About Fair Pricing

Vision and approach, a fair and equal method of registration

For the Cycle Messenger World Championship (CMWC) 2026 we decided to adopt a different registration method from the ones used before, because we believe that as a community it’s our duty to challenge those dynamics that create unequal access to the championships.
We live in a global system marked by economical inequalities where the privilege, especially western privilege, directly influences the line between those who can afford to participate and those who cannot.
Because of this, we decided to structure the registration with a progressive method, asking those with greater economic possibilities to contribute more, thus making participation in the championship as inclusive and fair as possible.
This choice is not neutral: it’s a political stance, drived from our collective awareness.

To learn more about the motivations that led the community organizing CMWC2026 to develop fair pricing, see section A

Registration structure

Registration for CMWC 2026 is obligatorily composed of three parts, all required to complete registration:

  1. Base fee – €45
    This fee corresponds to membership in the CMWC association and is the same for everyone.
  2. Event fee – €15
    This fee covers participation in the CMWC 2026 and is the same for all participants.
  3. Event donation fee (surcharge) In addition to the base fee, a variable surcharge is added, calculated according to the country where you work, based on the category list we produced through the analysis described in section B.

TABLE:

Income Category Countries Suggested Donation
Low Income Bangladesh, Bolivia, Egypt, India, Kenya, Maroco, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Zimbabwe, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Indonesia, Iran, Libya, Ukraine, Venezuela, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo Dem Rep, Eritrea, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Korea Dem People’s Rep, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Togo, Afghanistan, Uganda, Yemen None
Lower Middle Income Chile, Costa Rica, Panama, Russian Federation, Lebanon, Jordan, Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, Georgia, Iraq, Kazak,hstan, Kosovo, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Peru, Serbia, Thailand, Angola, Benin, Bhutan, Cambodia, Cameroon, Comoros, Congo Rep, Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Eswatini, Ghana, Guinea, Haiti, Honduras, Kiribati, Kyrgyz Republic, Lao PDR, Lesotho, Mauritania, Micronesia, Myanmar, Namibia, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, São Tomé e Príncipe, Senegal, Salomon Islands, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Vanuatu, West Bank, Zambia EUR 6
Upper Middle Income Bahrain, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Taiwan, Uruguay, South Africa, Turkiye, South Korea, Belize, Botswana, Cabo Verde, Dominica, El Salvador, Equatorial, Fiji, gabon, Grenada, Guatemala, Jamaica, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Paraguay, Samoa, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Tavalu, Ethiopa. EUR 25
High Income Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Honk Kong, Ireland, Kuwait, Luxenburg, Netherland, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America, American Samoa, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Brunei Darussalam, Cayman Islands, Channel Islands, Curaçao, Faroe Islands, French POlynesia, Gibraltar, Greenland, Guam, Guyana, Iceland, Isle of Man, Liechtenstein, Macao SAR (China), Monaco, Nauru, New Caledonia, Northen Mariana Islands, Palau, Saint Marino, Seychelles, Saint Marten (dutch), St Kitts and Nevis, St Martin (French part), Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and caicos Islands, Virgin Island (U.S) EUR 50

This surcharge represents the event participation fee and it is the tool through which we aim to redistribute economic privilege within the community.

It is essential to select both fees in order to complete registration.

It is equally essential that the participation fee corresponds to the country where you work, not to your nationality or place of residence.

NB: At the time of registration, we rely on each individual’s responsibility and awareness. This system can work only if it is supported by an honest, conscious, and solidarity-based choice.

We believe that mutual trust and a sense of community are powerful tools.

This is not just a registration method: it is an invite to recognize one’s role within an unequal global context and to contribute, in a small way, to making it more just.

Every situation is unique – Support and responsibility

As organizers of CMWC 2026, we are fully aware that this approach to registration represents a significant change. We also know that average salary is not a sufficient parameter to fully describe the economics of our lives, shaped by personal circumstances, precarity, debt, care responsibilities, job instability, and very different contexts.

At the same time, as explained above, wages remain the lowest common denominator of our work: the same in day-to-day practice, but profoundly different in remuneration depending on the context in which we work. For this reason, we chose to start from there, while acknowledging its limits.

Precisely to take these complexities into account, during the registration process each person will have the option to:

We want to be very clear: no one is required to pay the indicated surcharge if they do not consider it appropriate. The decision is entirely individual and must be made based on one’s specific situation.

This choice is grounded in trust, awareness, and individual responsibility. We hope this system can be seen as an opportunity for collective growth, and we invite everyone to embrace it with openness, knowing that addressing this issue is essential for us.

“From each according to his (their) ability; to each according to his (their) needs.” — Karl Marx

NB: If the total cost of registration still proves too high, or if you have doubts, difficulties, or questions, do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected].

A) The roots of our collective reasoning on fair pricing

“The Cycle Messenger World Championships were born as an event for a specific community: bike messengers. The event involves participants from all over the world; therefore it must include everyone.”

Today, bike messenger communities, while sharing the same job, live in profoundly different economic realities. We all pedal to make a living — from Milan to Bogota, from New York to Rome, from Zurich to Mexico City — but we are not all paid the same way, nor do we face the same cost of living.

The place where we work determines our wages, our financial possibilities, and therefore our ability to take part in an international event. In recent years we have realized that participation in CMWC is increasingly shaped by these dynamics: traveling, registration, taking time off work has become increasingly difficult for many people and communities. This is not a new problem, but today it is impossible to ignore it.

If we talk about inclusion, awareness, and the fight against discrimination, then we must also include economic privilege within this reflection. Recognizing it, questioning it, and redistributing it is part of taking care of our community.

B) The sources and method we used

To build a system that is as coherent and understandable as possible, we used international economic analysis tools, adapting them to our specific context. We referred to two main sources:

  1. World Bank
    Used to divide countries into four broad income categories:
    • low income;
    • lower-middle income;
    • upper-middle income;
    • high income.
    This classification provided a basic structure—useful, but not sufficient on its own—because it does not directly represent the wage conditions of our work.
  2. Numbeo
    Used to analyze cost of living and average monthly net salary in different countries. This tool offers data closer to our daily reality, but it does not cover all countries worldwide.

For this reason, we chose a combined approach:

  • where available, we used Numbeo data;
  • for countries not covered, we assigned income categories based on World Bank data.

Based on this analysis, we defined a specific surcharge for each broad income category. The applied surcharge is directly proportional to the difference in average income between the different tiers: the higher the average income associated with a category, the higher the contribution required in addition to the base fee.

This system allows us to:

  • keep a base fee that is the same for everyone,
  • introduce real progressivity in participation,
  • redistribute part of the community’s economic privilege.

NB: We are aware that this system is not perfect and will require adjustments over time. However, we consider it a concrete starting point for collectively addressing access and privilege.