High Fuel Prices Drive Customers to Courier’s Door

As gasoline prices continue to rise, companies are discovering a solution: courier service.  Once thought to be a business extravagance, courier service is recognized today as a strategic asset that can actually lower costs, improve productivity, minimize risk, and have a positive impact on the bottom line.

Having an employee make a delivery seems efficient, until consideration is given to the direct cost of mileage reimbursement, and the indirect cost of lost employee productivity. A local delivery ten miles away becomes a twenty-mile round trip drive.  The cost can be as high as $9.70 for mileage reimbursement, $12 (or more) for the employee’s hourly wage, and another 30% (or more) for overhead. That brings the cost of that simple, local delivery to around $25.  This is more than twice the amount that a local courier company will charge for this type of a delivery.  Today, high fuel costs raise awareness of the actual costs involved in sending employees to run errands.

Blue Streak Couriers is one of the fastest growing courier companies in Florida and Georgia.  Harold Boyett, president, has been in the delivery business since he began working at UPS at age 18. He purchased Blue Streak in February, 2005.

“Businesses are beginning to realize that they can save money and benefit from our expertise and professional image” says Boyett.  “We’re out there all day, covering the city extensively.  Our drivers can easily absorb the additional stops along their normal routes each day.  It is essentially just another stop along the way for us.”

The cost for a company to have its employees run errands does not stop at fuel charges. There is a much broader effect.  Consider that while the employee is en route, others must cover the absent employee’s work, and therefore, productivity will be reduced as a result.

“Think about it… you hire an attorney to take care of your legal needs, you hire a CPA to take care of your accounting.  Why not hire a professional delivery company to take care of your deliveries?  A courier service can keep key personnel in the office and off the roadways,” Boyett explains.

By keeping employees off the roads, companies can also reduce their liability resulting from the potential of an auto accident.  In addition, an employee doing work outside of their normal responsibilities becomes a worker compensation risk.  If they injure their back lifting a box out of their trunk, or twist their ankle as they step out of their car, then their employer has a worker’s compensation issue.

The courier service becomes a strategic asset because it allows the company to focus on its primary business.  According to Boyett, “Our customers can focus on their core competencies when they don’t have to worry about their routine errands and delivery needs.”

Blue Streak prides itself on its professionalism and appearance. The company is bonded and insured, and conducts extensive background checks (both criminal and driving record) on each of its couriers. Blue Streak’s highly trained personnel learn customer service skills, professionalism, methods specific to customer requirements, and how to be efficient on their route. They are uniformed, polite, and neatly groomed. “We understand the important role we play as ambassadors of service for our customers.  We have to represent them to their clients in the best light possible.  We take this responsibility very seriously,” states Boyett.

Ward Rainnie, a local banker, describes Blue Streak as “a crucial extension of our own staff that cares as much about serving our customers as we do. They carry it out with excellence while saving the bank and our customers time and money.”

“We see ourselves as a partner to our clients, and we are committed to creating a customized, secure solution for each of them,” explains Boyett. “We ask a great deal of questions to help us fully understand our customers’ needs.  We then look at our network and leverage it to satisfy our client and their customers.  Our extensive network provides high efficiency and the lowest possible cost structure.”

Boyett explains that most of his clients utilize “routed and scheduled service” for deliveries ranging from a daily pickup of mail from a post office box, to delivering documents between offices. Scheduled routes work well for medical labs and offices that need to have samples and documents delivered daily to a central location.

Susie Mersal, area manager for a national healthcare provider said, “Blue Streak saves our people valuable time as well as a tremendous amount of money.”

When asked how he plans to continue to grow the company Boyett responded, “Clearly, our success is the result of exceptional customer service and fair pricing. We value our client relationships and we are committed to exceeding their expectations.”

About Blue Streak Couriers

Jacksonville, Florida-based Blue Streak Couriers has been developing customized delivery solutions for its customers for over 23 years. The company provides a comprehensive range of services including mail pick up and delivery, bank deposits, intra-company correspondence, legal work, medical (HIPAA compliant), and lab samples. Its service area extends from Brunswick, Georgia to Tampa and Orlando in Florida. Visit Blue Streak Couriers online at

www.bluestreakcouriers.com