According to IBizWorld, there are approximately 181,000 courier businesses in the U.S. Courier services provide unique delivery options for urban environments, and they are unlikely to lose popularity anytime soon. Couriers regularly carry everything from Thai takeout to subpoena filings for court cases.
These businesses offer a transport solution so that you don’t need to choose between spending hours of your day delivering something in the city, or waiting several days for it to arrive via snail-mail. Here are three facts you should know about courier businesses, if you are considering using their quick delivery services for your office or personal use.
1. How They Maintain Cheap Delivery Services
Why is it an affordable option to have someone hand deliver your favorite restaurant dish right to your door? Courier businesses are often able to keep their service prices low because some of their employees use bikes, rather than cars, saving the company hundreds of dollars every month in gas, insurance and maintenance fees. The fee for an individual delivery will be highly dependent on where you are, and how long it takes someone to reach you. Expect to pay more for rush orders.
2. Finding Reliable Local Delivery Services
It’s no secret that there are some bad courier businesses out there. One Australian courier service has such a bad track record that they consistently get one star reviews online, and several people explain that their deliveries were either incredibly late, or never came at all. Many of their issues stem from sub-contracting to other businesses. Ideally, you want to work with a company that is responsible for your package from beginning to end, and who has a reliable track record with other customers. For this reason, don’t just pick the lowest quoted price — pick companies that have a history of affordability and reliability.
3. The Same Day Delivery Race
According to a recent article in the New York Times, one of the hottest new jobs in the tech world is the “delivery guy.” Same day delivery is becoming a growing trend and many people like to pay for expensive tech items to be brought to them right away. Not surprisingly, for many businesses the holidays will be a crunch time, with many customers choosing same day deliveries for their gift purchases.
Have you paid for same day deliveries lately? Let us know in the comments.