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Bicycle messengers (also known as bike or cycle couriers) are people who work for courier companies (also known as messenger companies) carrying and delivering items by bicycle. Bicycle messengers are most often found in the central business districts of metropolitan areas. Courier companies use bike messengers because bicycle travel is less subject to unexpected holdups in city traffic jams, and is not deterred by parking limitations, fees or fines in high-density development that can hinder or prevent delivery by motor vehicle, thereby offering a predictable delivery time.
Because bicycle thefts are prevalent in many cities, a lock to secure the bike during deliveries is essential. are also popular. Messengers typically carry basic tools, weather-proof clothing and a street map. It is also common for messengers to carry storage clipboards for manifests, receipts, and/or other logistic documents.
One of the earliest recorded post-war American bicycle courier companies was founded by Carl Sparks, in San Francisco, in 1945. According to the San Francisco Bicycle Messenger Association, "Sparkie's went on to become Aero, which was bought out in 1998 and later absorbed into CitySprint." By the late 1970s, there were well-established companies offering bicycle messenger services in many major cities in the U.S.
In Europe, the bicycle had fallen out of favour as a means of delivery in the third quarter of the 20th century. It was not until 1983 that bicycle messengers made their reappearance in Europe. London's " On Yer Bike" and " Pedal-Pushers" were pioneers of pedal over petrol, and the rest of the city's courier companies followed suit. By the late 1980s, cycle couriers were a common sight in central London and a British manufacturer named a range of mountain-bikes for them, the Muddy Fox 'Courier'. Entrepreneurs in continental Europe, some inspired by seeing couriers in the U.S. or in London, began to offer bicycle courier services in the late 1980s, and by 1993 there were sufficiently large numbers of bicycle couriers in Northern Europe and North America that over 400 attended the inaugural Cycle Messenger Championships in Berlin, Germany. Bicycle messengers have not become common in southern Europe, the heartland of world competitive cycling. There are very few bicycle couriers in Portugal, France, Spain, or Italy. Outside Europe and North America, there are now large bicycle messenger services in Japan, and also in New Zealand and Australia. More recently, several companies started offering bike messenger services in Central and South America, specifically in México City, México; San José, Costa Rica; Bogotá, Colombia; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Santiago, Chile; Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, Brazil.
Commentators have claimed that technological innovation will significantly reduce the demand for same-day parcel delivery, predicting that the fax machine, and then the internet, would render the messenger business obsolete. There is still a demand for fast courier services, but there is certainly some truth in the predictions. Reliable data specifically relating to bicycle messenger occupational statistics is hard to find: the U.S. Department of Labor statistics does not track bicycle messengers specifically, and does not include "independent contractors" in statistics referenced for this industry occupation, but reports indicate the business is shrinking.
The gradual acceptance of electronic filing by U.S. courts has had a negative effect on the market. In San Francisco, bike messengers report a smaller work force coupled with decreased earnings. In New York City alone, the number of messengers dropped by approximately 1,000 between 1998 and 2008.
As of 2021, there were about 70,000 food delivery workers in New York City.
The purpose of food delivery apps is to get customers their food as fast as possible; this can lead to exploitation of workers. Additionally, delivery staff face dangers such as injuries in traffic, dooring, bicycle theft, and Robbery.
The employment status of the bicycle messengers of one of the UK's biggest same-day courier services, CitySprint, was challenged by the GMB trade union in December 2007. The challenge arose after the firm terminated the contract of one of its riders. The GMB sought to establish that more than 1,500 CitySprint operatives currently classified as self-employed sub-contractors should be re-classified as employees.
The job is poorly paid relative to the risk and effort required. In 2002, a Harvard Medical School study of injury rates among Boston bicycle messengers determined that the rate of injury requiring time off work among the sample group was more than thirteen times the U.S. average, and more than three times higher than the next highest group, workers in the meat-packing industry. Bike messengers have been killed while working in the United States. Eight bicycle messengers are known to have been killed while working in London between 1989 and 2003. Because payment is made at , it is hard to get reliable figures for messenger income. A study published in 2006 stated that the average daily wage of London bicycle messengers was £65 a day, and that of bicycle messenger in Cardiff was £45. The UK legal minimum wage at that time was £5.52 an hour.
The majority of messengers use a bag to carry deliveries and personal effects. Bags with a single strap that wraps diagonally across the chest (popularly known as messenger bag) are popular because they can be swung around the messenger's body to allow access without removing the bag. Clasps which can be adjusted with one hand (ideal for riding), clips, pockets, and webbing loops on the strap for holding a cell phone or two-way radio and other equipment also feature on purpose-built messenger bags. Bags generally have large capacities (up to 50 liters or 3,000 cubic inches). Baskets and racks mounted on the bike are also used, and at least one messenger service (in New York City) equips its riders with specialized three-wheel cycles (sometimes known as cargo bike), with a large trunk in the rear. Besides cargo-trikes, many messengers choose to ride various forms of cargo bikes for delivering large objects or high volumes of deliveries. Some bicycle messengers also wear helmets and dismount lights and fenders (mudguards) from stock bicycles.
The 1986 film Quicksilver featuring a bicycle messenger, is an early expression of the mythology of the messenger as a daredevil stunt rider. Star Kevin Bacon rides a racing bike, a fixed gear bike and a Artistic cycling with 1:1 gear ratio and zero-rake forks, to perform the stunts in the film. The 2000–2002 television series Dark Angel had the main character Max Guevara, played by Jessica Alba, as a bicycle messenger at a courier service named Jam Pony. The show took place in a post-apocalyptic Seattle where motorized transportation was costly and therefore couriers were more prevalent and bicycle messengers were seen as a prominent position. The 2012 film Premium Rush, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, is also set in the world of bike messengers. In the TV show Suits, Patrick J. Adams often has flashback scenes to his previous job as a bike messenger. The main character of the game inFAMOUS is also a bike messenger who possesses amazing skills in parkour and urban exploration.
News media have made portrayals of messengers ranging from innocuous urban libertines to reckless, cliquish Nihilism. The latter portrayal is often sparked by local incidents involving bike messengers in collisions with other road-users or run-ins with authority figures. These incidents also occasionally lead to proposals for, and dispute over, new ordinances and regulations on messengers and messengering.
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