How Does a Courier Ship Items?
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Bicycle couriers provide same-day, often same-hour, service for downtown offices.
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Bicycle couriers are a fixture of downtown travel. Darting in and out of traffic, these bike messengers race between office buildings to deliver documents, pick up deliveries, and in some cases even wait for signatures to be applied to various papers before taking the same package back to its starting point. A call to a central office dispatches the couriers, who are faster than pedestrians and also cars in the heavy traffic, and don't have to fight the limited parking availabilities of downtown areas. Bicycle couriers are able to transport their deliveries by only accepting documents that fit inside their messenger bags; larger items cannot be delivered by bicycle, but instead must rely on a motorcycle or car courier.
Motorcycle and car couriers provide same day or next day service.
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Although constrained by the congestion of downtown streets, motorcycle and car couriers ship document packages and bulkier items in between offices that are within a set distance of their dispatch office. Turnaround time is usually less than 24 hours, making these couriers just a bit slower than bicycle carriers, but still faster than the post office. At the same time, these couriers can usually handle large deliveries, whereas the bicycle couriers are limited to whatever they can fit inside their messenger bags. This makes motorcycle, but especially car couriers, perfect for the delivery of product samples and audio visual materials, as well as boxes containing legal documents and exhibits.
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National and international courier companies implement company owned transportation to ship items.
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Customers entrusting their items to national and international couriers purposefully choose to pay a bit more in exchange for a delivery time that is shorter than what they might expect from the post office. One such courier, UPS (a link is provided in the resources section), started out in 1907 as a simple messenger company and over time upgraded its modes of transportation. Today, more than 100 years later, UPS has bought up smaller courier companies and their transportation infrastructure, instantly availing themselves of an already established network of conveyances. Moreover, UPS now operates UPS Freight, various airplanes and also rail service, allowing this courier to ship items into the remotest areas of the world.
The Defense Courier Service ships items deemed classified or sensitive by the US government.
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The White House does not avail itself of UPS or bike messengers for its highly sensitive materials that need to be shipped within Washington D.C. or across the world. Instead, it uses the Defense Courier Service, that started out as an agency overseen by the US military. It is noteworthy that this courier service still uses established military modes of transport to ship items entrusted to them. Please note that this service will not accept cash, checks, or controlled substances for delivery.
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Resources
- Photo Credit USGOV-MILITARY-ARMY/Wikimedia Commons
