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Evolutions in Commerce: Field Notes of the Riding Class

By Garrett Simmons

While researching this article, two things became clear: likely hundreds of qualified journalists have already plunged the depths of the bicycle courier community for a scoop, and not one of them has found it. Journalists in nearly every major U.S. city — many after a full day tailing a messenger through inner-city traffic in search of inspiration, raw material, something new to say about the current state of bicycle delivery — eventually reach the same ubiquitous, but bland, truth: it’s hard work, and the opportunities to do it are dwindling. The numbers are down. The game is changing.

So what?

Less than one year after “bailout spending” officially became part of our national vocabulary, what company isn’t cutting expenses? Multi-million dollar airline companies have even been desperate enough to terminate complimentary peanuts (an American institution, many argued); is it so shocking a small-case law firm would, rather than pay a courier’s service upwards of $50, opt to hand-deliver those documents to clients across town, or better yet, simply drop them in the mail?

Photo courtesy of Sunset Hills Cemetery and Funeral Home

Wade Lind of Sunset Hills Cemetery and Funeral Home in Eugene, Ore., displays his one-of-a-kind rickshaw hearse.

Though recent economic reports have been slightly less bleak, most industries are still busily trimming the fat, cutting unnecessary costs — cutting the middleman, for example, which is what bicycle couriers are. What was once the most sought-after job for every weekend warrior dreaming of escaping the corporate machine is now a gradually fading subculture of purists, road-hardened veterans and adrenaline junkies. The average enthusiast, it would seem, is out of luck.

Yet several progressive business owners in this region have managed to cut back expenditures and spend more time on their bikes. Established companies, plus several that are just starting out, have begun to integrate cycling with their basic operations and services, taking the long list of recreational benefits and transferring it to make a profit. The resulting success is perhaps less surprising to service providers than it might be to the consumers who use them; besides reducing inner-city congestion, environmental pollution and spiritual imbalance — all things that you, the conscientious Northwesterner, care deeply about, right? Introducing bicycles has, in some cases, paid off financially.

Seattle-based landscape company, Garden Cycles, uses bicycle transportation for a large percentage of its work, planning and installing gardens. For years the company has worked exclusively with indigenous plants in an effort to prevent soil erosion and support cleaner air and natural environmental cycles. Owner Steve Richmond, who started working in plant nurseries fifteen years ago, said incorporating bike riding into his daily business activities was an obvious decision.

“It doesn’t make sense to work to improve our environment, and then unnecessarily burn gasoline in the process,” he said. “I don’t need a truck to carry bare root plants and a shovel.”

Photo courtesy of Joe Bikes

One of Joe Bike's utilitarian creations.

Richmond arranges for materials like woodchips to be delivered by the companies who supply them, and unlike larger, more commercial landscape outfits, Garden Cycles does not haul organic matter off site, a service typically requiring gas-powered trucks.

Further north, in Port Townsend, Wash., another independent business owner operates on a similar scale. Fisherman Rick Oltman of Cape Cleare Fishery delivers his goods to local restaurants, co-ops and farmers markets personally, by bike. Towing a self-fabricated trailer that can carry more than 300 pounds of fish, Oltman pedals the city on his custom Surly Big Dummy, a stout, steel-framed machine built to haul.

Like Richmond, Oltman is a cyclist first, businessman second, and the size and scale of his operation is naturally conducive to cycling. And though the decision to bike has landed him a more substantial presence in his community, as well as greater exposure for Cape Cleare, the true reward lies in adjusting work to fit his personal interests. His response to the success of his business is simply, “I like to ride my bike.”

This love for cycling is, in most cases, coupled with an already established way of life — low impact, sustainable — one aptly described with keywords that are now tossed around like auto makers once used “high-performance” and “luxury.” The key difference is that most of the companies integrating bicycles were actually designed with sustainability in mind. And even the most unconventional examples are rooted in some form of eco-friendly logic.

Photo by Bicycle Paper

Perpetua Wood Floors' custom bike.

Sunset Hill Cemetery in Eugene, Ore., has committed its worldly efforts to facilitating “green” funeral services. Over the last two years, residents of the city have gotten used to seeing the funeral home’s hand-built, pedal-powered hearse tooling about town. With its long wheelbase and hooded cargo bay, the specialized creation is a variant of the traditional rickshaw, hovering between practicality and Tim Burton’s latest movie.

But owner Wade Lind insists, “It’s no gimmick.” And he’s right. Sunset Hill is the only completely “green” funeral home in the Northwest. Cremations are done by a specialized machine that is two-thirds more energy-efficient than traditional models. Coffins are built using only sustainable, regional tree species. Every aspect of their practice is dictated to leave the least environmental impact possible. Ironically, the idea for his machine occurred while Lind and friend Jan Beasely, an avid cyclist, were sitting inside a McDonalds.

“I actually drew out the first blueprint on a McDonald’s hamburger box,” he said. “Three weeks later we had our first model built.”

Lind believes his product has the potential to bring to funeral services what they have been missing all along. “It encourages those who attend to participate in honoring their loved ones. A bicycle procession along bike trails is just like a normal procession, but without the need for a police escort.” Though no funerals have yet used the bike hearse since its construction almost three years ago, Lind says simply having it has been wonderful for business and getting people to think outside their realm of experience.

The list of old and new companies using bikes goes on. Rainier Rickshaw in Seattle, Standing Stone Brewery in Ashland, Ore., and many less-publicized versions of the same general concept are sprouting up in cities across the Northwest. With each new company, the possibilities expand further.

Photo courtesy of Joe Bikes

HB 2228 would outlaw anyone from carrying children six and under on a bike or in an attached trailer.

Employees of Pedal Power Delivery Service in Portland, Ore., perhaps have jobs that are the most traditional in design. They are a basic bicycle delivery service, on-call to transport everything from burritos, to flowers, to affidavits. The important difference is that they function through a listing of registered businesses.

An unexpected bonus of this movement back toward bicycles is that other jobs are being created. There are more needs to be filled, more niches within the market. In other words, more jobs. Portland builder, Joe Bike, designs and manufactures stout yet elegant cargo bikes that are increasing in demand because of local bike businesses. In just two years since the company started selling its products, Joe Bike has found buyers in Pedal Power and other local businesses, including cleaning services, university grounds keeping and pizza delivery — an unexpected economic stimulus.

The variable in this equation is the introduction of larger franchise companies. Not surprisingly, these companies are highly attuned to their market and recognize the economic benefits of cycling.

Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches is one such company. In King County alone, the franchise has more than 20 walk-in locations, 15 percent of which deliver orders exclusively by bicycle. Exactly the way a delivery pizza chain employs drivers rather than contracting a taxi service, Jimmy John’s simply employs its own deliverers, primarily college-aged riders who work exclusively for Jimmy John’s, receiving a base hourly pay (unlike courier services, which often pay commission only), and tips.

From a business standpoint, the idea is a smart one. Locations like the one in Pioneer Square in downtown Seattle can deliver more orders by bike, per lunch hour, than would ever be possible by car. Issues of conflict for the average downtown traveler, the biggest being parking, are eliminated completely. Riders come and go quickly, which means fewer of them are needed — one method of cutting costs — and the standard four-hour shifts results in fewer full-time employees.

The drawbacks land on the shoulders of the riders themselves, the self-fashioned renegades dodging traffic, typically on a fixed-gear. They’re still the working stiffs, the last of a dying trade. They’ll most likely hang on in some way or another, though the scene is changing constantly. The good news is that others are working hard to change it for the better, even if they are of the old school.