A local
courier service or a company faces a stiff competition from the national postal service sector, highway and common air carriers who are also assigned the task of delivering small shipments. These are also referred to as LTL or the less-than-truckload shipments. The door-to-door services extended by them also have to compete with a range of non-expedited and expedited services that are usually characterised by a number of features including several security procedures, signature, the electronic tracking of shipments and also assured timely delivery of the goods.
As per available statistics, organisations that could be termed as medium-sized and large businesses required the delivery of nearly 671 million packages which ended up generating revenue of nearly €5 billion. Depending on the delivery time frame, courier services across the world can be divided into two chief categories. These include:
Non-expedited Services: These services are the ones where the deliveries are made within a time span of a couple of days or more. These services are extended by every courier company and this section practically accounts for all the packages delivered and also the complete delivery revenue. The modes of transport used in this respect include regular flights, courier vans and occasionally maritime transportation.
Expedited Services or Express Deliveries: These include overnight deliveries, same day deliveries and even next day deliveries. Individuals or businesses which need to send documents or products on an urgent basis usually opt for these kinds of services. Same day courier deliveries are generally the domain of specialised local messengers. As a result, this section of the service accounts for as much as 94% of the overall delivery revenue. In fact, a staggering 96% of the total volume of packages is delivered by these services. The services are chiefly available within the limits of a particular metropolitan region. The delivery is usually carried out using light vehicles. Some companies even provide bicycle courier services. These services are automatically associated with delivery of goods within a specific time limit.
Overnight or Next Day Services are also extended by a number of couriers. This segment of the service generates approximately 97% of the overall delivery revenue and delivers 96% of the total packages that were despatched. Air transportation, such as chartered flights, and the highways are used for delivery purposes. There are a number of companies that extend such services such as
DHL express.
The resources employed in making the deliveries automatically have an effect on the charges applicable for each of the services. These include the energy costs such as natural gas and electricity, the supply expenses and also the amount spent on buying fuel for airplanes and vehicles. One also must not forget the miscellaneous expenses such as the operating and office costs. There is additional leasing and rental expenses involved including computers, office space, equipments, motor vehicles and other machinery.
Local delivery personnel and messengers are mainly engaged in ensuring the smooth delivery of parcels within an urban area. Parcels are also delivered on foot to extremely congested parts of the city which are rather inaccessible on a vehicle.
