subject: If I Want Next Day Pickup, How Late In The Day Can I Schedule My Order? [print this page] Every courier in Atlanta may have a different cut off time that you need to call them by in order to have your order picked up by the next day. However, these cut off times are all placed based on the ability of the courier company to respond to those types of requests, and so are not flexible in most instances. Therefore, if you're concerned about how late in the day you have free to place orders, you may want to check with the prospective courier companies that you are evaluating about that point before you even open an account with them.
If you want the pickup to be made the next day, the key is that the courier company needs enough time to slate you into their full complement of deliveries. This means that they need time between when you place your order and when they close for the night to complete the dispatch so that your route is properly assigned to a driver. The hours that a courier keeps can greatly impact what cut off times they offer you.
Courier companies' hours might mirror regular full time businesses. That is to say that they might be open from 9-5. However, most couriers are going to keep hours which are longer than this, often opening as early as 6:00 AM and being open as late as midnight. Beyond that, there are also courier companies that are open a full 24 hours a day, every day of the week.
Generally speaking, if you want the pickup made the next day you're going to receive a cut off time that is at least several hours before the time that the courier company closes for the evening. Some couriers may have this be more or less depending on their staffing. Companies with more available staff will probably need less time to organize all their deliveries for the following day.
24 hour couriers are sort of an anomaly in this pattern of cut off times. Because they are open throughout the night, they are free to have more flexibility in when they want to place their cut off times. Some may still require the order to be placed anytime the previous day (ie: before midnight) but others may choose to allow even later scheduling (essentially creating a same day pickup). If you frequently need to place orders late in the night for pickup as early as possible, a 24 hour courier may be for you.
