New bike messenger job opportunity

[LewSpeight]

So, a friend has taken on a job as a bike messenger, starts on saturday and apparently the company are crying out for riders/drivers.
They pay 46p a mile and I've been asked whether I wanna join the club.

I'm currently not enjoying where I am atm and it doesn't feel like the most reliable place for me to be atm.

But I'd be going from a contracted 40hr week to being 'self employed' but apparently can earn over £600 a weekend at some points.

Any tips, advice, words of wisdom?

Sent from my C6603 using Tapatalk

[Littlepeahead]

Questions I would ask myself:

If using your own bike then what are the costs to you e.g. petrol, wear and tear, upping insurance to business use?

In addition to the 46p per mile do they pay towards anything else, e.g. clothing

Do you get to choose your hours or could you end up working at times when they expect you to work that don't suit you, and at short notice?

£600 a week 'at some points' but what is the worst case scenario and can you afford to not earn a lot some weeks?

Will being on the bike all day every day kill your love of it as a leisure activity?

If you have an accident and can't work are you self employed and therefore no work no pay?

[LewSpeight]

Very good point, and thats the things that are playing on my mind.

Apparently if you do it 5 days a week you could come out with a bit of cash to play with...

I think the insurance side of things, and the fact that its not guaranteed money /month is whats putting me off massively

[LewSpeight]

Scrap it, sorry for wasting your time LPH!

(mods are welcome to delete/close this thread)

If you don't mind me asking, what made you reconsider ( if so )?

[LewSpeight]

Reconsider my job?

The job opportunity, 'Scrap it' suggests ( to me ) you stopped considering the position.

[Stuuk1]

It's a dangerous job IMO. You see those guys doing silly stunts in and around London trying to get from AtoB as quick as possible... That's probably for the £600!

[ophic]

46p a mile doesn't sound like a lot. I got 40p a mile for driving at work, and this was on top of normal pay, and was about 10 years ago when fuel was somewhat cheaper.

[Littlepeahead]

I get 40p a mile now when I take the camera to matches for either car or bike, they don't differentiate as I'm the only biker and frankly they don't know which I've used, but as above, that's on top of my salary.