The End of Messengering?
Thread started by
trickmilla at 12.10.08 - 12:46 am
1:20 AM Ridazz Time
I was just thinking that if the US gov/ legal system came up with an approved system for fool proof electronic verified original documents it would pretty much end most bike messenger jobs.
As I understand it, the primary employment of bike messengers is physically moving legal documents around.
How far away could it be before the legal system goes paperless? 5 years? 10 years? 20 years?
The legal establishment, even the government itself, has a highly vested interest in seeking such a technology. Wouldn't it save millions of dollars and untold amounts of human labor; if binding legal docs could travel at the speed of light and take up an imperceptible amount of space?
This is kind of a huge thing for us as urban cyclists. Bike Messengers represent one of the most common and accessible forms of bike based employment.
With large numbers of young working class people doing specialized and demanding freelance work; it has been inevitable that Bike Messenger culture has become a laboratory for urban cycling, style, culture, and products.
If somebody is spending their day riding hard and fast, and working closely with a lot of other people doing the same things, they are going to spend a lot of time thinking about all the tools they use to interact with the their jobs and with the road.
From the rise of the fixie and the urban assult MTB, to messenger bags, to clothing, to shoes, to locks, to lights, to accessories, and on...
Bike messenger culture has pretty much catapulted the larger urban bike scene into the 21st century. From the inseparable areas of fashion, culture ,and commerce, messengers have done a lot to set the look and feel and functionality of urban cycling.
Look how many local, and national bike businesses were started by messengers and/or for messengers as their primary market.
So what would it mean if 90% of bike messengers were instantly out of work?
Is it absurd to say that this technology is somewhere in the near future?
Is it fair to say that if/ when a paperless legal system arrives bike messengering will effectively be dead?
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Milla,
The technology already exists. It's called
public key cryptography, and the financial industry uses it comfortably. The legal profession is just backward as hell, and when they do get with the program, yes, there won't be messengering, or not very much, anymore.
Alex Thompson12.10.08 - 1:07 am
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Probably a better article on how this is done (I'm not trying very hard, sorry) is the article on
digital signatures..
I mean - you probably already knew all this and were just posing a question in a way to elicit a response, so sorry if I'm being a dumbass.
Alex Thompson12.10.08 - 1:09 am
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Those "legal documents" are going to be on paper for a long time to come because when the lights go out the paper is still in the room it was last stored. Not so much for the "ePaper.com PGP crytographiclaly sealed .org bananapenis" crap.
Messengers also deliver food (I saw the guy in front of El Pollo Loco today!), drugs, and other stuff. TI would think that the more concentrated business and commerce gets in one area, the more need there is for a messenger service.
Now, with a global oil crisis and a massive financial collapse, do you really think that sprawl and eEverything is going to continue as planned? I expect paper and pencils to play a much bigger role in my future than I thought they would back in 2001.
ubrayj0212.10.08 - 2:01 am
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i always wanted to deliver pizza on my bicycle.
aksendz12.10.08 - 2:20 am
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It ain't that difficult, on nice days, trips to Lil' Caesars and back consisted of 3-6, Hot'n'readys on the rack.
The only thing I did differently was take the back-alley due to people in cars trying to snatch my stack!!!
bentstrider12.10.08 - 2:27 am
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doubt the're hiring.
there pizza is hella cheap though
aksendz12.10.08 - 2:29 am
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it's alread happenning. messengers are a dying bread. i joined the force in my 30's and saw it go to it's diminishing downslope in the last year and a half.
Eddie GOpez12.10.08 - 2:52 am
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"So what would it mean if 90% of bike messengers were instantly out of work? Is it absurd to say that this technology is somewhere in the near future?"
This technology is already here.
The bike messenger scene really got crushed with the adaptation of the fax machine and then e-mail, and now with e-filing, which allowss people to electronically file their cases with the court, so they don't need to have people to physically carry their documents around nearly as much, the need for bike messengers is growing ever smaller. People are now accepting faxed / scanned & e-mailed signed documents as originals, and writing that into their legal contracts, so that's shrinking the market further.
The other market for bike messengers was moving architectural documents around, as those are hard to effectively view electronically, but with the demise of the real estate market, that's going to be diminished as well.
It's a moot point though, the fakenger/posenger market for bikes/messenger bags/messenger apparel is probably a bigger economic force than bike messengering ever was, so there will be plenty of bike-related employment left.
JB12.10.08 - 8:33 am
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As usually something I envision in the "future" is well on its way.
It seems like the real future of architectural drawings will be gone in the near future, not due to the real estate market, which will eventually bounce back, but due to the ever increasing size, resolution, and functionality of digital displays.
There is no way that "fake messengers" can make make up for the type intense environment that have led to the popularity of many messenger based products. The innovation and culture spawned by bike messengers is unique as far as I can tell and if it is gone, or a ghost of its former self, we will look back on the recent innovations as a pretty golden era.
By the way ... I don't think "fake messengers" should be begrudged.
I use a bag that was designed by/ and for bike messengers. Not because I want to look like a messenger, but because it is functional for my needs as a commuter/ urban cyclist.
When riding downtown on a work day I've been mistaken as a messenger, even by messengers. While I respect what messengers do. I don't wear what I wear and ride what I ride because I want to look like them or be like them. I use the things I do because they are cheap, practical, and functional for me.
If I was a riding a horse everyday, I'd wear cowboy boots, and some boot-cut jeans, a big hat to protect my face from the sun, and a bandana to protect my mouth from the dust.
trickmilla12.10.08 - 11:30 am
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Architectural (Construction Documents) will be on paper for a while. Although building depts should make the switch to digital (PLZ!), construction drawings are a different story. Most builders are cowboys and they use crayons to scribble on, and pick their noses and wipe it on, cold hard 24x36.
SKIDMARCUS12.10.08 - 11:40 am
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"i joined the force in my 30's"
damn dude, i thought you were 27.
toweliesbong12.10.08 - 11:46 am
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"The legal establishment, even the government itself, has a highly vested interest in seeking such a technology. Wouldn't it save millions of dollars and untold amounts of human labor; if binding legal docs could travel at the speed of light and take up an imperceptible amount of space?"
It's already very do-able, but you underestimate just how fiercly these people oppose change, especially of the computer variety.
Wouldn't it save millions of dollars and untold amounts of human labor;...
Sure it would, but our government is already a pit of inefficiency and a pillar of wastefull spending; why would it begin to change now?
Eric Hair12.10.08 - 11:47 am
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perhaps you can start messengering things like:
- "high end cupcakes" to people that need sugar with their coffee asap
- blood samples
- cocaine deliveries to corporate CEOs
- assasinations
but in all seriousness, there is still a generation of people around here that believe or not "deal" with computers rather than use them as a tool. the use computers because they are forced to, not because it makes their work more efficient. so you guys are set for probably another 10 years.
sciencefriction12.10.08 - 12:17 pm
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funny isn' it. People who love to drive cars never see deliver jobs as a great gig.
hipster12.10.08 - 12:36 pm
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Huh, huh.
Assassinations.
Assassin-"Sign here, please."
Target-"I didn't ask for no......"
Assassin-"Silent night!!! ***Blap-Blap-Blap***"
.........Tosses silenced Glock down the laundry chute and skids away!!!....
bentstrider12.10.08 - 12:38 pm
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That would be Great!
tern12.10.08 - 1:02 pm
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Assassins: Already done/doing it!
case in point: Mickey & Trudy Thompson @ home in southern California.
Gern12.10.08 - 1:58 pm
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you know what. i'll call up some local food shops see if they want to do deliveries.
aksendz12.10.08 - 2:14 pm
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"Assassins: Already done/doing it!
case in point: Mickey & Trudy Thompson @ home in southern California."
They never did catch the guys Goodwin hired to carry that out, did they?
toweliesbong12.10.08 - 5:42 pm
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There will always be messengers so long as the business world needs drugs.
Roadblock12.10.08 - 5:45 pm
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You know what could really use a more efficient "paper trail" is the medical and insurance industries. All the paperwork is the majority of the cost of insurance.
vor12.11.08 - 4:18 am
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Let's bring back the bike taxi around, and make some money on these rides.
vor12.11.08 - 4:21 am
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