subject: What Are Nfo Shipments And When Should I Use Them? [print this page] If you're shipping with a courier company and you can't wait the regular amount of time for your shipment to reach its destination, then you're going to have to ask about the options they have for faster shipping times. Some messenger services in Chicago will suggest things like same day or rush delivery service, but if you're shipping something all the way to Texas that still might not provide you with a fast enough delivery time. In those cases, you might want to look at something called NFO shipping.
NFO shipping stands for next flight out shipping, and is a shipping method that uses airline transport to help get your package there on time. When you're shipping long distances, air travel is always going to be the fastest way to get the shipping completed, and of all the different business models that work with air shipping, NFO is the fastest.
Next flight out means exactly that; it means that your courier company will find the absolute next flight that is going to your destination, ensuring that there is as little gap time between when your package is picked up and when it is in the air as possible. That is really the hardest part of NFO shipping, is finding a courier that can make sure they can always get your package on the plane when it needs to be in order to get the absolute first flight leaving your area.
One thing to realize when considering NFO shipping is that its effectiveness is going to be determined in part by the size of the airport in the city that you are located in. Large cities like Chicago with major metropolitan airports tend to have great NFO service available through the cities couriers. That is because there are flights leaving every hour of the day to major locations throughout the world.
Smaller centers on the other hand may not consistently be able to offer this level of NFO service. This is not a reflection on the courier company in question in any way, but simply a reality of cities with smaller airports. To get good NFO service, you have to have the flight connections required to make those deliveries. In some smaller centers there are times when over a short distance where NFO might be used, ground delivery can actually be faster simply due to flight scheduling. Take your location into consideration when thinking about ordering NFO service.
