The only Diffrences Between Courier and Expediting, is A courier is Picking up and Dropping off all day, The Distance a courier Travels 99% is Local, if a Courier does get a long shot (over 100 miles) they have to deadhead back 99% of the time,Most Couriers Don't get paid for extra's such as Hand Loading/Unloading, Straight Truck Couriers don't get paid for the Lift Gate, Most get Paid for Detention Time after 30 Min. And the biggest Diffrence is Pay, What a Expediter gets paid for a 300 mile load will take a courier all day to make. And that is Courier 101.
First saying that I know almost nothing about the courrier business, I will offer that at least one courrier company has its courriers deadheading very little.
EDIT: I misunderstood fastman_1's point and failed to distinguish between the 100 mile long shot and local runs when I wrote what I did below. I leave the following in place thinking it may still be of interest to readers. I do not know what kind of deadhead a JS Logistics truck will have to make after completing a long shot run. Like I said, I know almost nothing about the courrier business. I do know the JS Logistics dispatch system impressed my sox off.
When I toured JS Logistics (
see above) I watched dispatchers receive notice on their screens that there were five packages to go from (shipper name). That was an alert to get their attention and let them know of the shipper's location. A brief delay followed as the agent entered the delivery addresses. A few moments later, the computer told dispatchers which courrier vehicles could work in another pickup and deliver the additional load on time with all other loads the courriers then had on.
Courriers here typically have multiple packages in their cars and small trucks. They may change their route three or four times from the time they pick up their first package of the day and deliver it. Between that pickup and delivery they may complete several more. Routing and delivery times are all provided by the computer and sent to the driver via company-provided cell phones.
When I asked about service failures, one of the dispatchers, who also does quality control, made two mouse clicks to get to another screen. The whole fleet was displayed. Two red dots showed the two vehicles that were too far out to make their delivery on time. He had already called the customers to let them know their packages would be 10 minutes late.
They told me of a driver who once picked up a package. The computer alerted dispatchers that he was going the wrong way. Dispatch called to see what was up. The driver had grown up in that area of the city and the route he was taking was his familiar route to the freeway he was trying to get to. Dispatch gave him an alternative that saved him 8 miles. Roads that are closed or no good to use are added to the system and not used by the computer, thereby keeping delivery time estimates accurate for customers and dispatchers, and life good for the drivers.
A driver that follows the instructions that stream to his or her phone can make many times more pickups and deliveries than one who runs one package at a time.
Photos and more info in
my March 6 blog entry
