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A courier is a person or a company who delivers messages, packages, and mail. Couriers are distinguished from ordinary mail services by features such as speed, security, trackikkng, signature, specialization and individualization of services, and committed delivery times, which are optional for most everyday mail services. As a premium service, couriers are usually more expensive than usual mail services, and their use is typically restricted to packages where one or more of these features are considered important enough to warrant the cost. Different courier services operate on all scales, from within specific towns or cities, to regional, national and global services. The world’s largest courier companies are DHL, FedEx, TNT N.V., UPS, and Aramex. These offer services worldwide, typically via a hub and spoke model. 
Courier or postman, Japan, hand-coloured albumen print by Felice Beato, between 1863 and 1877. In ancient times runners and homing pigeons and riders on horseback were used to deliver timely messages. Before there were mechanized courier services foot messengers physically ran miles to their destinations. To this day there are marathons directly related to actual historical messenger routes. In cities, there are often bicycle couriers or motorcycle couriers but for consignments requiring delivery over greater distance networks, this may often include lorries, railways and aircraft. Many companies who operate under a Just-In-Time or "JIT" inventory method often utilise on-board couriers. On-board couriers are individuals who can travel at a moment’s notice anywhere in the world, usually via commercial airlines. While this type of service is the second costliestâ€â€general aviation charters are far more expensiveâ€â€companies analyze the cost of service to engage an on-board courier versus the "cost" the company will realise should the product not arrive by a specified time (i.e. an assembly line stopping, untimely court filing, lost sales from product or components missing a delivery deadline, organ transplants). See also
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia : Postal and courier without USO |
