Now We Are Seven! Clutch Couriers Grows Up - (sorta)

When I started Clutch Couriers seven years ago, it was out of desperation.

I had looked around the bike messenger co-operative that I had poured my heart and soul into over the last six years and realized that all of it's members were at cross purposes. One of them wanted to work from bed, a couple were just social climbing, and one of them wanted to keep his wages low so he didn't have to pay taxes. Since we were a co-op in the strictest sense that meant we all had to keep our wages low, kinda like Soviet Russia.

As a father of two with rising expenses in a pricey town, that didn't work for me, and I began to realize after six years without a raise; I was doing all the work anyway - and being resented for it - so I might as well start my own company and do it right.

Clutch Couriers was founded on principles that I brought to town as an independent bike courier starting out in New York City.

To provide excellent and affordable service to a wide spectrum of the community; reaching out to those who might not intuitively choose bike messengers.

To provide a decent living for the Crew; with incentives and opportunity to move up in income and responsibility as long as they are willing and available to work hard and improve.

To change by way of example the connotation in wider circles that bicycle couriers are unprofessional.

To have fun and live doing what we love.

Along the way, from rocky beginnings, to unimaginable success, the proof has come out in the pudding. The vision and standards that I have held have produced good jobs and happy customers year after year. Throughout the worst recession in generations while local companies were laying people off and going under, we reinvested in our core personnel and grew their expertise along with their quality of life. This year we are again experiencing growth and they are reaping the benefits as we record our best numbers ever and our market share expands.

Many local, state, and national establishments now rely upon our pro messengers daily efforts to deliver everything from event posters to subpoenas - and even bone marrow and blood plasma! - across Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties.

Clutch Couriers is a household name brand in Santa Cruz, and that's because our bike messengers are everywhere! Doing what they love and doing it efficiently. They are proud to wear the gear that identifies them as Crew and that says a lot. After seven years I'm proud to stand back a little and let them handle the business, because finally at this point I can feel less stress knowing that the day to day is in such capable hands.

Believe me getting a successful business up and running to the point where you know it's going to stick around is no small task.. and I have the ulcers to prove it.

I know now that my heart was in the right place seven years ago when I started my own company. Whatever damage was done to my peers - I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for it now. However, I had to break some eggs to make an omelette, and I'm glad I did it. In the long run Clutch Couriers has become and will continue to be a tremendous boon to the business, entertainment, and legal communities of Santa Cruz County. Most importantly it has provided a new model of courier company that puts the welfare of it's Crew first while still turning a profit.

My sincere thanks to all our supporters, customers, messengers, and extended family throughout the years, without whom this incredible journey wouldn't be possible.

To see my vision and hard work become a sustainable and valuable courier company that will continue to flourish into the foreseeable future is a feeling I will always cherish.. And I have so enjoyed the challenge of making it happen!

~RG

Clutch Couriers is fully licensed, insured, and bonded, and provides legal filing, process service, mobile notary, printing and promotional distribution, as well as same day, rush, and custom delivery services on both a call-in and contract basis for Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties.

For more info visit: www.clutchcouriers.com
Or call: 831-466-0560