Today, a customer can choose from a variety of offers and providers of courier, express and parcel services. These services can be broken down into physical range of coverage - for instance, a CEP supplier can restrict his services to a section of a city or perform worldwide shipments. In addition, the customer can determine the time when his shipment is delivered to the recipient. Depending on the distance to the destination and the transport costs related to it, the delivery might be made on the same day or several days later.
Differentiation based on transit times
Usually, transit times of parcel-service providers are provided with a high degree of certainty, but not guaranteed. In north-south parcel service in Germany, for instance, overnight delivery or delivery within 24 hours cannot be provided. A transit time of 48 hours is usually the case. A European-wide delivery can take up to 96 hours. Courier service and express services provide faster transit times - but they are more pricey.
Many companies break down their CEP (courier, express and parcel) products by transit time:
- Immediate: This fastest-possible form of delivery service is widely used by city couriers.
- Same day: This express service is the fastest form of delivery service within a country. National couriers achieve transit times of four to six hours.
- Next day: This service makes deliveries within the next 24 hours. Frequently, customers are given time windows within which the good must be handed to the service provider in order for him to guarantee deliver by noon of the following day.
- Second day: This service guarantees a transit time of no more than 48 hours. Frequently, this form of delivery is offered by parcel and express services for European and international shipments to selected countries.
- Overnight: In overnight service, emergency shipments are sent overnight with fixed transit times and rates. The shipments are picked up in the evening and delivered between 10 a.m. and noon on the following day at the latest. Overnight service is frequently offered by mid-sized courier companies.
- Innight: Innight service is provided during the night. This form of delivery is particularly demanding. In some concepts, deliveries are made to secure drop boxes or lockable containers that have been set up in places such as filling stations. This service has proven particularly valuable in replacement-parts supply and the after-sales area.
Services can also be broken down into physical range of coverage:
- Local services: Local services are offered by city or bicycle couriers within a pre-determined region - in a city, for instance. They are generally offered as immediate or same-day service.
- Regional servicess: These services focus on a certain region where the provider can offer individual services to customers. The service providers know their customers, and the customers know the service providers. Because the drivers are not constantly changed, the customer’s trust rises. This is particularly important for higher-value goods and sensitive shipments. Frequently, various regional service providers are allied in a national network.
- National and European-wide services: In the area of express and parcel, national and European-wide services put a premium on the largest possible form of standardization, enabling consistent transit times and low rates to be guaranteed. Unlike the United States, where a uniform market has evolved over the past 30 years, individual markets in European countries form interfaces with other markets in individual European countries.
- Intercontinental services: For intercontinental services, the sending and receiving countries are the critical factors that go into determining transit times and costs. For a remote country, a longer delivery time transit time or a higher rate must be expected. Shipments to industrial countries, on the other hand, are comparable to European-wide shipments. Large CEP companies offer their customers shipping services in every country of the world, be it to the southern African nation of Malawi or to New Caledonia in the Pacific. For intercontinental shipments, they also handle all import-related tasks, including customs clearance.
Logistik | Vahrenkamp 2007
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