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Bicycle Courier
wheels 'n' deals
Kyiv Post, March 30, 2000
By Anna Kozmina
A bicycle courier service in hilly, snowy Kyiv? Only a foreigner could have
come up with that idea.
The foreigner is Mike Finko - a native of Chicago who has Ukrainian ancestry.
He launched Kyiv's first bicycle courier service - The Messenger - in the
summer of 1999, and it's still the only business of its kind in the capital.
So if you see a cyclist in a bright-yellow uniform weaving among snarled
traffic in busy Kyiv streets, you can bet he's making a delivery for The
Messenger.
'We're the first company doing [bicycle deliveries] and we're trying to change
the industry,' Finko said.
The Messenger is Finko's contribution to raising the level of business services
available in Ukraine.
'It's just a small part, but I want to be able to change part of the way
people do business here by extending the [range] of business services,' he
said.
Bicycle courier services, common in the traffic-clogged West, are spreading
East with the growth of car ownership. Prague, Warsaw and Budapest already
have several messenger companies.
Now Kyiv has one. The Messenger specializes in delivering letters, documents
and packages within the city. According to Finko, it's the best option for
point-to-point local deliveries that must be done quickly, and when electronic
means can't easily be used.
'I tell people, Don't waste your money using us, if you can e-mail it or
fax it,' he said. 'If you're not in that much of a hurry, use the post office.'
In fact, Finko said his biggest competition comes not from other delivery
services, but from the companies that are his potential clients.
'Every company in Kyiv has one to five drivers on staff, which means they
have their own courier company on staff,' said Finko.
This situation would never occur in a developed market economy, because it's
not cost effective, according to Finko.
'It's a lot of management hassle. Some companies need to hire a whole extra
person just to manage the drivers, and that's a little bit extreme.'
The way to cut out this waste is to make use of an efficient, low-cost bicycle
courier service, Finko said.
Bicycles can easily maneuver through the city during rush hour, making them
faster than delivery by car, and on top of that, The Messenger offers guaranteed
delivery. Each delivery is carefully logged, and if a package goes astray,
Finko says he can pinpoint exactly where it was lost.
Payments are all in cash at the moment, though Finko said he's working to
introduce a bank-transfer system. Right now, he's just working to change
people's attitudes.
'A bicycle courier is new concept for Ukraine, and people are just getting
accustomed to it,' he said. 'I discovered a lot of resistance. People are
just so used to their drivers that they don't want to let them go.
'If it's not your specialty, let the professionals do it. Leave the driving
to taxis, and the deliveries to us.'
Seeking to expand his customer base, Finko has amassed a database of 500
companies. If 300 of these companies cut one of their two drivers, The Messenger
would reap 300 deliveries a day, Finko estimated.
For now, however, the company is struggling by on only a few orders per day.
'We hope to become very profitable, but right now we're not, because we don't
have big enough volume,' Finko said.
The Messenger employs two full-time bike couriers and three part-timers.
Employees not only have to own their own bicycle, they have to be interested
in cycling as a sport. Commitment to cycling keeps riders on the road, whatever
the weather, according to Finko. The same commitment must also drive couriers
to meet the delivery time targets The Messenger sets - approximately one
hour from call to delivery in the city center zone, and about two hours for
deliveries between city zones.
Point-to-point deliveries in the city center cost $2.25, deliveries to outlying
districts on the right bank cost $3.50, and deliveries to the left bank cost
$5.
Finko is trying to drum up business among airlines and travel agencies, hoping
they will use his service to deliver tickets to their clients. In fact, he
already has a contract with travel agency Via Kiev to do just that. Finko
is also touting his company's services with major shipping companies in Kyiv.
And while waiting for document delivery to take off, Finko also has his eye
on another line of business - flower delivery, though by car rather than
on two wheels.
Although Finko has only just begun advertising the service, it has been operating
for several months, and has proved quite successful - especially on Valentine's
Day and International Women's Day.
Finko's target market is Western Europeans and well-off Ukrainians. Americans
aren't high on the list - they just don't give enough flowers, Finko said.
A full list of the bouquets available for delivery (arranged by leading Kyiv
florist Green Gallery) is available on The Messenger's Web site, http://www.themessenger.kiev.ua.
Prices, including delivery, range from $15 for a small bouquet to $40 for
a large one. Orders can be placed by phone or via e-mail.
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