By now you may be aware of the movie that is coming out called Premium Rush. Simply it’s about a bike courier who takes possesion of a package the bad guys want back. If you check out the movie trailer you will see the courier racing around the streets of New York dodging cars, trucks, vans, taxis and people.
If you own, work for or are familiar with courier companies you have to laugh at the notion of a courier flying around the crowded streets of a major city being chased by bad guys. When I was talking about Premium Rush with my dispatchers and operations team some interesting responses came out of their mouths…
“does the courier get the package to the customer?”…typicalPremium Rush
“what was his dispatcher doing?”
“that would never happen”
“that’s why you ask unfamilar customers what the package has in it”
When I brought up the same conversation about Premium Rush with my friends I also got a few funny and sarcastic responses…
“can that or has that happened to you?”
“do you guys ask what you’re carrying?”
“now I know why your drained at the end of the day”
While I will eventually go see the movie, I couldn’t help but wonder what people think same day couriers do day in and day out. I have asked many people that question and some responses I get are…
“deliver laundry”
“deliver organs”
“deliver paychecks”
While these answers are correct they were kind of said in a light hearted way which got me thinking, does anyone know EXACTLY what a same day courier does and how much time and effort goes into each and every delivery? From the call by the customer, inputting the order into the delivery system, dispatching it to a courier, driving to the pick up location, driving to the drop off location and finally entering the order information into the delivery system, each delivery can seem like a Premium Rush. So if you go to see the movie and then happen to see a same day courier go up and shake their hand. Their job may not end up like the courier in Premium Rush…but it may be just as crazy!