Motorcycle couriers - What's it like?

[The Reibz]

Long story short,

Qualified tradesman with very little experience in trade, no one hires you no matter what quallifications you have in this country because its all based around experience. Experience which is impossible to gain if no khunt will hire you in the first place. Got 7 years experience in the Navy but that counts for shit with most people, no convictions, no nothing (just a massive alcohol problem :laugh:)

Now that drip is over I want to hear opinions on what its like to be a Motorcycle Courier. Hear that there is good money in it if you know what your doing and don't get run over by a van on your first week.
Take it something around the 400cc to 600cc range is good for navigating in the city, a busa sure as shit aint the best bike for lane spliting. Been riding for around 6 years in all weather, most of the time spent in heavy traffic until I moved 800m down the road from work.

Any helpful information would be appreciated on this topic

Reibz

[paturoa]

What is your trade?

[The Reibz]

Welder. Got 2980 tickets in everything but no one will give me the time of day because its easier to hire temps from staffing companies.
7 years worth of IT and communications experience in the Navy. Even got a level 3 in small business management. Still work for them, but need to stop because I can no longer support my lifestyle on John Keys shit wages (2 bikes, a car and a boat)

[Edbear]

Checked out Christchurch? M/C couriering can be fun but fairly dangerous.

[The Reibz]

Checked out Christchurch?

Yep. Not keen on selling up and moving down there though, mrs would have to find work down there too, and from what I have heard the living costs with rent and shit are currently through the roof down there at the moment. Alot of steel companies up here asking for welders but still waiting on orders from Christchurch before they start seriously hiring people. Done alot of jobs for boy racers and shit but they don't really pay the bills. Just extra beer tokens for the friday night pissup...

[Edbear]

I was once offered a job as a motorcycle mail deliverer and while I have never worried about heavy traffic and rain going to and from work I think to be on a bike for 8 hours every day has substantial more risk plus the bike they
offered me was a CT110 which would have little power to get you out of trouble. A much safer bike would be a something like a Suzuki VStrom or Honda Transalp to ride around town all day.

The Wee Strom would be the perfect bike IMHO.


Yep. Not keen on selling up and moving down there though, mrs would have to find work down there too, and from what I have heard the living costs with rent and shit are currently through the roof down there at the moment. Alot of steel companies up here asking for welders but still waiting on orders from Christchurch before they start seriously hiring people. Done alot of jobs for boy racers and shit but they don't really pay the bills. Just extra beer tokens for the friday night pissup...

Yeah, my comment to suggestions of moving there were along the lines of having to live in Chch. My son works for Mulcahy's in Avondale. They have their quieter moments but seem to always have work. He can get very busy at times.

[Brian d marge]

used to Dr in london on and off for many years

shaft drive and fkin reliable and good on fuel

low revs and tough as an old boot ,,,,

and somedays are more than 8 hours ,, well it was when I was a lad !!!

Stephen

[nzmikey]

Mate of mine on the shore has been doing it for a couple of years ... he seems to enjoy it .

he recently sold his 600 & has bought a motard & is loving it ... heaps more nimble & more upright, less weight on his wrists etc .

I can find out from him who he works for & if there is anything going if ya want

[F5 Dave]

Motorcycle courier? Do they still have those? Had a few mates that did it in the 90s, but it never made any money & people went to buy vans, or mostly to move on as they found out that it is bullshit about the good money stories after one accounts for running costs, & factor in holidays, sick leave, paperwork, ACC charges, tax etc (that's without the possibility of a crash putting you out of bussiness).

Absolute dead end job too. I have a mate who did express in a car for years which is top end but still didn't make much money for a 40yr old (been on same money for last 15 years). but now had to throw himself at something else & glad to be out.

Forget it & throw yourself at companies to work your trade for free for a week or even a month to see if they like you.

[John_H]

I would imagine it would be the fastest way to kill your love of motorcycling.

[carburator]

sorry having tickets in one thing, having the eye for the job is another..

engineering in NZ has gone 360 degrees of late, you need to be able to do everything
else they will simply get someone else who can and for less which is a pain in the ass.

best advice get yourself along to a temping company and get some hours out there in the]
real world not the navy one.. ( yea been tarred with that brush so I know what your going through..)
temping gets you in with a gang of guys and most times on contracts companies tend to approach peaple
they wnat to hang onto afterwards..

( never work for free thats bullshit, might have landed the odd person a job now and again but if a
company can't pay you for a week trial they just can't pay your period and why should you be out money! )

[The Reibz]

I can find out from him who he works for & if there is anything going if ya want
Just a general query at the moment bro. Thanks for the offer though, from what I have read on here and from other sources, times are tough as fuck in the courier trade at the moment. Already working 12 hour days as well, couldn't handle the hours van drivers seem to work for the amount of hassle it is (guessing motorcycle couriers would work alot less though). You go where the money is ay, alot of adds I have seen promise alot but really they want you to work a shitload of hours for minimum wage.


I would imagine it would be the fastest way to kill your love of motorcycling.
Yep, just like commuting in heavy traffic killed my love for cars.


sorry having tickets in one thing, having the eye for the job is another..

engineering in NZ has gone 360 degrees of late, you need to be able to do everything
else they will simply get someone else who can and for less which is a pain in the ass.

best advice get yourself along to a temping company and get some hours out there in the]
real world not the navy one.. ( yea been tarred with that brush so I know what your going through..)
temping gets you in with a gang of guys and most times on contracts companies tend to approach peaple
they wnat to hang onto afterwards..

( never work for free thats bullshit, might have landed the odd person a job now and again but if a
company can't pay you for a week trial they just can't pay your period and why should you be out money! )

Definitely got the eye for the job bro, recruiters told me to join as an engineer, but I was young and stupid (into computers) so took the IT route and have hated it since about 2 years ago. Working towards a 6g Pipe ticket but thats still a month or two away from being perfect. Atleast I can get the tickets for free through the Navy. Thanks for the advice though bro, appreciate it. Nice to see a thread on here which isn't filled with fuckwitery or dick measuring...

[Oakie]

need to stop because I can no longer support my lifestyle on John Keys shit wages (2 bikes, a car and a boat) John Key pays you? What sort of work does your wife do?

[The Reibz]

Mrs earns around 70k as a sales rep for a major trade firm. Not that its anyones business though.
Mr Key pays me around 42k to work 96 hours a fortnight, doing a job I hate, so I can impress people I no longer like.
Pay was good 2 years ago, then they sacked most of my mates and replaced them with civilian workers. Raised rents, meal charges on bases, removed all the good things all in the name of budget cuts. The DF is a depressing place to work at the moment, hence wanting out.

[vtec]

If you are awesome you can make good money. $300 per day. But factor in that you have to pay all of the following out of that:
Fuel
Maintenance
Repairs
Gst
Income tax
Acc
Now, the best bike for the job... Suzuki UZ125. Bar none. Danchop on this forum is the best motorcycle courier I know of and that's what he rides. A motard is the next best thing after a good quality scooter capable of a steady 100kph. Only get a vstrom if you want to be treated like a car by the dispatcher. They will not be fast, nimble or invisible enough. You don't want police or public noticing you.

I did it on a cbr250rr and an NXR125 for a bit. But I preferred working as a bicycle courier. I've done about 18months as a courier for deadline express. Definitely worth it for the life experience.

[swbarnett]

If you are awesome you can make good money. $300 per day.
I did a few months with Road Runner in the '80s. Our best guys were doing over $300 per day back then. Then faxes came in and most of our business went out the window.

[F5 Dave]

If you are awesome you can make good money. $300 per day. But factor in that you have to pay all of the following out of that:
Fuel
Maintenance
Repairs
Gst
Income tax
Acc
. . .

yer what? you didn't even mention depreciation of vehicle & still that's going to leave shit all of nothing.

[cheshirecat]

Did it London, just as the money was going out with email etc.

Everyone I knew was hospitalised at some stage and three were killed. They were good riders too.
I did at least 10/12 hour days winter and summer and made enough but one bad day puts everything back. The first week was the worst week ever. It rained every day, everything got soaked and stayed that way, visors permanently misted etc and I only just covered petrol/food costs. 2nd week the same, but 3 rd week, new company it came together in that I could hear the radio, keep my clipboard dry and not get quite so lost. After a couple of months of perpetual rain I barely noticed it anymore and and somehow figured how to stay dry, not mist up etc.

Eventually I ended up with a very good company, they sent flowers to the misses if you ended up in hospital and provided a decent min guarantee.

DR's had a phrase for newbies, "gone by lunchtime" and they weren't kidding.

Oh I might add you'll come out with a dim view of certain riding attitudes.

On the upside its great for your riding skills and you will be able to anticipate a vehicle movements before they do and being out every day in grotty weather won't trouble you at all - plus of course you'll adore filtering.

[danchop]

its changed a lot since i started 7 years ago,theres only 2 bike couriers i know left in auckalnd,i quit last week.
yes it killed my love of normal motorcycling because come the weekend,the last thing i wanted to do was go for a ride.
a scooter is the best to use now for a lot of reasons,the biggest is that a scooter can carry larger items and more of them than a bike(try carry 2 x 20litre containers of brake cleaner on a busa,yet i can on a scooter).most work now is for the automotive trade not lawyers,media,real estate etc because internet is used more often now.
money is up and down,still do the odd $300 plus day but more likely $200 average which aint that crap hot cause you get no holidays,sick pay etc.
maintenance wise is fuck all on a scoot because you have no chain sprockets to worry about,tyres are $40 not $250 and fuel is less.
lanesplitting is a hell of a lot easier and faster on the scoot,and your less noticed by the feds on scoot than a normal bike(most think your on a moped)
to the naysayers about the scoot being any good,i would compete against a drz400 and a zx1000 at my company and beat them hands down in earnings take.
anyway the lack of suspension and the councils love of fucking speed humps everwhere has fucked my back over the last 7 years and i had to quit,give me a ring if you want any info cause deadline couriers are looking to replace me as soon as,i will also be selling my pile of uz125 bikes and parts(two complete bikes and 3 ive used for spares)
danny 0272755860

[swbarnett]

On the upside its great for your riding skills and you will be able to anticipate a vehicle movements before they do
Couldn't agree more. I learnt more in my few months as a courier than at any other time in my riding career.

[F5 Dave]

Riding skills being traffic avoidance. can't see it being a real boon to racing skills, but any time on a bike must help, but your vision will be close based, not like fast riding.

I've been thinking about this too much, but from above lets say $200 average. 48 weeks if you take the same 4 weeks off (pretty dead post Christmas I imagine anyway) most people do, Well that's $48k a year. Close to what you are on now. Irrespective of how frugal you are the expenses will take the wage to less than you are on now.

[The Reibz]

Yep your right bro, expenses + long days for 6 days a week just to keep yourself afloat makes it hardly worth it. Definitely a lifestyle thing, don't know how the van drivers do it when they have to replace their vehicles every few years just to stay contracted with the company.


try carry 2 x 20litre containers of brake cleaner on a busa
Got to take a falcon cylinder head out to the machinists today, will see how well that works. It aint a heavy traffic bike, thats for sure.

Thanks for all the handy info

[F5 Dave]

My step-sis used to work in office at large courier company & her take was they were all stressed to make it work & none had marriages that survived as far as she could tell.


Good luck & research whatever line of work you jump into.


Managed with my C20 van head on back of a bike before. Was a bit concerned it was going to bail so well secured.

[swbarnett]

Riding skills being traffic avoidance. can't see it being a real boon to racing skills, but any time on a bike must help, but your vision will be close based, not like fast riding.
If you keep your vision close you're dead. The short time I spent as a courier went a long way to teaching me to look ahead as far as I could while still being aware of what was immediately around me.

Of coursse, when I did it (almost 30 years ago now) the traffic was a LOT lighter and lane splitting was almost purely for getting to the front at the lights.

[nzspokes]

Then faxes came in and most of our business went out the window.

Wow your old. :bleh:

We should catch up for a ride sometime.

[Oakie]

Mrs earns around 70k as a sales rep for a major trade firm. Not that its anyones business though.


Well I thought it might have been my business because I'm in HR and do the recruiting for our organisation in Christchurch. Never mind though.

[Brian d marge]

Giz a job , go on ,,, giz a job

Stephen

[rastuscat]

Dateline 1988. I started as a motorcycle Popo on an R80RT in Orkers. Bike couriers almost exclusively had write off CBR600RRRRRs or Impulses, the little brown numbers with orange frames. All previously written off by insurance company's for panel damage, but awesome ugly courier shuttles. Only dudes I ever envied, tho my employer paid all my fuel, insurances, yaddy yaddy. Envied their freedom to hammer the city. Not really a career I suspect. Mine is.

[The Reibz]

Well I thought it might have been my business because I'm in HR and do the recruiting for our organisation in Christchurch. Never mind though.
No offence bro but its just a bit of a personal question that was all. Seems everyone is ending up in Christchurch or over in Aussie at the moment.
Personally I would move north (Whangas), because the rent is cheap and there is better fishing up there...

[angle]

Mrs earns around 70k as a sales rep for a major trade firm. Not that its anyones business though.
Mr Key pays me around 42k to work 96 hours a fortnight, doing a job I hate, so I can impress people I no longer like.
Pay was good 2 years ago, then they sacked most of my mates and replaced them with civilian workers. Raised rents, meal charges on bases, removed all the good things all in the name of budget cuts. The DF is a depressing place to work at the moment, hence wanting out.

There are actually no dedicated IT streams for uniformed personnel in the Navy; are you an ET? Navy IT personnel normally have no problems whatsoever finding a job in the 'civvy street', qualified and skilled welders are also quite sought after in the civilian world.

[rastuscat]

There are actually no dedicated IT streams for uniformed personnel in the Navy; are you an ET? Navy IT personnel normally have no problems whatsoever finding a job in the 'civvy street', qualified and skilled welders are also quite sought after in the civilian world.

I was an RF from 82 to 88. Couldn't wait to move on from the trade, but missed the navy.

[angle]

I was an RF from 82 to 88. Couldn't wait to move on from the trade, but missed the navy.

Being an RF can seriously wear you down if you are not really into that sort of stuff. I hope that at least it gave you some decent life experience.

[jafar]

I was a courier for Road runner back in the early 80's, the money was good then, we could earn $300 + per day without too much problem.
Expenses then (from memory) were around $10.00 per day for petrol, tyres were comparitively cheap, around $100. chains & sprokets a couple of times a year.
No GST in those days.
The accountant used to take care of the IRD & we had to pay bugger all tax :msn-wink: It would cost around $1,000 per year for a decent accountant as well.
Cold wet days, when your wets had failed by 9.30 & your soaked through with @ least another 8 hours to go didn't do much for the enthusiasm. Funny how they always went in the crotch area first :laugh:

On the whole though it was a good job, the money was there, the fun factor was there & you did get to meet a lot of people

[GSF]

used to Dr in london on and off for many years

shaft drive and fkin reliable and good on fuel

low revs and tough as an old boot ,,,,

and somedays are more than 8 hours ,, well it was when I was a lad !!!

Stephen


Was ya riding ye olde Plastic Maggot?

[The Reibz]

There are actually no dedicated IT streams for uniformed personnel in the Navy; are you an ET? Navy IT personnel normally have no problems whatsoever finding a job in the 'civvy street', qualified and skilled welders are also quite sought after in the civilian world.
The IT buck has been passed to the Communications trade now mate. As a Leading Hand I would be expected to complete a CCNA Level 2/3 cert. Not keen on that shit though, would rather go paint the side of the ship and chip rust with a few of the chaps. Beats sitting in a classroom reading binary and playing around on packet tracer.

An engineering job would be a dream come true. But at the end of the day you go where the money is...

Saw an add on trademe for bike couriers hence why I started a topic on here...

[swbarnett]

Wow your old. :bleh:
I'm not so much old as "half-way through".


We should catch up for a ride sometime.
Agreed. Perhaps I can persuade Boots to come along this time...

[Brian d marge]

Was ya riding ye olde Plastic Maggot?

I blew the engines on two of them ..hhheehehehe

even rode , a bsa bantam Red , t500 suzuki , The rotax army thingy 2 st

Stephen

[F5 Dave]

Dateline 1988. . . . Bike couriers almost exclusively had write off CBR600RRRRRs or Impulses, the little brown numbers with orange frames. . . ..
Impacts we used to call Impulses. We thought we were funny:rolleyes:

[Oakie]

Funny thing. My daughter has just secured the contract to deliver mail to Arrowtown near Queenstown. Delivery is by postie motor-bike (or I guess a suitable motor-bike). She's looking to sub-contract someone to actually do the riding and delivery. Details are still being finalised but it'll be about 40 hours a week (Mon/Sat) with work finishing about midday. Money sounds reasonable too. I'll probably post something up in the next few days if anyone is interested.

[Oakie]

What is this 'safety' thing you speak of?

Surely 'motorbicycles' and 'safety' are an oxymoron?

[Oakie]

Yeah. She is actually looking at the possibility of using a quad bike for safety reasons (and because with containers on the back all the mail can be loaded on so no need for drop off depots around the town). She needs to sort it out with the local authority first though and find a quad bike that can be WOFd for use on road.

[Oakie]

With the downhill part of Arrowtown a quad bike would still be dangerous on ice/snow. I have seen them used in the carpark at Mt Hutt but never ridden up the mountain on the snow. Other options could be a golf cart or a electric mini
truck but the golf cart would possibly not have enough ground clearance

I guess at some point you make the decision to walk part of the route instead of risk the slippy slidey stuff. She has actually got a biker from Dunedin interested so fingers crossed.

[awa355]

The Americans had this courier/mail stuff sussed long ago.

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