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25 years ago Courier Companies also had a laissez-fair attitude to ID and would pay in cash or cash able cheque, the Nat West in Shoreditch didn’t ask for ID when cashing them.
Driving Licences didn’t have photos.
Some couriers had worked for the same company under multiple names, some literally didn’t exist in the legal world a lot were on student visas, a few were signing on.“Dibble, I took enough drugs this weekend to floor a horse” was an acceptable excuse to take Monday off.(I worked in the Control room for a while, digging the Push bikes out of bed on busy Mondays was part of my job.The Monday after Glastonbury we would be below half strength).
If you had these “benefits “ you didn’t mind missing out on holiday pay. And on a motorbike for West 1 I could make £600 a week before expenses (and of course tax).
You can’t be half in half out of the mainstream and you shouldn’t be forced to be by a company so when the “benefits” are taken away it just becomes an exploitative job without holiday pay or a minimum wage.
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Dibble
@WillMelling
It's interesting how things change. 13 years ago when I signed up here, as a courier, no one gave a hoot about our working conditions, though they were exactly the same as the ones now being legislated on. The most we got was people dressing up like us and cosplay isn't really an act of class consciousness. Though it's true we weren't helped by almost every book or article written by couriers about couriers being so upbeat and depoliticised and reinforcing stereotypes about 'freedom' and other such bollocks and most couriers being disorganised and willing to trade a laissez-fair attitude towards income tax in return for having no rights.