subject: What Do Courier Services Mean When Offering "residential" Pickup And Delivery? [print this page] There are many small courier companies in a city the size of Chicago, but the reality of the industry is that most of these companies are going to be dealing almost exclusively with businesses as their clients. In fact, this is so true that there are many messenger services in Chicago which either only do business with actually business clients, or who only offer their services in areas of the city which are considered "business sectors". This is going to depend on the size of the courier company and their areas of focus, but this is why many of them feel the need to indicate as a separate service when they actually offer services to people living in residential areas.
There are some courier companies out there that might offer residential delivery, but not pickup. Good examples of these are courier companies who subcontract drivers out to organizations like florists that need deliveries made on a short term basis to residences. They will make those deliveries, but they usually won't take contracts from non-business clients or make pickups from a residential area.
Then there are couriers that base their services on area. A small messenger company especially might not find it worth their while to offer services outside of a downtown core. Therefore, they might offer service if you live in a downtown condo, but not if they had to drive to the suburbs to pick up your package.
Couriers that offer "residential pickup and delivery" services are those that are truly trying to offer their services to as many people as possible. These companies have on part picked up on the shift of business to the home, with many people now telecommuting and running their own businesses out of their houses. As such, the couriers are expanding the way that they do business in order to keep up with the times and continue growing their businesses in the best way possible.
A courier should have it clearly marked somewhere in their business as to what their policies are with dealing with people in residential areas. Usually, the best place to look for this information is going to be their website. By checking the website of a company you can read all about their services in more detail than you might get from an ad, and this is the usual place for information on any residential service to be posted.
