I´m playing with the idea of one day quitting the financial world and becoming a bicycle courier. Yes, really!

Does anyone have any idea of what kind of income I should be prepared to live on as a bicycle courier in Zurich?

Oof, bicycle courier is really in the middle of hobby and profession! You usually get paid on a commission basis.

I haven't been one myself but according to this article, on a bad day you can get as little as 85 Fr. for 5h. and the office jobs there are 25-27 Fr./hour...

Never been a bicycle courier but have been a courier. It is poorly paid, long hours, hard work and thankless. Guys I know who did it, have good memories of their time doing the job, but none of them would ever want to go back to it.

If you want to escape the financial world and love cycling that much, I would suggest something more along the lines of guiding work or opening your own bike shop.

I did something similar and became a ski instructor, jumping back into the corporate world when the snow goes away or I need to top up the bank account and material possessions again. Another mate of mine gave up a successful business as a landscape architect (Not a gardener, but funny to call him one) to become a mountainbike guide in Whistler and servicing skis and snowboards in the winter. He has never been happier.

As Nathu said, it's more a lifestyle choice. I think you would make more stacking shelves at Migros. A friend who is total cycling nut tried it out in London and gave up after a week, removed the pleasure from cycling and made about £50 in all. Though he was told that Zurich & Hamburg were the few places where an OK living could be made.

Cycle Courier/Messaging culture is "hip" at the moment. The existing old-skool couriers seem to resent this, so watch out for that attitude from the tribe.

Well, what i dream of is a job where I can be outdoors and get the benefit of getting/being physically fit at the same time. And not live far from the city

I love the mountiains too and have thought about doing someting in that area, but not as an instructor anyway. Being a guide would be cool!

Ha, I think I´m making more money in banking now than stacking shelves at Migros. So yes, it would be a lifestyle choice, not a way to make major money!

Like numpties riding with only a front brake, or no brakes at all, to try and look like a courier on a fixie?

I've always thought about being a bike courier, but I've always ended up finding another way to make ends meet and to keep cycling as a hobby, and I think that was wise. So, I would agree with everything said so far, but wanted to emphasize two points: the money is poor, and it is often not very pleasurable to turn a hobby into a job.

If you do decide to give it a go then I hope you'll tell us all about the experience. Maybe you could give it a trial run without completing giving up your current job? There was a company in Lausanne that posted adverts around the university looking for part-time bike couriers. I believe they were asking for a minimum commitment of 3 half-days per week for 3 months. If you can convince your current employer that they don't need you to work 100% then maybe you could convince a local courier company to give you a try on a part-time basis.

Well then you should try working as an aircraft dispatcher.

But believe me, the "outdoors job" dream will take a serious hit when you're ready to go and have to wait for 30 minutes-plus in pouring rain on the headset waiting for pushback approval.

A trial run for a week or two would be cool. Unfortunately I think in my current job I have no possibility of cutting my work time, so I would need to use vacation days for that. But hey, you never know, I might do just that. At least I wouldmake some money and again, I would then definitely get an idea of what it would be like.

BTW, I am well aware of the weather changes and that it´s not always sunshine with no wind Coming from Finland I know what harsh weather can be. Zurich weather is pretty tame in that respect compared to the windy and often slushy winters of Helsinki