Working as a Courier in Atlanta
Created | Updated Sep 4, 2013
If you are considering working as a courier in the city of Atlanta, then God help you. You will work long hours, make very little money, and if you use your car or motorcycle you will put a huge amount of wear and tear on it. A courier, on the average, grosses maybe $300 a week. Now, take from this the expenses of gasoline (burning a tank a day isn't uncommon), a charge for use of the radio, repairs on your vehicle, and paying tickets (you WILL get tickets), and you start to get the idea. Also keep in mind that you are technically an independent contractor, and as such your employer will not withhold taxes from your paycheck, which can be a shock when tax time comes around. This is a job you take if you are in dire straits, and once you have it, the long hours will make it that much more difficult to hunt for another job. On the plus side, if you have a fairly dependable car they will hire you on the spot if you are breathing and ambulatory.
Assuming you are still up for this, couriers generally deliver from their own car or van, a motorcycle, or a bicycle. I will discuss all three, although I have only worked from a car myself.
If you use a car, it must be mechanically dependable, get good gas milage, and preferably be easy to park. I owned a '97 Geo Prizm before I got my courier job, and it worked out very well. I put 100,000 miles on this car over the course of two years, and although I wore out brake pads and tires like crazy I never had any serious mechanical problems with it. It also got 32 miles to the gallon, which helped. Using a truck or van gives you the advantage of being able to make large deliveries, but you also have to pay for the additional gasoline that they burn. This is not a job that you want to use your dad's Hummer for.
You will need a road atlas. Sam's Club sells the expensive, normally fifty-dollar atlas that you MUST have for a much-reduced price (I think a little over half price). A Sam's Club membership is also useful for buying tires. (You WILL buy tires.)
Forget about fixing the dings you will pick up while working this job. You can't afford to fix them. On the other hand, keep your brakes, tires, suspension and steering in good shape. Spend the money, even if you have to eat less. Find a good cheap mechanic, or learn to do some things yourself.
Do not make the mistake of thinking that the way to make money doing this is to drive fast and aggressively in order to make as many deliveries as possible. Keep in mind that if you spend ten times as much time in your car as you used to, you are ten times more likely to be in an accident in a given period of time. Add to that the distraction of looking for addresses and talking on the radio or cell phone, and the odds go up higher. If, on top of these, you attempt to make more money by driving fast and being aggresive in traffic and you can pretty much assume that you will be in a LOT of accidents. Be an OBSESSIVELY safe driver. Slow down. Pay attention.
If you work as a bicycle courier, you will be working downtown, mainly delivering legal documents between lawyers, their clients, and the courthouses. You will get into insanely good shape, if you don't die in a traffic accident, which is an excellent possibility. And you won't have the gasoline and upkeep expenses of a motor vehicle. I don't know how much bike couriers make as opposed to motorized couriers; I would assume that the slower rate of travel would cut into your earning capability a bit, though.
Bike couriers tend to favor track bikes. These are bikes intended for racing on specially built banked tracks. They are the lightest bikes made. They have a single fixed gear and no freewheel. The latter means that as long as the back wheel is turning, the pedals are also turning. They are also built without brakes. Some couriers will add caliper brakes, but most don't. I am told that you can stop fairly well by simply stopping pedaling and thereby locking the rear wheel up, but without a front brake I would imagine that this would have its limitations. I asked a bike courier about this; he replied that you "just have to adopt the attitude that you aren't going to stop".
Bike couriers tend to make their bikes as unattractive as possible in order to avoid theft. Two typical ploys are either covering the frame of the bike with electrical tape or spray-painting the frame with flat black paint.
Motorcycle couriers tend to cover the same ground as bike couriers. I heard this option discussed by a bike courier who was aging enough that things were getting difficult for him. I suspect that this kind of thing is unusual as most bike couriers would either eventually get enough sense to get another job or die in traffic before having to deal with the effects of aging.
If you are working from a four-wheeled vehicle then you will be asked if you want to do medical deliveries. These are deliveries of pharmaceuticals and equipment, usually to private homes, but sometimes to hospitals and pharmacies. These deliveries will often have you working late at night, looking for addresses in rural communities with a flashlight and a set of bad directions. The advantage is that they pay relatively well, especially if a lot of distance is involved. I was paid $200 for a single delivery to a small town outside of Savannah one night. Of course, the time and the gas expense were a factor. If you do medical deliveries, you will get lost, and you will have difficulty finding places. If you have problems with asking for directions from strangers, get over it. Local police are usually helpful. Firemen must know how to find every house in their area, and are another good source. Convenience store and gas station employees can often help, too, and you can get local maps from them. I used to get a local map whenever I went somewhere new, and ended up with a large enough collection to cover most of north Georgia. Also, carry a compass with you. You will be surprised at how many times it's useful.
My career as a courier left me with twelve thousand dollars in debt, a car with no rear bumper, a bent hood, a broken rear window (from a thief breaking into the car),and multiple dents on both sides...and an encyclopedic knowledge of the streets of Atlanta.
Good luck.
Assuming you are still up for this, couriers generally deliver from their own car or van, a motorcycle, or a bicycle. I will discuss all three, although I have only worked from a car myself.
If you use a car, it must be mechanically dependable, get good gas milage, and preferably be easy to park. I owned a '97 Geo Prizm before I got my courier job, and it worked out very well. I put 100,000 miles on this car over the course of two years, and although I wore out brake pads and tires like crazy I never had any serious mechanical problems with it. It also got 32 miles to the gallon, which helped. Using a truck or van gives you the advantage of being able to make large deliveries, but you also have to pay for the additional gasoline that they burn. This is not a job that you want to use your dad's Hummer for.
You will need a road atlas. Sam's Club sells the expensive, normally fifty-dollar atlas that you MUST have for a much-reduced price (I think a little over half price). A Sam's Club membership is also useful for buying tires. (You WILL buy tires.)
Forget about fixing the dings you will pick up while working this job. You can't afford to fix them. On the other hand, keep your brakes, tires, suspension and steering in good shape. Spend the money, even if you have to eat less. Find a good cheap mechanic, or learn to do some things yourself.
Do not make the mistake of thinking that the way to make money doing this is to drive fast and aggressively in order to make as many deliveries as possible. Keep in mind that if you spend ten times as much time in your car as you used to, you are ten times more likely to be in an accident in a given period of time. Add to that the distraction of looking for addresses and talking on the radio or cell phone, and the odds go up higher. If, on top of these, you attempt to make more money by driving fast and being aggresive in traffic and you can pretty much assume that you will be in a LOT of accidents. Be an OBSESSIVELY safe driver. Slow down. Pay attention.
If you work as a bicycle courier, you will be working downtown, mainly delivering legal documents between lawyers, their clients, and the courthouses. You will get into insanely good shape, if you don't die in a traffic accident, which is an excellent possibility. And you won't have the gasoline and upkeep expenses of a motor vehicle. I don't know how much bike couriers make as opposed to motorized couriers; I would assume that the slower rate of travel would cut into your earning capability a bit, though.
Bike couriers tend to favor track bikes. These are bikes intended for racing on specially built banked tracks. They are the lightest bikes made. They have a single fixed gear and no freewheel. The latter means that as long as the back wheel is turning, the pedals are also turning. They are also built without brakes. Some couriers will add caliper brakes, but most don't. I am told that you can stop fairly well by simply stopping pedaling and thereby locking the rear wheel up, but without a front brake I would imagine that this would have its limitations. I asked a bike courier about this; he replied that you "just have to adopt the attitude that you aren't going to stop".
Bike couriers tend to make their bikes as unattractive as possible in order to avoid theft. Two typical ploys are either covering the frame of the bike with electrical tape or spray-painting the frame with flat black paint.
Motorcycle couriers tend to cover the same ground as bike couriers. I heard this option discussed by a bike courier who was aging enough that things were getting difficult for him. I suspect that this kind of thing is unusual as most bike couriers would either eventually get enough sense to get another job or die in traffic before having to deal with the effects of aging.
If you are working from a four-wheeled vehicle then you will be asked if you want to do medical deliveries. These are deliveries of pharmaceuticals and equipment, usually to private homes, but sometimes to hospitals and pharmacies. These deliveries will often have you working late at night, looking for addresses in rural communities with a flashlight and a set of bad directions. The advantage is that they pay relatively well, especially if a lot of distance is involved. I was paid $200 for a single delivery to a small town outside of Savannah one night. Of course, the time and the gas expense were a factor. If you do medical deliveries, you will get lost, and you will have difficulty finding places. If you have problems with asking for directions from strangers, get over it. Local police are usually helpful. Firemen must know how to find every house in their area, and are another good source. Convenience store and gas station employees can often help, too, and you can get local maps from them. I used to get a local map whenever I went somewhere new, and ended up with a large enough collection to cover most of north Georgia. Also, carry a compass with you. You will be surprised at how many times it's useful.
My career as a courier left me with twelve thousand dollars in debt, a car with no rear bumper, a bent hood, a broken rear window (from a thief breaking into the car),and multiple dents on both sides...and an encyclopedic knowledge of the streets of Atlanta.
Good luck.
