scaffold during the quake

What does an earthquake feel like?

I have a pretty nice little perch here in Midtown Manhattan on the 10th floor with lots of windows facing north and south. The first indication that something was amiss was just before 2 PM. I felt something move through my stomach first...a certain queaziness...is this what cat's and dogs feel when they react before earthquakes hit? Immediately after that a wave moved through everone all at once in concord with the floors and walls. We were all stopped short for a second then a phone operator said "I don't feel good". Our IT guy Marc had been installing a white board on the wall behind me and was striking a hammer...we looked at each other and it took a second for me to internalize that it would be impossible to make a building shake with a hammer. A text from my wife came through..."Our building is being evacuated" and I thought...In Manhattan being in the middle of a street surrounded by huge buidings that could fall on you might not be a good idea. Perhaps the sheep meadow in Central Park. 

The building managment have had construction working on the outdside of the building all summer and were hanging on a scaffold just outside my window. The entire scaffold swayed back and forth and the workers stopped what they were doing long enough to curse in Spanish. Then they started back in working.

How much money do bike messengers really make?

How much money do messengers make?

Over the years one consistent source of confusion concerning the bicycling courier industry is how messengers are paid and how much money they can actually make. The recent reality show Triple Rush did not really address this issue in any detail other then to suggest that bike messengers did not make much money. That can often be true but is not necessarily the rule, at least at Breakaway. I thought I would take this opportunity to look at the issue in some detail and explain how Breakaway pays couriers and meets all wage law obligations.

Most courier companies in New York City compensate their crews in one of two ways; they are either paid a set hourly rate, usually the minimum wage or slightly above, or they are paid via a commission of the total price of each individual run they deliver. In most cases the commission system will result in couriers averaging a higher average hourly rate in a given pay period then a straight hourly system. The commission system also incentivizes couriers to perform at a higher level which provides clients with better service and the couriers with a higher wage. Breakaway employs the latter system with a few adjustments that ensure that we are in compliance with all state and federal wage law. I will cover how these adjustments work in a moment but first I want to actually tell you what I tell new hires about how much they might be able to make in an average week.

On our commission system even a beginning courier will make $4-$5 for him or herself for every delivery they do. So if the can do 10, 15, 20, or 25 runs in a day you can do the math and get a rough guide to what is possible. Played out over an average 5 day week on this commission system even beginning couriers should average $8-$12 per hour for the hours they work. Another sizable group of experienced couriers average $11-$15 per hour and there is a small group of high performing couriers that are capable of $15-$21 as an hourly rate over 5 days. I stress small on the last group. I can usually count them on one hand.

Over the course of any given 7 day pay period (the pay period runs from Saturday through Friday and 99% of couriers only work Mon-Fri); Breakaway compensates 80-95 full and part-time bicycle couriers. Of those full-time bikers there will be a small number, and again…I can count them on one hand, whose net pay will be $6-$700 and sometimes more. A larger group of full-timers, usually 15-20 will have a net of $4-$600 for the same week. Any decent full timer with a little experience should be able to take home $3-$400.

As far as what a part-time courier can make it varies depending of factors like how busy we are, what time of day they work and how efficient a courier they are. Breakaway employs and encourages a large part time crew since in New York there is a ready population of students, actors, artist and athletes who need a part-time job that flexes with their schedule and earns them a good hourly rate.

Now that I have described to you the benefits of an incentivized commission system I want take you through the adjustments we make to this system to ensure its fairness since if misapplied it can lead to couriers who earn below the minimum wage for the hours they work. First off, as a rule our goal is for even the freshest rookie to make $9-$12 per hour since the actual minimum wage is not nearly high enough to live in New York City. We get pretty close on most people but what if we are not close? What if a courier’s commission wage dips below the minimum wage? We have several systems in place to catch and correct this and provide proof to the courier that we have done so. The first thing we do is track all the hours a courier works in a pay period from their first dispatch until their last signature is given. We calculate what the minimum wage would be for those hours and show the courier that number and what they made on the commission in a weekly printout. If they have dipped below the minimum wage they will see that we have added income to bring them up to the legal level. Frankly though, this does not happen very often…a few people on any given week, and if someone is consistently performing below par they risk losing their job for non-productivity. This almost never happens either since the system is designed to ensure it doesn’t.

Any company in this business is obligated to track their employee’s hours and meet minimum wage requirements. Another thing they are also required to account for is overtime. Breakaway tracks any overtime hours a courier works and pays them 1.5 of their regular rate for each of those hours….this means what they averaged per hour for that pay period, on top of their commission.

Sounds like fun doesn’t it? We always are as honest as possible about how difficult this job is and what the average person is capable of making. Our best 5-8 bikers in a given calendar year will usually make $35-$42,000. That is a small number of people and at that level they must be considered professional athletes. Still though, there is a larger group of people who are able to make ends meet working full or part-time at Breakaway and we feel a deep obligation to help make sure that these couriers who work so hard are compensated fairly.

Over the years the cost of living has risen faster then the rate courier companies can charge clients and this makes it even tougher. The rule of thumb used to be that you charged double the minimum wage for a delivery. When that wage was $4 it was easy to do. Now the minimum wage in New York is $7.25 and it is not possible to double that. It all seems to be just another part of the middle class squeeze that so many millions of us have experienced in our lifetimes.

As a client or a potential client reading this you need to know that Breakaway Courier is an open, transparent company that pays its workers a fair, legal wage for their hard work and that what we are charging you for a delivery is based on these assumptions. It is who we are.

As a potential courier who might apply for a job you need to know that we will account for every hour you work and make sure that you understand how you were compensated. If you apply to other companies ask them how they account for hours worked and if they provide their couriers with proof that all federal and state wage requirements are met. There are many fine companies that meet all these requirements but unfortunately there are some that do not. They will pay you a commission that does not equal the minimum wage. Know your rights and proceed with caution. 

Breakaway News Volume No. 16 Issue No. 8 August 2011

Look! Up in the Sky!

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Breakaway! Well, sort of. We are pleased to announce that Breakaway Courier now has a TSA license, meaning we can now ship by air. The first planes of the Breakaway fleet are almost ready, as soon as our origami specialists finish folding the last of the paper airplanes. You can help; after reading this, fold it into an airfoil and voila! Instant fleet!

Aussie Rules

Breakaway Courier congratulates Cadel Evans, winner of the 2011 Tour de France. Patience is a virtue; Cadel has competed in the Tour seven times, and has been second twice. Cadel becomes the first Australian to win cycling’s biggest race. This year's Tour is also reportedly the most dope-free in twenty years, with the average pace almost three minutes slower than previous tours. Of course, our messengers never dope. They’re just naturally fast.

DUMBO Delivery

Back in July, a client called us to make a pick-up in Chelsea headed to DUMBO. We sent a messenger who happens to be deaf. He also just happened to be holding another client’s item, headed to a Wall Street building with a lot of government offices, which he was instructed to deliver first. Turns out the package for DUMBO was a pair of fake automatic guns, clearly visible in the Wall Street building’s X-Ray. Needless to say, it wasn’t long before the police and Homeland Security got involved, and chaos ensued. Transporting real weaponry is illegal in NYC. The real-looking fake items were confiscated by Homeland Security. Moral of the story: if you intend to ship anything that might attract the attention of Big Brother, call and consult with us first.

Hamptons Vacay

It’s August, and that means that many New Yorkers head out to the Hamptons to get away from it all. However, if you forgot your pool furniture or hibachi, or even your pets, fear not. Call Breakaway for our Hamptons delivery service. You’ll be glad you did.

Sic Itur Ad Astra

It’s the end of an era that we have all watched with fascination, envy, and sometimes, shocked sadness. Space shuttle Atlantis returned to earth in July, officially marking the end of thirty years of round-trip flights to space. All is not lost, however. We’re currently talking with NASA to let us handle all future deliveries to the International Space Station. Official space helmet on, Captain Video!

Stump the Band

Last month we wanted to know which past hockey player got involved in a brawl, wielding a fan’s shoe. Answer: Mike Milbury, a Bruin who fought a Ranger fan, hitting him with his own shoe, in a bench clearing brawl.

T-Shirt Question

It happens every year, between July and August, and is eagerly anticipated by sky watchers. It will hit its peak around August 12^th. What astronomical event are we talking about? The first person to call Gil Ortiz with the correct answer will win a coveted Breakaway T-shirt.

What is to be done?

What can you say about this $32 custom designed wine rack for your hipster bike? I know you are asking like I am.....what can I do about this....how can these people be stopped? In the long term I am not sure there is a way but for now here is what I am going to do: I am going to wait for them outside of the artisinal cheese shop and when they emerge with the perfect roquefort to go with their chardonnay I am going to grab their yoga matt from them and beat them sensless. I am curious if this is not actually a satire. Take a look at the link. 

Amazing but True!!

Another tale from the files of the Amazing but True!

This happened this morning. It is a true story but the names have been changed to protect the innocent and the dumb.

First some background:

The Innocent

We have a messenger, his name is…let’s just call him messenger X. Messenger X has worked here for several years as a walking courier. He walks because he is deaf. We communicate with him via text messages and since he works so hard he does pretty well for himself.

The Dumb

We have a client; well we have thousands of clients… let’s just call this client, client Y. Client Y is in the entertainment industry. Client Y often has us deliver various props back and forth around town for commercial photo shoots. They are very nice people but like many in the “entertainment field” they can sometimes be a bit…hmm…how can I put this in the most gentle way possible… clueless.

The incident in question

This morning client Y called in a pick up of a large envelope from the Chelsea neighborhood in Manhattan to Dumbo in Brooklyn. Messenger X was dispatched this pick up. Messenger X is also holding another pick up for a second client. That delivery is going to the Wall St area to a building with many government offices. Messenger X’s dispatcher…let’s just call him, “Wild Bill”, instructs messenger X to make the Wall St area drop before going to Brooklyn for client Y’s drop. Now it gets interesting.

In order to get inside of the building near Wall St to make his drop off, messenger X must go through a security checkpoint. In the paranoid era we now live in this is a common occurrence and our couriers know the drill well enough. Take off your bag, empty your pockets, take off your shoes, get padded down, go through a metal detector…get prodded and poked, you know… in countries that are bursting with freedom such as the good’ol US of A this is standard operating procedure. The bottom line…messenger X’s courier bag containing his personal belongings and also the large envelope going to Dumbo is put through an x-ray machine. When the security officer looks at the screen shot of messenger X’s bag he sees the outline of two automatic weapons. Now it gets really interesting.

They grab the bag, they grab messenger X, they start shouting questions at him…BUT…messenger X is deaf and although he reads lips very well he cannot understand what they are shouting at him. The building now goes to DEF-CON 5. The police are called and two cars arrive in minutes. Messenger X sends a text to Wild Bill….”being detained by Homeland Security…..two guns were in my bag…HELP”.

Wild Bill calls client Y and ask them…”what was in the envelope going to Dumbo?”….Client Y responds, “two prop guns that we used in a photo shoot”.

 Now the whole ball of wax reaches my desk. First I call the client whose delivery was going to the building where messenger X is being detained. I explain the situation and that they have nothing to do with this but could they please call the building and see if someone at that end can go downstairs and help since the officers holding messenger X are refusing to call us. Secondly, I call client Y and carefully explain to her that fake prop guns are a very dangerous thing for couriers to cart around town in their bag. Client Y is incredulous and is astounded that anyone would confuse a fake….but very real looking….gun for an actual weapon. I calmly ask her what country she has living in the past 10 years?

 Suddenly a call comes in from the officers holding messenger X. I put client Y on hold and take the call. The officer explains that they now realize that messenger X was just a messenger who was deaf holding two fake automatic weapons and not a trans-national terrorist….Whew…and that they were releasing him shortly but were keeping the fake guns and by the way, your client should never send these things around by courier… no kidding officer. Now I put the officer on hold and tell client Y that they have confiscated the guns and you might not get them back. Client Y has a meltdown. She tells me that her boss might fire her and that those guns were worth a lot of money and what are we going to do about it? I resist the urge to let her know just how dumb that sounds but I do tell the officer on the other line what client Y told me. He chuckles and says that they will call our client and tell them when they might be able to come down and sign for their property whereupon they will…”have a little talk with her”. Just another Friday at Breakaway Courier.

Breakaway News Volume No. 16 Issue No. 7 July 2011

Happy Fourth

Independence Day is here, and that means yet another barbecue (bad news for those of you with third degree burns from the Father’s Day bbq), but this time, with fireworks! Also, a heartfelt welcome home to the troops who will be returning from Afghanistan. Thank you for serving, and get home safe. Please note we will be closed that Monday.

Team Results

This past Father’s Day, The Harlem Skyscraper Criterium took place, a high-energy bicycle race that flew around Marcus Garvey Park. Congratulations to Breakaway Racing’s  own Nathan Thomas, who came in second in the Cat 4 points race. He was a very enthusiastic second, throwing his arms in the air as if he came in first! The photo of him crossing the line with his arms raised made it into the Wall Street Journal. There were some other results, but since they didn’t feature Breakaway, we’re only vaguely aware of them.

 Big in Europe

It happens a lot, it seems. Josephine Baker was snubbed at home, but found favor in France; “Vanishing Point” was panned in the States, but was well received in England. Now, the same is true for “Triple Rush,” which was cancelled here after only three episodes, but which is apparently a big hit overseas. Proving yet again that “cool” is America’s number one export!

Ready, Set, Shop!

Competition is often very heated in the newsletter trivia question. People really want that t-shirt. Well, now you don’t have to wrack your brains and search the web like a maniac to win one. You can buy one! Our store is at breakawaystore.com. Log in there now to check out the latest Breakaway schwag. Buy it! Now! 

The Incredible Bulk

We love bulk. It’s healthy to eat a lot of bulk in your diet, and for a messenger company, it’s fantastic to do a lot of bulk deliveries. Have a newsletter, or a pamphlet, or some other item that needs to go out to 100 or more clients? Be sure to contact our logistics department to make your bulk items all get to where they need to go.

Privacy Piracy

No one should be surprised that in the Internet age, privacy is a thing of the past. Nothing on the Web goes away, ever, and data mining is a billion dollar a year industry. The only way to ensure a private transaction?  Hire one of our messengers, who will be all to happy to forget you as he goes on to the next delivery.

Stump the Band

Last month we asked what invention it is that modern Americans cannot live without. Answer: The humble toothbrush. Invented in prison by Englishman William Addis, this personal hygiene item is a must have.

T-Shirt Question

Canadians uncharacteristically rioted after Vancouver’s loss in the Stanley Cup’s last and decisive game to Boston. What past hockey player got involved in a brawl, wielding a fan’s shoe? The first person to call Gil Ortiz with the correct answer will win a coveted Breakaway T-shirt.

Bike Saddles & erectile dysfunction

Not sure what to make of this article from the NYT. Most dedicated cyclist I know have never claimed to have a problem but maybe it is something guys don't really want to talk about. After so many years in the saddle I can honestly say that I have never felt...impinged upon....in that way. Perhaps because I am not very heavy or maybe because I sit "light" on the saddle? Who knows? Feel free to chime in with your thoughts on the subject. Here is the article:

A Release Valve for Cyclists’ Unrelenting Pressure

By JOHN TIERNEY

Before the Tour de France begins this weekend, before the cameras follow all those seemingly virile athletes, let us consider another sort of role model on two wheels.

Robert Brown is an officer in the Seattle Police Department’s bicycle patrol, which lacks the sleek machines and tight jerseys of the Tour de France. But Mr. Brown has something that could be more important to both male and female cyclists: a no-nose saddle.

Like most cyclists, Mr. Brown at first didn’t see any need to switch from the traditional saddle on the mountain bike he’d been riding full time for five years on the force. When researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and Safety offered new noseless saddles intended to prevent erectile dysfunction, he quickly told his supervisor, “No problems here!”

But then, after trying the new saddle, he felt the difference. His weight rested on his pelvic bones instead of the crotch area, which formerly pressed against the saddle’s nose. During his sleep, when he wore a monitor, the measure known as “percent of time erect” increased to 28 percent from 18 percent.

The results made him permanently switch to a no-nose saddle, as did most of the other bike-patrol police officers in Seattle and other cities who took part in the six-month experiment. But they’ve had little luck converting their colleagues, as Mr. Brown complains in the current newsletter of the International Police Mountain Bike Association.

“The subject matter always draws juvenile chuckles,” he writes. “They don’t even listen long to understand what part of a man’s anatomy is being protected here.”

It’s the area of soft tissue called the perineum, and it’s not just a male problem — female cyclists have also reported soreness and numbness in this genital region. But neither sex seems interested in these saddles, and I’m as baffled as Mr. Brown is by their apathy.

I’ve spent much of my journalistic career debunking health scares, but the bike-saddle menace struck me as a no-brainer when I first heard about it. Why, if you had an easy alternative, would you take any risk with that part of the anatomy? Even if you didn’t feel any symptoms, even if you didn’t believe the researchers’ warnings, even if you thought it was perfectly healthy to feel numb during a ride — why not switch just for comfort’s sake? Why go on crushing your crotch?

When I tried a no-nose model for my 16-mile daily commute, it was so much more comfortable that I promptly threw away the old saddle. But over the years I’ve had zero success persuading any other cyclists to switch, even when I quote the painfully succinct warning from Steven Schrader, the reproductive physiologist at Niosh who did the experiment with police officers.

“There’s as much penis inside the body as outside,” Dr. Schrader told me. “When you sit on a regular bike saddle, you’re sitting on your penis.”

More precisely, according to Dr. Schrader’s measurements, you are putting 25 to 40 percent of your body’s weight on the nerves and blood vessels near the surface of the perineum. “That part of the body was never meant to bear pressure,” Dr. Schrader said. “Within a few minutes the blood oxygen levels go down by 80 percent.”

Dr. Schrader has documented the results with the help of a couple of pieces of equipment, the biothesiometer and the Rigiscan.

“The biothesiometer is a device in which the men set their penis into a trough, and it slowly starts to vibrate,” he explained. “They push the button when they can feel the vibration. While it sounds delightful, it’s actually not. The Rigiscan is a machine the men wear at night that grabs the penis about every 15 seconds to see if it’s erect. It’s not as pleasant as it sounds, either.”

In one early study with the Rigiscan, Dr. Schrader found that police officers patrolling on bikes with conventional saddles tended to have shorter erections than did noncyclists. Then, in a 2008 study titled “Cutting Off the Nose to Save the Penis,” he reported the results of having Mr. Brown and the other officers switch to new designs.

Before the study, nearly three-quarters of the officers complained of numbness while riding. After six months, fewer than one-fifth complained. They did better on the biothesiometer test of sensitivity and also reported improved erectile function.

Unlike Mr. Brown, the typical officer in the study showed no improvement in the nighttime Rigiscan measure. A fan of traditional saddles might interpret that as reason not to change saddles, but Dr. Schrader sees it as evidence that some effects of a conventional saddle may be slow, or impossible, to reverse.

In another study, Dr. Marsha Guess and Dr. Kathleen Connell, who are urogynecologists at Yale, found that that more than 60 percent of female cyclists using nosed saddles reported symptoms of genital pain, numbness and tingling. Lab tests recorded lower levels of genital sensation in the cyclists than in a control group of runners. These researchers also report, in a forthcoming paper, that saddles with a “partial cutout” — an indentation or a small opening — may be counterproductive because they increase pressure on a woman’s genital area.

The accumulating evidence has led Niosh to recommend that police officers and other workers on bicycles use a no-nose saddle that puts pressure on the “sit bones.” Examples include the BiSaddle (used by Mr. Brown), the I.S.M. (a favorite of police officers in Chicago), the Hobson Easyseat, the Spiderflex, Ergo’s The Seat, and other models listed at HealthyCycling.org.)

But few cyclists are paying attention. Peter Flax, the editor in chief of Bicycling magazine, told me that he knew of no serious racers who complained about erectile dysfunction, and that problems with numbness could almost always be corrected by adjusting the saddle.

“I suppose there’s a small niche of people for whom a noseless saddle might be a solution,” Mr. Flax said. “But a saddle without a nose has real problems in terms of function. A cyclist can make turns using the weight in the hips against the nose. I just don’t think a noseless saddle is safe in a race.”

Mr. Brown and other police officers insist that they’ve learned to maneuver perfectly well with no-nose saddles. But even if the racers really do get a crucial advantage from the traditional saddle, why is everyone else still using it? People in spin classes don’t have to steer their bikes anywhere, so why are they still sitting on their perineums?

It’s possible the problem isn’t as serious as the researchers believe, but I see other reasons for the indifference. We all tend to underestimate the danger from old-fashioned, familiar technologies, particularly when the effects aren’t immediately obvious. Young athletes focus on victory today, not the future damage to their bodies. And if the winner of the Tour de France doesn’t ride a no-nose saddle, then neither will riders who want to look like him.

“Serious bike riders would be totally embarrassed to show up at a race in a noseless saddle,” Mr. Flax said.

The embarrassment factor extends to bike shops, too, as Jim Bombardier discovered in trying to sell his invention, the BiSaddle. Mr. Bombardier, who lives in Portland, Ore., went to stores armed with scientific papers and diagrams, but no one was interested. One shop owner took a look at his new saddle and summarized the marketing problem:

“This saddle screams out: I’ve got a problem. Who needs that in a bike shop?”

Well, there’s a certain logic to that retail strategy, at least for the short term. But if you’re in it for the long term, if you’d like your customers to keep cycling — and creating new customers — then it pays to protect the perineum.

The Governor will need that parking space of yours.

True story....happened this morning. I get a call from the state police around 9AM this morning. Now, if I get a call from the police it is usually New York's finest and almost always concerns a ticket a messenger received that resulted in the courier being hauled away because the ticket is just one in a series of tickets that the courier in question has never responded to with the resulting conversation going something like this....Police: "Can you come get his bag and bike?"....Me: "which precinct is he at?" 

So when I hear that it is the State police on the line I tense up since I think it must be serious and probably involves a driver making a delivery upstate. I steel myself for bad news and take the call. A very nice woman comes on the line and identifies herself then ask me if we have have one of our 26' lift-gate trucks parked on East 40th St? I respond, "Well....if you are telling me I do then we must have one there... give me the plate numher and I will check on our GPS system". Sure enough, one of our trucks is unloading on east 40th St. Now I am wondering what the truck driver did to anger the state police and also wondering why the state police are in Manhattan giving NYC parking tickets out? The conversation continues thusly: " Your driver is parked in a legal commercial zone but he has to move out of this spot in the next 10 mins"....Me: "why does he have to move if he is legally parked?"....Police: "Governor Cuomo will be pulling up in 10 mins and wants the space".....ME: "But if it is a legal commercial zone how can the governor have the right to...." She cuts me off..." He does and he will so if you don't move the truck you will loose the truck"....ME: "The truck will be moved in 2 mins". End of story...postscript: Do you have any idea how long it takes to find a commercial parking space large enough to fit a 26' truck in mid-town Manhattan on a weekday morning? What was the Governor driving anyway...a 18 wheeler? Well, he did get the marriage equality act through this weekend so I guess I have to give him a pass.