Start with the facts: Benefits of messengers Are messengers reckless? When is a license just another label? What is the disguised name for employee? Messenger Appreciation Messenger Memorial The IFBMA
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end of bike messengers is a myth that resurfaces in the media every
couple of years but the numbers don't back it up. See the following articles: The end of bike messengers? The decline of the messenger industry Chicago Messenger Services Hanging On Despite E-Mail Competition WBBM Newsradio 780, May 04, 2005 By Bob Roberts CHICAGO -- E-mail has ground the bicycle messenger business to a virtual halt in many American cities. But here in Chicago, the daredevils on wheels are hanging on... Some services have been hit hard. Quicksilver Messenger Services President Kevin Gallagher said his firm employs half the bicycle couriers it had at its peak. Gallagher said his firm has braced for a downtown ever since fax machines became widespread in the 1980s. Initially, he said, courier firms looked at the fax as competition. Unlike e-mail, he said it proved to be a friend. "Companies at that time were able to fax orders as opposed to calling them in, and we were able to use the fax as a tool in getting proofs of delivery back to our customers," he said. The same has not been true for e-mail. "Our niche is in the real estate market," he said. He said documents can be e-mailed between lenders and title companies instantaneously, instead of waiting for a pick-up and delivery that could take a couple of hours. At Arrow Messenger Service, President and Founder Phyllis Apelbaum says its 20 bicycle couriers are between five and eight fewer than the firm employed in 2000. "The decline of the need for that business, as we go into technology, will be (steeper and steeper), she said. "But it's still a very vital part of our organization and a necessary part of the organization." At Chicago Messenger Service President Bill Factor says business remains good because of the realities of traffic in the Loop. "They don't have the problems of tows and boots or parking issues," Factor said. A few firms even retain several couriers from Chicago Messenger full-time for deliveries, he said. Advanced Messenger Service says it actually has more bicycle couriers than it did two years ago. Spokesperson Maria Rivera said its 15 bicycle couriers represents an increase of two since 2003. She said many firms still demand original signatures and other proofs of delivery they cannot get through fax or e-mail. But an Arrow spokesman said, while business is down, "I don't see it ever going away completely."
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