Motorcycle couriers - What's it like?

[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 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

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.

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

[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.