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  1.  
    I'm looking for any info on Manchester couriers, i've just chanced upon this site, looks predominatly London, but hey maybe someone can help? I just want website or contact info, as im an old (twentys) racer thinking of getting out of the office and back on the bike!

    ta
  2.  
    as in 1920s or post teens?

    If it's the former You may have more success starting your own firm trading on the novelty of your age if it's the latter (:wink:) then I think SiCleest may be of some help. He's from Brum, but has some Manc chums...might be worth scoping his blog (messenger of doom) for some info.

    I know very little about messengering outside of london other than in Norwich, where there were at one stage 3 rival firms. One had one rider, the second laid off it's entire (2) biccycle fleet then went bust and the other had 2 riders again. One of which was a friend of mine. £20 a day guarunteed, seldom anything more and lots and lots of long distance work: 18 mile round trips for one package. I hope manchester isn't like this.
    •  
      CommentAuthorEye Man
    • CommentTimeOct 5th 2007
     
    £20 a day guaranteed? when was this?

    you'd have to be pretty desperate to do an 18 mile round trip too...
    •  
      CommentAuthorBuffalo Bill
    • CommentTimeOct 6th 2007 edited
     
    http://bms-mcr.com/

    Johnny Chang. The Great Gravy Hound of the North.
  3.  
    "...£20 a day guaranteed? when was this?..."

    Not as long agao as one would hope:
    Late 2001 and into early 2002.

    My friend started messengering as a way to keep training for his new found love of cycle racing.
    £20 a day meant his weeks rent was paid in just under 2 days and the 18 mile trips were a bonus as he was chuffed to discover he'd got his resting heart beat down to 54 bpm.
  4.  
    £20 a day is less than minimum wage, a lot less. That's just straightforward exploitation.
    •  
      CommentAuthorJosh
    • CommentTimeOct 6th 2007
     
    Actus in Bristol used to pay me £25 a day garra. That'd be in about '98. That was better than no garra like when I started there, I often used to make under £25 a day.

    Without telling me they changed it to a £125 a week garra which is why I quit, any good day was sure to get swallowed up by the crappy ones so I'd end up with £125 most weeks. Also around the time I left them was when they brought in the minimum wage which was more than I was making. That made it a bit more pointed how crap they were. At next firm ICS I often made over £150 a week and once even broke £200 for a four day week (but never for a five dayer)

    Good news is that from what I hear things are a bit better than that in Manchester.
  5.  
    Come on bill, are you saying that there aren't firms in London that end up paying less than minimum wage? Maybe not if you average it out on your yearly salary, but this summer I had a few weeks that averaged out to less than £4 an hour
    •  
      CommentAuthorBuffalo Bill
    • CommentTimeOct 11th 2007 edited
     
    When did I say that there aren't London couriers making less than minimum wage?

    In my opinion, no one in London should be working for less than £200 a week. I hear that some are, but I think they are seriously misguided. I would go so far as to say that if you are regularly pulling down less than £300 a week, you should quit - it's not worth it.
  6.  
    thanks for the comments & link ... less than £200 sounds a bit horrible like!
    •  
      CommentAuthornasty
    • CommentTimeNov 8th 2007
     
    there's very little work in manchester. tiny circuit and not enough clients

    there's mebbe a scratch over 10 riders up here

    lots of bitchiness and stupid politics between company owners...

    for the record, bms riders are earning approx 75 -150/week. thats right, 75 a week. i dont consider that gravy. other folk are mebbe doing 200+ish on a very busy week. but thats a rarity

    there's a coupla "companies" which are basically van co's with one bike messenger as a loss leader.

    i was earning 375ish/week when i first moved up north, which dropped to 225ish/week last december. that was with bms

    living costs are on a parallel with london

    i do know of a busy guy that needs *experienced* part time help - whisper me - or the next best bet is a company called xen on grosvener street. but they already have a bike messenger, but might need a standby sometimes...
  7.  
    I know it sounds all wrong, but since coming to New York i've realized just how under exploited the food delivery market is in the uk. Perhaps that is a thought worth pursuing in manchester.
    •  
      CommentAuthorEye Man
    • CommentTimeNov 9th 2007 edited
     
    you would need an insulated box attached by bungee cord to a trailer or rear pannier rack.

    although you would be making more money, you probably wouldn't feel 'cool' or 'important' anymore.... not that that matters in the long run
    •  
      CommentAuthorwinston
    • CommentTimeNov 9th 2007
     
    Darwins?
  8.  
    Ack!! £75 a week!? how do you survive!? You're committed, that's for sure. If i was earning that low I'd just go on the dole, and automatically get full-rate housing benefit and then just ride my bike all day care-free to wherever i felt like (I mean I wouldn't chose to ride to delivery entrances and take goods-lifts all day if I had somewhere more fun to ride to).
    • CommentAuthorsleepy
    • CommentTimeNov 9th 2007
     
    "Darwins?"

    ...and the sandwich man would seem to have things covered, but it's all pretty standard stuff. not much better than a trip to the supermarket, the markup on food is generally outrageous. could easily undercut them and sell better produce, or charge a little bit more source as locally as you can and exploit the "ethical food market" *shudder*.

    definitely £££s to be made.
    • CommentAuthorlucky_7
    • CommentTimeNov 9th 2007
     
    darwins - they deliver sandwiches dontchaknow... you can see them cycling up the hill from camden through to Swiss Cottage most mornings & they don't like it what with 40kg odd of food / cake / fruit etc

    nhatt - the problem with food delivery is that you don't get the choice. but yeah it would be good if people could be more green about these things I spent £6.10 in pret today. i must be crazy.
  9.  
    I wasn't really talking about darwins...

    I mean like, chinese food? Evening food delivery. Kids over here make bank doing it. I know that english people don't tip as well, but they do tip enough to make it worthwhile. I think.

    The bikes they use are prety much the same that you would use for courier work, some kids have a basket on the front, most hold the food in one hand and cycle with the other (I think that's silly, though. I would die for sure if I tried it).
    •  
      CommentAuthorEye Man
    • CommentTimeNov 10th 2007
     
    i reckon beer delivery would be best
    •  
      CommentAuthorwinston
    • CommentTimeNov 10th 2007
     
    whenever I stay in NY I order Ben's big Burritos...they come on a bike but are too big...yeah it would be nice to see those pizza/chinese/indian mopeds replaced by pushies...was a lot of skate delivery in NY too....is there still? I know Ed's Easy diner in Soho do that.
    •  
      CommentAuthorJosh
    • CommentTimeNov 11th 2007
     
    These burritos deserve a top box rate?
    •  
      CommentAuthorEye Man
    • CommentTimeNov 11th 2007
     
    "Ack!! £75 a week!? how do you survive!? You're committed, that's for sure. If i was earning that low I'd just go on the dole, and automatically get full-rate housing benefit and then just ride my bike all day care-free to wherever i felt like (I mean I wouldn't chose to ride to delivery entrances and take goods-lifts all day if I had somewhere more fun to ride to)."

    If you were earning 75 a week I think you would be allowed to go on the dole anyway. You wouldn't get the full money though. Or you could just keep quiet and not tell them you're working. Which would be difficult if they spotted you with your courier firm's name on your bag...
  10.  
    Dominoes Pizza deliver by bicycle around the EC1 post code.
    •  
      CommentAuthorremovals
    • CommentTimeNov 16th 2007 edited
     
    >snip<
    •  
      CommentAuthoroverdrive
    • CommentTimeNov 16th 2007 edited
     
    :clap:
    • CommentAuthorDazzler
    • CommentTimeNov 16th 2007
     
    Dazzlers Saturday morning online fried breakfast delivery service

    http:/www.fullfuckingmonty.com/extramushroomsyo

    Delivered to your door by your choice of bmx, racer or polobike.

    Sanctimonious vegan option available.

    1% discount for couriers.
  11.  
    my brother will deliver you breakfast...look on his website www.londonbreakfastcompany.com
    •  
      CommentAuthorzee
    • CommentTimeJan 22nd 2008
     
    so much about the Manchester messengers :)
    // just starting up as a messenger in London however the plans include moving to Manchester or Birmingham at some point later this year
    •  
      CommentAuthorEye Man
    • CommentTimeJan 22nd 2008
     
    Come and say hello if you move to Brum

    theres no work here tho
    •  
      CommentAuthorzero cc
    • CommentTimeJan 26th 2008
     
    Don't come to Manc - we're already here, there's no more room. Personally, I bought myself a Burroughs 8 Freight cargo bike and went independent about three years back - no, it doesn't look cool like a fixie, but it makes money. Currently earnings are from about £350 (bad week) to £500 (good week). Others have tried the same path and not succeeded. Find another town.