4 Tips for Finding a Great Courier Service

For companies that make lots of local and time-sensitive deliveries, a courier service is indispensable. Couriers become integral to such a company, regularly taking packages across town and making last-minute deliveries when necessary. If you run a company that relies on a courier service, here are some tips to help you find the best service for your company to use.
Delivering to Where Your Company’s Local Customers Are
The courier service you select should, first and foremost, have a delivery area that encompasses the locations of your company’s local customers, clients and colleagues. Couriers are primarily used to send packages to local recipients, and you’ll want a service that can deliver to all of your company’s nearby recipients.
Contracting with a service that can only deliver to some of your company’s local customers will complicate logistics because you’ll need to find an alternate delivery method when you need to send items to customers outside of the courier service’s delivery area. Using a company that has a sufficient service area will keep managing local deliveries simple and easy.
Accepting Long-Distance Shipments
While courier services are mainly used to make local deliveries, it’s helpful if a service will also accept packages that are being sent out of the area. Although a courier service likely won’t make national and international shipments themselves, they can hand off long-distance shipments to a company that does ship items nationally and internationally.
A courier service might charge a small fee for this, but it’ll make your company’s shipping logistics much easier. Employees won’t have to worry about who they’re giving what packages to. They can give all the packages they have to a courier who will then distribute the packages appropriately.
Making After-Hours Deliveries
Many businesses need to make occasional (or sometimes frequent) after-hours deliveries. For instance, real estate brokers might regularly send papers after business hours because they work irregular hours and sometimes have deals that are time-sensitive. CPAs might not handle as many time-sensitive items, but they may have one or two overnight deliveries come tax time.
Even if your business doesn’t currently have much of a need for making after-hours deliveries, make sure the courier service you contract with offers this service as an option. You never know when someone will need an item sent overnight or after business hours, and you don’t want to have to search for a service that will handle such a delivery in the midst of a crisis.
Having a courier service that offers this as an option will ensure that you don’t need to scramble to find an after-hours delivery service when you need one. After all, you’re likely too busy to search for a courier service if you’re dealing with something important enough to require sending a package after normal business hours.
Insuring Packages While in Transit
Once a package is handed over to a courier service, your company’s commercial property and inland marine insurance policies likely won’t insure the package any longer. Since it’s in the courier’s possession, it’s their responsibility to protect the package. Therefore, it’s important to make sure the courier service you select insures the packages they have.
A courier service might include insurance as a standard protection, or the service may charge on a per-item basis for insurance. In many cases, a service will provide a default amount of protection and then offer additional insurance for a nominal fee. Any one of these methods is fine as long as a package ends up being insured for its full fair-market value.
If your company needs a courier service , contact us at Bullet Deliveries.
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