According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the internet is doing what the fax machine was unable to do...drive bike messengers out of business.
"We have five messengers today (compared with) maybe 20 bikes and 15 trucks in 1990," Macafee says.
Other San Francisco firms report similar drop-offs.
"We're doing one-third of the business we used to do," says Ray Roy, owner of Lightning Express. "I have six to eight messengers now compared to 15 to 20 all through the 1990s."
Part of the problem is unique to San Francisco and it's role in the internet boom and bust, but part of it is something I know local bike messengers have to deal with.
Heightened security after the Sept. 11 attacks also meant messengers had to spend more time making deliveries.
Before Sept. 11, "You could go anywhere, do whatever -- you were the messenger," says Greg Spear, a former messenger who now runs the Bike Hut, a repair and rental shop.
Today, "What used to take three minutes now takes 20 minutes. That's a common complaint I hear" from messengers who stop by the bike shop, Spear says.
Changes in the courts are a big part of it.
Many messenger firms are also losing business as courts demand electronic filing.
In August, San Francisco Superior Court began requiring electronic filing in all asbestos cases. As a result, at least 20 percent of the court's civil case filings are now received and processed electronically, Superior Court Judge Tomar Mason says.
Federal courts are also migrating to electronic case filing. "It started with Bankruptcy Court, migrated to district courts, and appellate courts are at the last stage. The Ninth Circuit (Court of Appeals) will go to (electronic filing) later this year," says spokesman David Madden.
Luckily for DC messengers, D.C. superior court is not exactly on the forefront of technology or change.
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