Was looking through latest copy of Motorcycle Trader and they have an article on motorbike couriers,what info do you guys/gals have about living off this job-in theory it sounds like a great job..the article says Centexpress (in Melbourne) like( )to see their riders gross around $1000 per week,so then we have to take off tax,insurance,pay own super,put some aside for holiday pay/sick days,fuel and rego. Am i leaving any expenses out and is this figure of $1000 gross p/wk a true average.
Hmm daydreaming about picking up a ER6N and riding for a job.
Never trade the thrills of living for the security of existance
This has been covered on netrider a few times already. From what I've read posted by ex couriers, it's a pretty shit job and the pay is not worth it. Check the following link for more info: http://www.netrider.net.au/forums/viewt ... ht=courier
Sounds like a shocker . One other thing that was mentioned but not listed was parking tickets add to that riding offences loss of points. It could equal to no licence in no time at all, you only need some cop in a bad mood. If you break as many rules as that guy said, one or two days with a bad cop and hey presto licence vanished
"I live in my own little world. But it's OK. They know me here"
I was a courier in Sydney for three months over summer of 2001/2002, when the tech crunch was at its worst. It's what I had my GPz500S for.
While I was doing it, I'd amble out into the garage at the weekend, look at the then-new ZX6 perched on racestands and think "Yuck".
Couriering turned riding into a chore. Gridlock, office building, gridlock, gridlock, office building, gridlock, office building, gridlock, arterial road, gridlock, office building... if Satan has a section of hell set aside for motorcyclists, that's what it'll be like.
The fact that I made more money working three 8-hour days unloading containers in a warehouse by hand than I did working five 11-hour days as a bike courier didn't, on balance, make couriering seem any more shit.
Ultimately, you're risking hospitalisation so some rich git in Point Piper can get his stock report before brunch. You don't have to be a Communist to see something as being wrong with that picture...
Hmm hunting for a dinner rat with a stick hey I-K, a fair bit of the stuff i read on net rider is true I work a 10 km loop generally so within 10 kms of the city and once you know the customer base and have the parking sorted its pretty easy.
Anything after 3pm friday sees me doing the dash down a few lanes where i shouldnt be to save time but mostly i am well behaved on the road and have only had a couple of people have a go at killing me, I asume that being on a good sports bike rather than a 20 year old gpz 900 makes a diference becuse so far i can avoid being killed and the drivers of the old 4x4 cant believe they missed me.
Yeh its good short term for a few quick dollers and theres options like austrailia post if you want better conditions but overall the company where i am is run by old couriers that treat us like humans.
If you where to buy a bike to do this i would recomend er5 which seem hard to find or some sort of old traily with a factory rack.
If I rode my bike at the speed of light, what would happen when I switched on its headlights?
I have been doing this job for the last 12 months.To be honest it is a shit job and the companies that seemed to be involved with this are rouges and treat riders like shit,thats why they have a high turn over.I actually quit my job a few weeks ago after a pay despute and being ripped off.
If you are thinking of doing it make sure that you get a garrantee and not paid per job,because if the work is quiet ,you will be sitting around waiting for work and no being paid for it.Also they might send you out on a 30 kilometer job with no return job and you might have to come back into the city for your next job for nothing.In other words its your time,petrol,wear and tear that they get for nothing.As you are sub contracting,you get no holiday pay,no sickdays,nuthin.So yeah the dollars look attractive at the start,but once you take out tax,gst,fuel,wear and tear on your bike,its really not that good.The other thing is it kill your enthusisum for riding.Think about it,i was doing approx 9 hours a day,5 days a week and most times there was no time to even have lunch,covering approx 1000 kays a week.My mates would ask me to come riding on weekends with them and to be honest the last thing i wanted to do was go riding on my time off.
Then there is the weather thing,if its stinking hot or pissing rain it really isnt an enjoyable job.
If you wanted to do it as a fill in thing for a couple of months,that would be ok,just to earn a few bucks,but as a full time thing,forget it.
Dont take life too seriously,remember no one gets out alive!
Because your bike on a footpath is a security hazard! That, and they have designated parking area's for bikes in the short term car park. I dont think I've ever seen a bike pay for parking... they all manage to fit through the boom gates
Benno wrote:Because your bike on a footpath is a security hazard! That, and they have designated parking area's for bikes in the short term car park. I dont think I've ever seen a bike pay for parking... they all manage to fit through the boom gates
Well technically speaking i wasnt on the footpath,i was on a grassy patch in nobodys way but the prick who booked me said that you cannot park anywhere there except the designated parking area.Im am fighting this matter because technically there is not a no parking sign anywhere near where i parked and had a friend booked for the same thing and he fought it and won.
Dont take life too seriously,remember no one gets out alive!
yeh your right rocketrod in the rain it sucks and in the heat it will suck just as bad but i still have a bit of a laugh at it at times.
Parking is a big issue but think about it how many buildings dont have a loading dock in the city when i first started i used the loading zones outside yes i am a courier i thought this is where i should park my bike......wrong even though the council website says laoding zones are for comercial vehicles delivering goods and parcels in the cbd and my tub takes up the whole space where any passenger could fit so its not a family sedan anymore.
still have to be nice to the parking police though.
so anyway whenever i have a moment i go looking for the docks of buildings in the cbd or just park in their foyer if i can get the bike through the front dooor and hey its closer to the lift doors this way so it makes sence to a parking inspecter.
at the airport i usually park no where near the front of the building and use the goods entrances because it save mucking with the ticket.
once you have established all of this you can try to make a dollar.
If I rode my bike at the speed of light, what would happen when I switched on its headlights?
the only contribution i've got to this thread that at Sydney Airport there's free bike parking at the international airport. I'm not sure about domestic however...
)to see their riders gross around $1000 per week,so then we have to take off tax,insurance,pay own super,put some aside for holiday pay/sick days,fuel and rego. Am i leaving any expenses out and is this figure of $1000 gross p/wk a true average.
. One other thing that was mentioned but not listed was parking tickets add to that riding offences loss of points. It could equal to no licence in no time at all, you only need some cop in a bad mood. If you break as many rules as that guy said, one or two days with a bad cop and hey presto licence vanished 
