Archive for Nov, 2011

Being a bicycle courier is tough. Bicycle couriers face dangerous situations daily. Courier jobs are declining as a result of improving technology and a weak economy. On top of this, bicycle couriers receive very low pay. However, bicycle couriers are necessary for the safe and fast delivery of important items. But for now, couriers are still necessary, and they will continue to face the following dangers and challenges.

The dangers that bicycle couriers face

Bicycle couriers must navigate the hazardous obstacles of cities every day. These obstacles include cars, other bicyclists, debris, pedestrians, dogs, bad weather, and railroad tracks. Pollution is a recent, additional health hazard that couriers encounter every day.

One might think that the most dangerous thing that bicycle couriers face is a mix-up with a car. According to one article [1], collisions between vehicles and bikes are not more dangerous than other bike-related collisions. Here is one of the graphs found within the article:

This says that, according to one study, you’re more likely to end up with a ‘serious injury’ if the collision is a ‘car-bike collision’ or a ‘bike-dog collision.’ However, the largest number of serious injuries in this study was a result of ‘falling.’

Cyclists are also exposed to pollutants, like car exhaust, when biking in heavy traffic. In one Scientific American article [2] scientists from Health Canada, Environment Canada and the University of Ottawa wrote in the Environmental Health Perspectives journal that their “findings suggest that short-term exposure to traffic may have a significant impact on cardiac autonomic function in healthy adults.”

But the article then goes on to say that the benefits of cycling outweigh the dangers from breathing exhaust. Biking in areas with fewer cars would reduce the amount of pollution exposed to cyclists.

Challenges facing the bicycle courier industry

One of the greatest challenges to this industry is technology [3]. It’s much easier to scan and email documents today than it was a few years ago. It’s also faster and less expensive than using a courier service.

Another challenge in the industry is the low wages paid to couriers. I had mentioned in this article that the median hourly wage for couriers in the U.S. in May of 2008 was only $11.22.

The following statistics were taken from the SF Examiner [3]:

20-25 runs: Typical number of runs a bike messenger takes each day

5 minutes: Average length of trip in downtown corridor

400 couriers: Estimated number of bike couriers in San Francisco during the dot-com boom

150-200 couriers: Estimated number of bike couriers currently in San Francisco

$20,00-35,000: Estimated salary range for current bike couriers

$40,000-105,000: Estimated salary range for bike couriers during dot-com boom

A solution

One way to help reduce the strain and challenges in bicycle courier companies is to use vWorkApp dispatch software. vWorkApp is designed to be extremely user-friendly and easy to implement (see our recent case study, which focuses on these benefits). It’s different from other dispatch software because of its ease-of-use, excellent user interface, and ease-of-implementation.

How would vWorkApp help bicycle courier companies? vWorkApp would allow courier companies to dispatch jobs to the nearest available bicycle couriers with a simple drag-and-drop function. Dispatchers could then track the progress of couriers via GPS and in real-time. This allows dispatchers to be sure that couriers are on the correct and most efficient route. Dispatchers can also be sure that couriers reach destinations in a timely manner.

Dispatchers can keep records of courier and customer activity to analyze and improve the company’s dispatching. These records will store signatures, photos, customer data, courier information, routes, and more.

This increased efficiency and organization will help the courier company to spend their time focusing on their courier services and not on their dispatching efforts. This is especially important in this slow economy and shrinking industry.

Summary

Working in the bicycle courier industry is dangerous and challenging. Bicycle couriers could become seriously injured on the job and often don’t make enough to pay for health insurance. The industry is shrinking due to improvements in technology (especially email). However, there is still a niche for the bicycle courier.

vWorkApp can help bicycle courier companies to improve and organize their dispatching efforts with its job dispatching software. Unfortunately, vWorkApp can’t help to reduce the number of dangerous hazards bicycle couriers face. Unless bicycle couriers start using their smartphones as helmets… or giant force fields.

There’s probably another app for that.

Sources:

[1] Piaw. Bike Paths and Lanes: The Case Against. UC Berkeley CSUA. csua.berkeley.edu. Web. 18 November 2011.

[2] Israel, Brett. Air Pollution Triggers Heart Risk for Cyclists. Scientific American. scientificamerican.com. Web. 7 July 2011. 21 November 2011.

[3] Reisman, Will. Fast technology, slow economy are killing the messenger. SF Examiner. sfexaminer.com. Web. 9 October 2010. 21 November 2011.