A native Houstonian has set up a one-man bicycle-messenger service, reports Culturemap’s Whitney Radley: Within an hour, Clutch Delivery’s Liam Musgrave will pedal to your place almost anything — except dry cleaning, pets, and “illicit substances.” This map shows his service area, extending west out to the Loop and east to Lockwood.
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“It’s just my phone and me,” says Musgrave, who made his first deliveries on February 15. He says he’s available at any time of the day. Prices, the maps show, depend on your distance from Musgrave’s target audiences in Midtown and Montrose; Clutch Delivery’s website includes a lengthy list of spots in those two neighborhoods. Before midnight, orders in Montrose start at $5.
- Primarily Serving Montrose & Midtown Houston [Clutch Delivery]
- Houston’s new bike delivery service will bring almost anything to your door 24/7 [Culturemap]
Maps: Clutch Delivery
Speaking as a bike courier from back in the 80’s, I see this lasting about a month. Unless he somehow has wild success and is able to hire a bunch of other couriers. However, since he has banned “illicit substances” from his delivery list, I don’t see this happening.
Sweet, I’m right in the target/cheap zone. I could see being lazy and calling in a few brews.
UG, the use of those illicit substances result in quite the demand for munchies, and the Montrose area is heavily populated by those who partake. I believe many people would prefer to pay $5 to have someone bring their Ruchi’s or Mai’s fare to their door, in order to avoid the risk to life, limb and livelihood that a late night walk or drive could entail.
I also think that there are enough young people with bicycles who would jump at the chance to work for a service like this one. Thanks to modern technology, the company would also be much easier and cheaper to run effectively than it would have been in the ’80s.
i work in finance downtown. We regularly work until midnight or later and downtown doesnt offer a lot in the way of goods and services past 6. This could be a lifesaver.
Quick, I need a shovel, a hacksaw, some plastic bags, and lots of duct tape! Nevermind why!!!
Guess I was a little too subtle with my previous post…being a bike courier is a hard way to make a living. But there were a few of the couriers that always seemed to have far more disposable income than the rest of us…I wondered about this until one of them demonstrated that the real money was in making deliveries of “illicit substances”, and I’ll leave it at that.
UG: You’re right on. Being a mobile weed guy can make you some serious coin.
The mobile “white powder” couriers made even more serious coin…
UG: I’m sure they do. But if I were a youngster riding around delivering ‘off market’ goods, I’d rather get caught with a bit of weed than any white powder.
Liam Musgrave’s on to something. Great idea.