I am seriously thinking of quitting my temp job and looking for work as a cycle courier. I've done it before - albeit only for a week, eight years ago, with me going to pieces one day when I got a puncture and got lost. Now older and wiser, I'm thinking to give it another try since I'm fed up doing what I'm doing. Being paid £16.50/hour as a legal temp who has at most 2 hours work a day and spends the rest of the time bumming around poker forums is fine as far as it goes, but it's gotten kind of boring.

Pros:

• I need to lose as much as 70lbs. This would be a great way to rapidly lose weight and get fit, so develop self-respect and feel good about myself. As a consequence, more chance of getting laid!
• Currently I have no adrenaline or excitement in my life beyond poker - this would give me some.
• Would get me off the goddamn computer
• No more getting patronised by scumbag lawyers
• I never do anything useful with the higher amount of money I currently earn, anyway.
• I'd be doing something with some integrity, not like being paid to sit at a desk
• I know my way around London, have a good bike, love cycling
• Outside in sunny weather

Cons:

• I'd get paid half what I'm getting now
• Longer days
• Possible accidents
• Exhausted in the evenings
• Would be rubbish at it, at least at first
• Would have to be much more careful with money
• Outside in crappy weather

What do you think???

keep your current job. btw, they arent gonna hire a fat guy.

If i'm not mistaken, you're in your mid 30s? Being a courier is a young mans game, its a lot more dangerous than you're giving credit for, and "No more getting patronised by scumbag lawyers" is pretty laughable as a pro. You'll be a BIKE COURIER! If you think it sucks being patronised by people smarter than you, think about how its going to feel being patronised by receptionists and radio operators. You're not going to be doing this for the respect.

I'm 29 for a few months yet...

Potentially the story of your life.

Hmmm so you get paid half as much to do 20 times more work while sucking in car fumes under the constant threat of being squashed by traffic.. I have an idea why dont you just cycle to work?

jimm, you live in the UK right? this is worth noting because i suspect the idea of a courier there is not the same as it is in the US

Guys in hipster street clothes pick up envelops and small packages, put them in an oversized purse then get on their dinged up bikes and peddle through traffic downtown to deliver the envelops and small packages someplace else right? I don't think 'bike courier' looses much in the translation.

OP, you probably wouldn't survive the first week after being off the bike for 8 years. Would make excellent reality TV show though!

Cycling in London is lunacy from a safety perspective. Doing it all day as a job is crazy IMO. Oh, and the bad weather days will obviously massively outnumber the good ones.

I'm sure the essentials are the same, but I'd be interested to know how the job differs between London and NYC. From the videos I've seen on Youtube, in New York there seem to be more pedestrians walking in the road than you'd get here, but we have more buses, including absolutely lethal "bendy-buses". London is bigger and a lot more hilly, though as a courier most of the time I think you're just going between the West End and the City.

I do cycle to work! Only takes 10 minutes, though...

Looks like another bad decision coming...

LOL, please don't be stupid, OP. Being a bike courier is a pretty crappy job. My cousin is a bike messenger, and it's really dangerous. He gets hit by cars all the time.

Also, LOL at thinking you'll get hired while being 70 pounds over weight. Most companies don't hire fatties for this type of thing.

This sounds like a horrible idea. The romantic idea you have in your head is quickly
going to be replaced with the crappy reality that it really is.

Would it be practical to use one of those BMW C1s for job like this?

It's more like 50 lbs, depending on if I want to be skinny or just not fat. I just feel the need to reverse my super-unhealthy lifestyle. I feel my job is a large part of why I'm putting on weight. I just sit around all day.

Maybe the answer is to keep my overpaid underworked job, but cycle a heck of a lot in the evenings and at weekends.