Working as Bike Courier in Adelaide - Help please

[MichaelB]

Hiya all,

I am considering a short stint as a bicycle courier for a few months at least due to some issues with management at my current job. Long story, and not worth going into here.

Firstly, I'm not interested in being all gung ho and taking over the street and money from other peoples pockets, but seriously looking at the potential of combining my main love (apart from family that is) and earning a bit of money on the side.

As some general enquiries, can I get some guidance on the following please ;

#1 - Any recommendadtions on who would be the best ones to contact ?
#2 - If you are half decent (I'd aim to be that), what would be considered a reasonable days reward for decent effort ?
#3 - apart from having to supply the body and the bike, what else would you need - a bag as well ?
#4 - any other tips ?

Thanks in advance

Cheers

Michael B

[brauluver]

Chatting with Dan the other day ,and he's out of it now,as there wasn't enough work any more(or so he says).
Drop in to bike polo this sunday and have a chat with Riley maybe.He's the guy who rides the Kona Humu around town.friendly bloke, he may be able to offer some advice.

[DanielS]

I did it for all of about 4 weeks a few years ago. I worked for Yellow. When I did it, Yellow paid per job, so the pay was pretty low. Toll and Aceit had some sort of retainer type system, so you were guaranteed a minimum pay.

But yeah, ask an actual bike courier who is working now...

[MichaelB]

Cheers guys.

[Verbs & Nouns]

TollFast and Ace-It are the two main ones, and there's also Yellow. My friend just started working for Toll (he rides the grey Guerciotti track bike with risers and white grips), and I have two other friends that ride for Ace-It. From what I've heard, getting a job as a courier is getting kinda hard, but your best bet would be speaking directly to Toll or Ace it. Speaking to Riley would be a good idea as well.

As for what you need...

Your bike (with a bell and brakes) they do an audit on it when you first start. I guess they don't worry too much about those things after a while (which is why you see some of the couriers riding brakeless and bell-less).

A bag eg. Crumpler or Chrome.

Ace-It supply their own helmets, with Toll you have to bring your own.

The companies supply the jerseys.

Toll pay by hour, with bonuses for additional jobs. You're expected to do six jobs an hour. Not sure with Ace-It.

Hope this helps.

[MichaelB]

Cheers again.

[Sumichino]

How did you end up going with this MichaelB? I'm thinking about trying get work as bike courier myself.

[MichaelB]

Never ended up there as I got a decent job, but bought a Crumpler bag.

Phew ....