...There Was a Bicycle Messenger

Here is an excellent article about a few messengers in Salt Lake, one active (my good friend Kevin) and two others; now veterans of the city roads. Thanks Esther! Keep on mashing!

Taken from cyclingutah.com – March 2011 Edition

Once Upon A Time There Was a Bicycle Messenger

By Esther Meroño

Trapped behind a stormy sea of cubicle walls, fluorescent light bearing down on our hearts like a treacherous wave as the flickering computer screen reaches for our soul with its monstrous tentacles, most of us weekend warriors spend our nine-to-fives daydreaming of land.

Not the bicycle messenger.

While we drown at our desks, these pirates of the workforce break through the tempest, blowing past the foreboding herds of sea monsters into a light breeze and streaming sunlight, returning as heroes to ports full of busty women and booze. Well, that’s how I’ve always imagined the life of a bicycle messenger versus a desk jockey. It turns out that realistically, the adventure requires a little more brains and brawn than expected (and no booze or broads).

Jason Copier, owner of Legal Messengers, Inc., started as a bike messenger back in ’97, hired by the previous owner and founder of LMI, Pete Caffal, a bike messenger himself from Seattle. The romanticism behind the occupation is one of the factors that led Copier to pursue the job: “Maybe it was ‘cause I saw ‘Quicksilver’ as a kid, I don’t know…I was a bike geek, and it was a way to dork out on bikes, work on my bike, ride it around all day, deliver packages. Why not? It’s rad.” Copier took over the office around 2000 and started dispatching, buying the company from Caffal in order to keep it local. LMI specializes in same-day deliveries, especially useful for the speedy and safe shipment of court documents that require signatures and cannot be sent over email (in case you were wondering how relevant a message delivery service might be in this day and age). In addition to the usual four bike messengers on shift every day, LMI also has a car fleet and a few drivers to deliver outside the bicycle boundaries and around the state, though about 80 percent of their deliveries are in the Salt Lake downtown area. Boasting a low turnover rate for cyclists, Copier claims his messengers are the most experienced in the industry, his newest employee coming on three years of employment. Of course, you can’t be in the business of bicycles without getting involved in some healthy competition.

Is this town big enough for two courier companies? It sure is: Salt City Couriers has been in business for 13 years now under Adam Madetzke, who also started as a bike messenger in ’97 while finishing up his degree at the U. After his boss sold out to another company, Madetzke decided to start his own, parking his car and bike downtown and doing deliveries as they came up until it slowly caught on. Similar to LMI, Salt City is an on-demand delivery service, mainly catering to law firms, but dealing with all kinds of companies and organizations from Salt Lake and the surrounding area. Though the two courier companies have some variations in the way they do business, there is one common thread: every single one of them is a cycling enthusiast.

“You’ve gotta love bikes, you’ve gotta want to ride them every day through shitty weather,” says Copier. However, just because you’ve got a poster of Lance Armstrong on the ceiling above your bed, own a chain whip and enjoy riding up Emigration every Sunday doesn’t mean you should quit your day job just yet. “We get a lot of guys that come in here that love the idea of being a bike messenger, but when they realize what it takes, the glory wears off a  little…We’re doing a lot of important filings and taking care of very important things for people, so not only do they have to know how to ride and be efficient downtown, they have to have some smarts and know what they’re doing and do the job right,” says Madetzke. Copier agrees, “It’s not all about biking, it’s not all about being a racer, it’s really using your head quite a bit, being efficient, being professional.”

Being a messenger isn’t all rimbows and lollicogs. Kevin Hall, a delivery cyclist for the downtown Jimmy John’s, wakes up in the morning, eats a healthy breakfast, checks the weather before choosing his outfit and bicycle, grabs his Velo City Bag and rides to work. Aside from battling the elements, traffic and any complications that may arise, Hall is in a constant race against time. These guys and gals have to know the Salty streets better than anybody, as for many of their incomes depend on the amount of deliveries they complete, making speed and efficiency important. “Ninety-seven percent of the time, you can make it all the way to a delivery without stopping because there’s a hidden route where traffic doesn’t go,” says Hall. “I definitely know the city well … being a messenger, you’re a lot closer to it.” Though Hall gets paid an hourly rate while he’s clocked in, as do the messenger’s employed under Madetzke, the faster he gets a delivery done, the faster he’ll return to be sent out again in hopes of accumulating as many tips as possible during his shift. For the messengers at LMI, time is even more essential as they are paid on commission, a common practice in the industry. With the reasonable cost of living in Salt Lake, a messenger’s wage is decent, says Copier.

As a competitor in the Cycle World Messenger Championships, Copier has spent time with messengers from all around the world, explaining that in New York City, messengers were living five to a bedroom in order to make ends meet. “It’s a little more respected here, in those bigger cities you’re asked to use the freight elevator, you’re basically a crack head with a bike,” he says. “Here it’s more the athlete training, fun-job angle that people see it as, which we are―we all race mountain bikes, race road, it’s a fun job.” Part of the fun is riding through Salt Lake’s bipolar weather patterns. Unlike those of us fair-weather cyclists, a bicycle messenger can’t hop on a bus or get in a cab if there are sheets of rain coming down or the temperature drops below freezing, riding a bike is their job. Madetzke tries to make this aspect of the occupation a little more pleasant by giving his messengers time-and-a-half pay on bad-weather days. However, he didn’t need the extra motivation when he was a messenger. “I used to just treat it as another experience and have fun with it. If you act like it’s going to be miserable, you’re going to hate it all day, but if you’re out there thinking you’re gonna get fresh tracks, then it’s not that bad,” he says. Of course, your level of enjoyment is going to depend completely on whether you dressed smart. Copier, Hall and Madetzke all agreed that once a messenger’s feet get wet, the day is ruined. During the cold seasons, Hall wears an under armor base and layers over that according to the temperature: a face mask if it’s below 15 degrees Fahrenheit, goggles if it’s snowing a lot, etc. In the summer heat, he strips down as much as he can, working around the required Jimmy John’s jersey.
 

As bicycle enthusiasts, many messengers also have a variety of bikes to choose from according to the weather and their mood. Hall rides his fixie with knobby tires when the snow starts to pack, a road bike during rain or light snow, and skinny-tired fixie on dry days. The sound of rain and sight of snow has me snuggling deeper under the covers in the morning, but it doesn’t slow down Hall one bit.

Surprisingly, both him and Copier claim wind as the worst element to ride in. “People never tip better for windy days … you get there and your hair’s all blown and they’re just like, ‘oh, that was fast.’ If it’s super rainy and you show up drippy, they’re like, ‘you must be having a hard day out there.’ It’s more noticeable, but wind is probably the worst to ride in,” says Hall.

The weather doesn’t make it any easier for the dispatcher sitting in the toasty warm/air conditioned office, either. In fact, the dispatching job sounds as stressful as the messenger’s, but without the physical release and requiring even more organizing and efficiency. “It’s like a big chess game: you have to work with what you have, with where people are in the area and as things come in, adjust to that and rework the schedule of runs,” says Madetzke just as he gets a call from one of his car delivery drivers who is stuck in the snow. “You have to coordinate things daily and sometimes by minutes as things change and rushes come up.”

In reality, the bicycle messenger probably spends more time going up and down elevators than getting from Point A to Point B, which is why, when they’re prepared, weather isn’t that big a deal. Getting there safely, however, is … Well, for some of them. “A lot of the other messengers think I’m a little reckless I think ‘cause I’ll fly through lights and go on the wrong side of the road just to keep myself moving instead of having to stop. I don’t know if they think that’s bad on how messengers will look to drivers, but so far I haven’t hit anybody or been hit,” says Hall. Jimmy John’s requires their cyclists to wear helmets and has made it a possible job-terminating offense to receive a ticket for riding on the sidewalk, but if you’ve ever ordered a sandwich from these guys, you know they’re “freakishly fast.” Though Salt City and LMI don’t require helmets, Copier and Madetzke both frown on their messengers breaking any traffic laws on the clock. “We have really strict policies about obeying the laws. If you get a ticket on the sidewalk, you’re out several deliveries for the day out of your pocket, you’ve wasted your time, it goes on your record,” says Copier. “Our clients are very understanding; we do not push the limits. Realistically, a bike messenger’s faster because of parking reasons, not because we’re breaking laws.” Madetzke adds, “That’s the last thing that I want to see, somebody come in to be a bike messenger, love the job, and get seriously hurt.” There are other details of the job that most wouldn’t think to associate with a bicycle messenger.

Not only must they deal with angry drivers, but angry clients as well. “There’s nothing the messenger can do except show up when you call us and ride our bike to where you want us to go,” says Copier. Don’t shoot the messenger! There’s also the matter of logistics, for example: Jimmy John’s delivers fountain drinks, which are nearly impossible to carry without spilling inside a bag. Hall mounted a drink holder on his handlebars, but riding one-handed is sometimes necessary when carrying two or more drinks. You thought you hated flats, how much more annoying would they be if they lost you a chunk of money every time you got one? Knowing basic bicycle maintenance and being quick to fix problems is another important part of being a messenger.

Now that the romance has subsided, let’s take this adventure back to the basics: human, bicycle, package. Whether it’s a seven million dollar settlement check, a love note, bread and wine, frozen body parts or just a boring old court document, it’s all a package at the end of the day, says Copier. “We keep it dry, we keep it secure, we get it there on time, someone signs for it and it’s done.” As the light fades on our fair city of Salt, the bicycle messenger rides into the sunset and disappears, happily ever after. For all your bicycle delivery needs, check out legalmessengerinc.com or saltcitycouriers.com. If what you crave is a sandwich brought to you faster than the speed of light, give the downtown Jimmy John's a call at 801-542-7827—just don't forget those drinks are a pain, and no matter the weather, give the guy a good tip!

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