-posters.
> Q: What is the most annoying thing on Usenet?
>
Thanks for that.....top result in search was exactly what I was looking for.

Another question for any couriers out there......what are the best times of
the year in Melb to do it (weather wise and busiest periods)??

Ride On,

Gags
 
>Another question for any couriers out there......what are the best times of
>the year in Melb to do it (weather wise and busiest periods)??
>
>Ride On,
>
>Gags


Before major public holidays is best work wise - before Good Friday and last week before Xmas. Busiest times in the weekly cycle tend to be Fridays, Thursdays then Monday mornings (which are often hectic only to be left with nlittlework for the arvo).

Weatherwise I'd say Autumn and late Spring rock out, and riding through winter makes you tough. I got dehdrated, got a migraine and passed out working one summer, so I'm biased against that time of year! City is too full of foot traffic as well.
 
On Thu, 04 Nov 2004 at 12:54 GMT, Roadie_scum (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
> Weatherwise I'd say Autumn and late Spring rock out, and riding through
> winter makes you tough. I got dehdrated, got a migraine and passed out
> working one summer, so I'm biased against that time of year! City is
> too full of foot traffic as well.

I saw the name hippy next to your post, and thought you were hippy. I
was about to rib you for thinking summer was too hot.

Winter makes you tough, eh? :)

I guess I'm not out there all day, but winter is certainly my
favourite time to ride.

--
TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/
CAUTION: The Mass of This Product Contains the Energy Equivalent of 85
Million Tons of TNT per Net Ounce of Weight. -- unk
 
"TimC" <[email protected]
> On Thu, 04 Nov 2004 at 12:54 GMT, Roadie_scum (aka Bruce)
> was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
> > Weatherwise I'd say Autumn and late Spring rock out, and riding through
> > winter makes you tough. I got dehdrated, got a migraine and passed out
> > working one summer, so I'm biased against that time of year! City is
> > too full of foot traffic as well.
>
> I saw the name hippy next to your post, and thought you were hippy. I
> was about to rib you for thinking summer was too hot.

Pfft.. a Melbourne summer too hot.. ha! ;-)

> Winter makes you tough, eh? :)

If you ride through winter, yes, you are tough. Or wet. I
forget which one.. ;-)

> I guess I'm not out there all day, but winter is certainly my
> favourite time to ride.

Freak.

hippy
might admit to having fun in the rain _one_ day ;-)
 
What type of bike you got? Get one of these :)

http://www.bilenky.com/images/cargobikeAdpanel.jpeg

Hmm.. i might be doing the same shortly :)



Gags wrote:
> I have almost convinced the chief officer of finances and
> entertainment that it would be a good idea for me to take some of the
> long service leave that I have owing (4 months or so) and spend the
> time working as a bike courier in Melbourne. The plan being to get
> fitter and earn some extra cash that I could then spend on a bike and
> bike gear (and hopefully claim on tax).
>
> Does anyone know much about being a bike courier in Melb?
>
> ie.
> How flexible are the hours?
> What's the money like?
> What are some bike courier company names in Melb?
> How hard is it to get a job?
> How many k's would an average day entail?
> etc, etc.......
>
> Any info would be appreciated.
>
> Ride On,
>
> Gags
 
TimC said:
Winter makes you tough, eh? :)

I guess I'm not out there all day, but winter is certainly my
favourite time to ride.
Click to expand...
when you have a choice about riding in winter, it can be fun.

when you have no choice and have to get up and go to work for the 5th consecutive day that week in the rain, with your brake pads worn to the metal, with wet shoes cause that havent dried out from the day before, with a wet **** after 5 minutes on the road and having to concentrate intensively for the 40th hour that week on staying upright on oilslick roads, nah, thats not fun....

riding in the wet sucks!

i guess thats why i will never move from perth to melbourne! :p
 
"byron27" <[email protected]
> > "paul" <[email protected]> wrote
> > > http://www.bilenky.com/images/cargobikeAdpanel.jpeg
> >
> is this bike being used by a guy in washington DC to courier on?

Bilenky appear to be in Philly, dunno where the
bike is being used..

Specs:
http://www.bilenky.com/prod42.html

Cargo Bikes Gallery:
http://www.bilenky.com/cargogal.html

Cargo bike history:
http://www.messengers.org/resources/history/cargo.html

More freight bikes:
http://www.mondodesigno.com/freightbikes.html

hippy
 
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