Belize may not have Uber Eats or DoorDash, but we have our own unique service - Runman. They're delivery men on motorcycles who either operate on their own or as a part of a small company. But in a country with few delivery options - and mostly limited to Chinese establishments - they provide a necessary service.
But running a Runman service isn't so easy. Aaron Wilson started his business about two years ago, and while it has slowly grown, he's also seen it dwindle.
Aaron Wilson, Owner, Mad Link Movements:
"It's a lot of struggles because it's the assets that get it, the damage, the amount of accidents that happens with motorcycles everyday, the risk the guys run when they're on the bike so that's the little struggles we go through."
"I said that if I put a high payment or rent, they probably wouldn't be able to afford it so I just put a flat rate that they pay for the month so each runman would give me $250 a month and if I have 4 runman, I'm making $1,000 and that's how we started and out of 4 runman, we started recruiting new ones because the runman that we use, their money adds up every month and that's how those same runman are able to put the money that they bring in, we buy new bikes and that's how we get a new man until we got almost 20 bikes. so in assets you're talking about $40,000 in only bikes but that drops fast with the amount of accidents. And now, we were at like almost 2 years. We're still active but I'm already getting discouraged. What I'm doing, the men that are with us now, they will stay with their bikes until they pay it off and then I will cut off."
And it's a lot of work for the drivers themselves too. Runmen don't just delivery food, they drop off packages and even sometimes give rides. One former driver explained how he got into the business and what his hours and prices looked like.
Cody Rivero, Runman:
"I started off with the Mad Link Movement, the runman service came along and then after that I got fired so I came here. But the prices when I was running, $5 around the area, Lord's Bank was $5 and then Los Lagos was $7. And then after Los Lagos, $15 to Boom and over and then after that, city limits was $20 so that was the price I usually charged."
Clifford Mejia:
"What was the craziest thing you ever delivered?"
Cody Rivero, Runman:
"The craziest thing I delivered before, well, I don't want to say it, so I can't put that out there."
Clifford Mejia:
"But it's something prohibited?"
Cody Rivero, Runman:
"Yes, something prohibited."
"I used to wake up from 6 in the morning until about 10/11 in the night, depending if I have runs, customers. But customers, I can't estimate how much customers I talk to a day because we were busy. The first set of runman was busy so I can't really say that right. I could just give a number but it won't be correct. Approximately 30-40 customers because at the end of the day, we used to work for Dalla Wings so that's up and down, up and down, everywhere. So we were literally busy."
And while he isn't in the game anymore, for those persons who prefer to order in, they've definitely got their own personal Runman on speed dial.
