October 6, 1987 By Jean Sorenson
When John Macrae became a bicycle courier 3 and 1/2 years ago, he tossedover a career as a chef, lost 25 pounds in the first three months, andbecame hooked on one of the most competitive businesses on the street.
Freshly assigned to a desk job as dispatcher and gunning to move intojunior manager with IPX Couriers Ltd., Vancouver, Macrae is a cycle courierwho has stayed longer than most who use this job to pay for education ortravel.
"We usually have a 100% turnover a year with the bicycle couriers.We are consistently retraining," says company owner Heidi Kim, whoclaims to be the first Vancouver courier service to use a cycle-fleet startingin 1978.
Macrae is also a courier who cultivated a financial appreciation ofthe industry's cost components and became adept at making money. When Macraefirst started, he bought a 10-speed from a retiring courier for $125, butother couriers advised him to spend the $600 or $700 needed for a goodmountain bike. But the 10-speed did the same job over the 25 miles a courieraverages a day and Macrae soon found there was a good supply of closeted10-speeds that he could buy from new mountain bike owners for $15 to $30.In 3 and 1/2 years my total expenses for five bikes (including repairs)was $600," he says.
A courier's other major expense in his radio, a vital link to the companydispatcher. Rental and insurance is $60 per month - or in courier's termstwo daily deliveries. "The average downtown delivery is $3,"says Macrae, adding couriers operate mainly on a commission basis whichstarts at 57% and rises a point each year a courier stays.
It took Macrae about 4 months to learn the company's roster of accountsand become proficient at trouble-shooting. He developed his own contactsbook of accounts. "I wouldn't call the dispatcher if there was a problem.I would deal with the company.
I essence he became what couriers call a "hiballer" - someonewith the knack of constantly monitoring calls, scooping up the more lucrativerush items and ensuring he's leading the rest of the company's cycle couriersin the number of daily drops.
A good day is 60 deliveries earning $90 to $100 from 8 am to 6 pm.
The challenge Macrae faced was "keeping a rhythm" uninterruptedby flat tire or mechanical breakdown. That hurried pace, though, not onlyburns up to 3,000 calories a day (couriers are constantly hungry, confidesMacrae) but is one riddled with financial pitfalls. A good portion of aday's pay can be wiped out by a bent wheel while jostling rush hour trafficor encountering the hiballer's nemesis - a traffic cop.
"It's really discouraging starting your day off with a ticket.You know you are going to work the whole day just to pay it off,"he says.
The growing number of cycle couriers - Macrae estimates there are now150 in downtown Vancouver- has caused Police ti crack down on traffic violators.Fines have risen from $15 to $75 in the past three years. Macrae, who wenttwo years without a ticket, has even been a recipient of what couriersdub the Nobel Prize - a $15 fine for "no bell".
His years on the street have given Macrae a unique perspective on Vancouver'sbusiness life. The main users of bicycle couriers are lawyers, banks andaccountants in the downtown core. Macrae plays the stock market - he'snot privy to any confidential information, but he does watch where deliveriesgo. "You might have five companies in one office and then you aredelivering to a new office for one of those companies. That probably meansthe company is doing pretty well", he says.
Today, Macrae, 30, and a bachelor is content to "take my $1500mountain bike and pound up Grouse Mountain". He also races competitivelywith other couriers who use their job as a means of keeping in shape.
"Meeting all those beautiful receptionists wasn't all that badfor my social life either," he says.
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