Courier Clique Owns The Streets
By Natasha Bacigalupo, The Globe and Mail, Toronto, June29,1993
Cigarette butt hanging out his mouth, Craig Webster is concentratingon his feet as they strive to keep his Hacky Sack from hitting concrete.
Nothing can break his intent stare even jibes from his comrades don'tdivert his gaze. But at the first garbled scratch from his walkie-talkieMr. Webster jumps on his bicycle grumbling.
Calls from the dispatcher sometimes come at the most inopportune moments.
Mr. Webster is one of the thousands of bicycle couriers who dart throughthe city - one of a group that has developed almost a courier culture inthe clogged streets of downtown Toronto.
We have our lifers, sure says Ross Storey, a relative newcomer to thescene. He's still considered a rookie after surviving more than a year.It's not the rates that keep people on this job, that's for sure. I barelymake enough to get by. Most couriers just like to ride or need a job badly."
And it's a job that comes with little appreciation. Most couriers, whethervan drivers, foot couriers or cyclists, know they are generally despisedYou get your share of bad words and the finger, says George Headley, avan driver for Purolator Courier Ltd. You just learn to ignore them."Bicycle couriers don't seem so forgiving "Cabbies are our worst enemy."Mr. Storey says. Less burdened with corporate image, cyclists don't shyaway from a confrontation.
"If a car or cabbie comes too close, we sometimes pull out thebike lock and motion it toward their car window. That usually encouragesthem to move, says Matt Long, a muscle-bound, long-haired courier called"The Kid" because of his young age and baby face.
The courier clique usually goes beyond competition. Many bike couriers,although racing to get more packages to their destinations than their co-workers,flock to Bread Spreads on Temperance Street when they're not on a call.The only competition that goes on there is Hacky Sack, a bean bag thatyou keep off the ground with your feet.
And couriers from different companies rarely feel a sense of rivalry,says Michele a Federal Express Canada Ltd, foot courier. "It's notlike we're against each other, we're, all doing the same thing. It’s the'comrades in arms' kind of thing."
Different types of couriers don't quarrel either. Some van drivers grumbleabout crazed bicycle couriers ignoring the rules of the road or dressinga little too casually, but the complaints are good natured.
"Some of them look like The Fly," Mr. Headley says. "Butthey're just doing their jobs."
Couriers' daily routines are not short on mishaps. Or strange stories.
Fedex van driver Drew Parkinson said he once arrived at a wig maker'sstore to pick up the wig and head measurements of the Man from Glad, thesilver-haired actor who promotes Glad products on TV commercials. "Hewanted his hair refitted by some wig maker in Britain."
John Fitzgerald, a van driver and walking courier for DHL InternationalExpress Ltd., says he used to pick up items at the airport that had tobe taken to the hospital immediately - for good reason.
"We'd get limbs sometimes. I once got an eyeball and it was handedto me in a glass jar. I drove along to the hospital with an eyeball ina jar on the seat beside me."
Food gets its fair share of the courier business - especially in theform of care packages.
"I got this kolbassa once," Mr. Parkinson says. "I pickedup a similar package from this lady twice that was sort of a weird shape,so I asked her what it was. She was sending it to her son."
And some food gets to travel the world. "I never understood whysome people would send a jar of peanut butter to Bangkok," Mr. Fitzgeraldsays. "But they do."
Sometimes it's not the packages, but those who receive them. One storydescribes a woman customer being called to the door by her young son -and running to answer not wearing any clothing.
"I woke up Keifer Sutherland," Mr Parkinson says proudly."I went to drop off a package - twice at the same place - and he answeredthe door both times in a towel. He's just a short guy."
And Purolator driver Deb Raciot says she once delivered a package toa pair of dentures.
"I went up to the man's desk to drop it off and all there was wasa pair of teeth in a glass. I later ran into him in the hallway, eatinga banana."
The time element becomes pervasive. "We can't park on a side streetaway from the building and then have to walk there and walk back to thevan," says Fedex van driver Brian Newman. "That would waste 10minutes. Ten minutes is a lot time.." "Everybody wants speed.It used to be that getting a package to Vancouver from here in two dayswas pretty good. Now if it takes you that long, you're a bum. Your customerswould think you were terrible," says Vern Simpson, president of SwiftSure Group of Oakville, Ontario.
For bicycle couriers, time pressure is even greater as their salaryis dependent on the number of deliveries they make. And this makes rulebending all the more necessary.
"We are supposed to follow the rules of cars. But we definitelyfollow our own adaptation of automotive regulations," Mr. Long says.
Regulation is not a favoured word in the language of the bicycle courierculture. "Every year, we hold a courier race that we start off witha ceremonial joint," Mr. Storey says. Of course it's illegal. Anythinggoes. You can latch on to the back of trucks if you want - you just makethe most deliveries you can, whatever works best.
"We generally keep the location under wraps until after the raceor else the police would be there."
Another rule placed on van and foot couriers from large companies -and scoffed at by bike couriers - is uniforms.
"Some of the bike companies are starting to have mandatory uniforms,but I hate that," says Mr. Storey, who sports a tank top, love beadsand a tattoo on his left shoulder. "Most of us like the fact thatyou can dress like an individual."
Van drivers and foot couriers from bigger companies don't mind the uniformedlook. "We are asked if we are police or security. We get the pilotquestion the most. I just nod my head: Yes, yes I'm a pilot. That's whyI'm picking up this package," Mr. Walsh says.
The smoking habit seems to permeate the courier ranks, especially bicyclecouriers. They tend to ignore the warning labels on their Marlboros, thebrand of choice, in spite of their athletic profession.
"Sometimes people ask us if it's raining outside when we deliverand it's just sweat," Mr. Storey says.
And to the rookie, it's an uphill struggle to make it through the day.Legendary courier Joe Dias, called Chia Pet because of his dreadlocks,still lets out a rumbling sigh when he sits down at Bread Spreads aftera day on the bike - even though he's won the last two courier races.
In spite of the confrontations, the time pressure and the near accidents,being a courier does have its perks.
"We can tell where all the stars live in Toronto. And their accountnumbers," Mr. Parkinson says. In fact, he added, "when BambiBembenek was in the (Metro West) Detention Centre she was having stuffsent up from Hollywood - agents asking for the rights to her story."
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