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Endangered
species
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Minneapolis Downtown Journal, May 1, 2006
By Jeremy Stratton
Is it the end of the road for the bike messenger?
Less than a decade ago, Downtown was abuzz with bike messengers zipping
through business-hour traffic and unwinding afterwards at local
watering holes.
While the creature still exists, its numbers have dwindled. At its peak
around 1997 to 1998, Downtown had as many as 60 riders — 45 of them
full-time. Now, there are about 15 full-time riders.
Surviving veterans Fred Eisenbrey and Christian Klempp cited several
reasons for the decline: a struggling economy, the increase in
residential development that has chased clients out of Downtown and,
most notably, technological advances like e-mail and electronic
document filing.
So is the courier an endangered species? “That’s easy to say,”
Eisenbrey said, “but look at the Western Union riders in the [early
20th century]. These guys were delivering telegrams when the telephone
came in. I’m sure it was the same thing as now. Everyone thought,
‘There’s no use for this anymore.’”
The same happened in the 1980s, Klempp said, when “the fax machine was
going to kill the messengers,” but he noted that the current revolution
in technology far outshines that clumsy machine. “That was ‘the sky is
falling,’” he said. “Now, the sky really is falling.”
Eisenbrey reigns as Downtown’s most veteran courier. After 20 years on
the streets, he specializes in legal documents and is well known and
respected at law offices and the federal and county courts. “That’s
what makes me good at my job,” he said.
With a guaranteed minimum rate, he fares better than the average
courier, but — like 95 percent of messengers — he’s an independent
contractor, paid a percentage (usually half the customer’s price) on
each run he makes.
The number of those runs is declining, too. Federal legal filings are
now done electronically, and smaller documents that used to fit in an
envelope now travel faster and cheaper as e-mail. It’s the larger files
and boxes that get the bike treatment.
The result is fewer deliveries of heavier loads. “It used to be, you
could carry eight to nine different deliveries, all separate pay,” he
said. “Now, it’s hard to keep two or three in the bag. You could grab
12 deliveries and it was one pound. Now, it’s three that might be 80
pounds.”
That takes a chunk out of his income, Eisenbrey said, and Klempp added
only a few veterans are making good money. So why keep it up?
“I love it,” Eisenbrey said.
“None of us does this job because we love to deliver packages,” said,
Klempp. “There are too may reasons not to do it.” He cited safety, low
pay and lack of benefits. “You do it because love to ride bikes.”
The messenger life has been glamorized — a freewheeling anarchist
running traffic lights with beer on his or her breath — and many have
copied the style, be it clothing, accessories or the bicycle itself.
It’s ironic, Klempp said, that the messenger image has become stylish
just as their numbers have declined.
Both Klempp and Eisenbrey acknowledged that couriers are part of a
larger, vibrant Minneapolis bike community. But at the end of the day,
Klempp doesn’t want to talk about messenger fashion, beer swilling or
traffic infractions. Since 1998, the 10-year veteran has been running a
business in a tight market with stiff competition. He co-founded
Blazing Saddles in 1998. It’s the only messenger-operated company in
town.
Klempp is protective about his business — the number of Blazing Saddles
riders and his client list — so as not to tip his hand to competitors,
but he speaks freely about the state of the industry.
The decline is not limited to Minneapolis, he said, but there are local
factors involved.
Many Blazing Saddles clients have been “pushed out” of Downtown by the
condo craze, he said, running down a list of recent developments, from
the University of St. Thomas to North Loop Warehouses gone condo. The
conversions have forced many photographers, advertising agencies, law
firms, screen printers and postproduction studios to find offices
outside of Downtown.
In addition to condo development, a still-sluggish economy is driving
others out of business. Couriers feel the residual effect.
“We’re a huge economic indicator for the city,” Klempp said. “When the
economy is cranking and businesses are doing well, we’re busy,” he said.
Full-service, “managed mailroom” companies that hire their own couriers
— often walkers making minimum wage, Klempp said — also cut into the
market, but Klempp says they can’t compare to the level of service bike
messengers offer.
“There is no competition for what we do — critical, on-demand
delivery,” he said. “If you can’t e-mail it, it’s not going to happen
faster than us.”
Ace Allgood, “head cheese” at postproduction studio Channel Z, 15 S.
5th St., agreed. For quick, personal delivery, he said there is no
better group than bike messengers.
Though technology has definitely changed his business, Channel Z still
sends much of its product to clients on DVD or video, Allgood said.
He also acknowledged the tough economy of the last five years, noting
two postproduction companies that have closed shop in the past three
months.
Larger clients still utilize bikers, as well, like architects and
advertising agencies — long-time staple customers of couriers in the
Minneapolis market. Jenna Reiff, receptionist at Fallon, 50 S. 6th St.,
said she hands many larger print and production materials to bikers.
Klempp added eclectic items to the list of items he delivers: insulin,
eyeglasses, contacts and a briefcase.
“There is always going to be a demand for what we do,” Klempp said.
“But will there ever be 60 bike messengers in
Minneapolis again? No.”
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