Couriers and messengers move and distribute information, documents, and small packages for businesses, institutions, and government agencies. They pick up and deliver letters, important business documents, or packages that need to be sent or received quickly within a local area. Couriers and messengers use trucks and vans for larger deliveries, such as legal caseloads and conference materials. By sending an item by courier or messenger, the sender ensures that it reaches its destination the same day or even within the hour. Couriers and messengers also deliver items that the sender is unwilling to entrust to other means of delivery, such as important legal or financial documents, passports, airline tickets, or medical samples to be tested.
Couriers and messengers receive their instructions either in person—by reporting to their office—or by telephone, two-way radio, or wireless data service. Then they pick up the item and carry it to its destination. After each pickup or delivery, they check in with their dispatcher to receive instructions. Sometimes the dispatcher will contact them while they are between stops and reroute them to pick up a new delivery. Consequently, most couriers and messengers spend much of their time outdoors or in their vehicle. They usually maintain records of deliveries and often obtain signatures from the people receiving the items.
Most couriers and messengers deliver items within a limited geographic area, such as a city or metropolitan area. Mail or overnight delivery service is the preferred delivery method for items that need to go longer distances. Some couriers and messengers carry items only for their employer, often a law firm, bank, medical laboratory, or financial institution. Others may act as part of an organization's internal mail system and carry items mainly within the organization's buildings or entirely within one building. Many couriers and messengers work for messenger or courier services; for a fee, they pick up items from anyone and deliver them to specified destinations within a local area. Most are paid on a commission basis.
Couriers and messengers reach their destination by several methods. Many drive vans or cars or ride motorcycles. A few travel by foot, especially in urban areas or when making deliveries nearby. In congested urban areas, messengers often use bicycles to make deliveries. Messenger or courier services usually employ the bicycle messengers.
Work environment. Couriers and messengers spend most of their time alone, making deliveries, and usually are not closely supervised. Those who deliver by bicycle must be physically fit and must cope with all weather conditions and the hazards of heavy traffic. Car, van, and truck couriers must sometimes carry heavy loads, either manually or with the aid of a hand truck. They also have to deal with difficult parking situations, traffic jams, and road construction. The pressure of making as many deliveries as possible to increase one's earnings can be stressful and may lead to unsafe driving or bicycling practices. The typical workweek is Monday through Friday; however, evening and weekend hours are common.
| 1. | Walk, ride bicycles, drive vehicles, or use public conveyances in order to reach destinations to deliver messages or materials. |
| 2. | Load vehicles with listed goods, ensuring goods are loaded correctly and taking precautions with hazardous goods. |
| 3. | Unload and sort items collected along delivery routes. |
| 4. | Receive messages or materials to be delivered, and information on recipients, such as names, addresses, telephone numbers, and delivery instructions, communicated via telephone, two-way radio, or in person. |
| 5. | Plan and follow the most efficient routes for delivering goods. |
| 6. | Deliver messages and items, such as newspapers, documents, and packages, between establishment departments, and to other establishments and private homes. |
| 7. | Sort items to be delivered according to the delivery route. |
| 8. | Obtain signatures and payments, or arrange for recipients to make payments. |
| 9. | Record information, such as items received and delivered and recipients' responses to messages. |
| 10. | Check with home offices after completed deliveries, in order to confirm deliveries and collections and to receive instructions for other deliveries. |
| 11. | Perform routine maintenance on delivery vehicles, such as monitoring fluid levels and replenishing fuel. |
| 12. | Call by telephone in order to deliver verbal messages. |
| 13. | Open, sort, and distribute incoming mail. |
| 14. | Perform general office or clerical work such as filing materials, operating duplicating machines, or running errands. |
| 15. | Collect, seal, and stamp outgoing mail, using postage meters and envelope sealers. |
| 16. | Unload goods from large trucks, and load them onto smaller delivery vehicles. |
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