On this part of the site you will find details on:-

 

A Brief history of the industry

Magazines about the courier industry

Courier industry bodies such as the IOC, RHA, RHDTC and NCA

National Courier Awards (An annual event)

 

Industry Key Facts

Around ten thousand bike couriers work in Central London.

There are approximately 500 courier companies inside the M25

In an average day a courier covers about 100 miles delivering 15 jobs.

There is a great shortage of safe professional couriers!

 

The London Same day Courier Industry.

London same day courier companies offer a desk to desk delivery service, collecting an item from the reception or post room of one office and delivering it directly to its destination. The job may involve you to collect a package from a gorgeous receptionist on the 10th floor of a corporate building or from a printer covered in ink holding the first copy of a brochure. The service provided is a person to person, desk to desk service. All deliveries made are signed for on delivery and timed.

The items a courier has to deliver vary dramatically. They may include a valuable bankers draft, jewellery or a concrete sample for a building site.

Courier deliveries fall into two categories:-

Urgent - Deliveries that need to be somewhere yesterday. A client in Central London will book a bike and expect it to arrive at their office for collection ten to fifteen minutes later. Many urgent deliveries are meeting deadlines related to the advertising industry.
Secure - These are deliveries that may not be urgent but must arrive. Often they have to be delivered to the very person they are addressed to and not just to a company. They may be legal papers or work tenders. If they fail to arrive, someone may loose a million pound contract or incur interest charges on a missed payment.

Companies who book courier work generally tend to be large corporations. The minimum charge for one courier delivery may be three to four pounds. A newspaper company may book three to four hundred jobs a day. Doing work for large corporations, you will need to demonstrate a level of professionalism and confidence that they are used to. Image becomes very important.

The types of business that book a lot of courier work include:-

Legal and management firms
Advertising companies
Accountants and design consultants
Music, TV and video production
Fashion Houses
Newspaper and magazine publishers.