Express delivery services are for the vast majority of us simply one of the best perks of modern life. Especially as are schedules become more and more loaded with different things and spanning across larger distances, the convenience of having the things we need delivered to where we want them in a fast manner becomes vital. Express delivery covers many things, from your average food order to more important and complicated operations such as moving services to help you change residence. It’s also sometimes considered an optional class of delivery at virtually everything you order, this time when the company selling you the goods contracts mail and delivery services from a third party, giving you the option of choosing between standard and express delivery.
We’ll cut the opening story short. Almost everything we want to buy can be delivered today under an express regime, either by the company or the shop selling us the product itself or by a third part specializing in express delivery services. Sometimes, this possibility goes beyond products per se and extends to other services as well (such as the moving services we already mentioned). In short, express delivery kind of makes the world go round nowadays, so in this article we will tell you everything there is to know about it. The more we find out about express delivery and the wonderful options we now have for it, the more we can come to expect quality delivery services for virtually anything we need.
What Is Express Delivery?
Express delivery refers to the service of bringing you the desired goods or completing the services you requested under an express regime, much faster than the regular delivery or completion times that you can expect. An express delivery can either complete the order or transaction you requested in a matter of minutes (for example when you’re doing business online with multiple accounts), or it can move goods to your home or another specifically pre-required location in an outstandingly short time, and even at late hours on otherwise free days such as Sunday and Saturday. It doesn’t take as long as the regular completion time, it only costs a bit more (or there’s no extra tax at all, depending) and it’s simply everything a person could want.
Historically speaking, express delivery hasn’t been around for so long except for the mailing service. Federal and local postal service, as well as international mailing services, have featured the option for express delivery of their goods for a long time, ever since the legendary activities of the Western Union in the times when the country was in the midst of making itself into a nation. Then, there’s also Pony Express. A traditional company which used to carry its mail by way of horseback over the Rocky Mountains (hence the name), Pony Express became the stuff of legends in popular culture, especially though a number of notoriously fast riders who worked for the company. Today, the same name belongs to a restaurant delivery in Eugene, OR, but it doesn’t share a direct connection to the original postal delivery service.
But as the times became busier and busier and as people not only had more things to move around, but also started unwrapping their existence in multiple locations and on greater distances, delivery and express delivery services have become a vital commodity.
Imagine that your main ‘home’ is in one city where you live with your partner, but both of you work in other close-by cities and sometimes even stay over-night somewhere close to work. Maybe you also have a child who is living with your parents in yet another close-by city, due to your hectic schedules, until you get everything in order. That’s 4 residences and a life on the move: unimaginable a few decades ago, but not so unusual now, with the current mobility and state of the work and study market. In such a circumstance and beyond, having a reliable range of express delivery services to help you get by indeed becomes vital.
How to Use Express Delivery
In some cases, using express delivery couldn’t be easier: all you have to do is require the service you want and it will be delivered to you, if we’re talking about ordering pizza or getting a clothes order delivered on the same day or anything similar.
But in other cases, where there are multiple delivery options and express is just one of them, placing your order may require a few extra steps. For example, depending on the provider, you may be asked to fill in a form, enter a special promo code or to use a coupon for either receiving the special express delivery free of charge, or for proving you are eligible to receive it. Such scripts or coupons need to be pre-bought separately or are earned after special promotions, a certain threshold of previous orders and so on.
Then, after successfully completing the order you want delivered under express terms, you sometimes get a tracking code which you can use to verify where your package is currently at, as well as the ETA (estimated time of arrival). You will then receive the order you placed by either picking it up at the nearest post office or delivery point close to you, or through a courier knocking on your door or at the address you specified.
If something doesn’t go according to plan, you can always phone customer services for complaints or simply to be briefed of what’s going on. Absolutely every express delivery service has a green line and express phone number which you can call to check in, whether they deliver fresh goods like pizza or they’re helping you move a large parcel or multiple packages across the country with the utmost priority. You can also use express delivery services even if you’re exchanging packs with someone in China, so don’t limit yourself to domestic shipments.
What Types of Services Have Express Delivery?
You can use express delivery services for a wide multitude of types of services and product deliveries. Let’s review only a few examples of how you can use express delivery services:
- At checkout when shopping online (or even in regular shopping), you have an express delivery option to get the goods at your home (or another location) faster than with regular delivery. This can be used for a huge variety of goods which you can shop for (personal care, meds, clothes, supermarket items like groceries, or electronics and furniture and so on).
- When ordering food to be delivered at your home from restaurants (some of them offer two options to choose from; express or standard delivery), while others even specialize in express delivery as the sole delivery and serving regime (which means they don’t have a diner, they just send out food orders).
- When placing a mail order, having to choose between standard postal service or express delivery postal service (also known as priority mail). This is by far the most common type of express delivery, and it is also very well represented (as it was for decades) on an international level. This almost always requires a surcharge, and there’s also an international organization which sees to the well-coordination of express delivery main (the Universal Postal Union, watching over the Express Mail Service or EMS).
- Intermediaries offering express delivery for goods you buy from third parties. If you want to have food ordered to your house from a specific restaurant’s menu, but they don’t do deliveries, but just take-out, you can now simply ask another company’s representatives to pick up your order and bring it to you for a small extra fee. This type of service actually goes a long way, up to large and difficult to transport orders such as furniture shopping and so on.
- Express delivery gifting services such as flower deliveries: just go online or directly to your florist, pick out a nice bouquet of flowers and arrange to have it sent to a particular someone at the date you require, with personalized notes and all the rest. As simple as that.
- Express delivery of newspapers, magazines or other printed press products: a good example is the San Antonio Express Newspaper delivery. Also, most magazines you make a subscription to will also be delivered to you through third party couriers or postal services.
Note: Usually, when you have to choose between 2 different options (express delivery vs. standard delivery), you can choose the faster delivery for an extra fee. Some companies offer the special express delivery option for free under certain conditions. Such conditions can include: having a special membership, fulfilling certain prerequisites (like being a student or whatever), placing an order which exceeds a certain threshold of currency etc.)
Examples of Some of the Best Express Delivery Services
Most of these services we all know and use regularly for our shopping or mailing needs, but a well-put round-up never hurt anyone, so we’ll just put them all in one place. After all, perhaps you don’t yet know everything there is to know about one of the express delivery services that you use so often, and perhaps you’ll learn something new. Without further ado, these are some of the country’s most popular express delivery services today.
1. DHL express delivery
Perhaps one of the best known delivery services in the U.S., DHL stands for extra fast shipping and tracking services, as well and courier handling and delivery service. It is widely used for shipments of ordered products, as well peer to peer mail and even as aid when moving (in addition or instead of specialized moving companies). DHL has reasonable fees and it even has emergency same day shipping to another country, and their customer reviews are generally pretty favorable.
2. FedEx express delivery
Similar to DHL, FedEx (in its full name Federal Express) is another widely used and reliable shipping and courier service provider. FedEx has multiple lines of service, among which FedEx Express (also known as Orange “Ex”) and FedEx Express Saver (a more budget-friendly service), providing next day delivery or overnight delivery, as well as FedEx Freight, FedEx Ground, FedEx Smart Post (‘Green’ Ex) etc.
3. Google express delivery
As some of you may know, Google has extended its services in the recent years to also include some financial services, mainly for online shopping. Among them is also Google Express, which allows you to shop a wide selection of online stores for the products you want and them receive them in the same day. It was launched as recently as 2013, but it’s already hugely popular with online users both domestic and international.
4. USPS express delivery
The USPS (or U.S. Postal Service) is the federal government postal service, a classic choice in mail deliveries since ever. Their fastest express delivery service is Priority Mail Express (by air on long distances), which guarantees overnight delivery, so you can get your letter or parcel on the next day from shipment. The advantages of this service is that its rates tend to be a bit lower than the prices practiced by the similar express delivery services of competing companies. If you shop online, then all for the better: you may even receive a discount in addition to the initial price already being quite reasonable.
5. Amazon delivery service
Then, there’s also Amazon’s own delivery service. Whenever you shop online from one of the hundreds of stores associated with Amazon, you can choose to have the goods delivered to you via their express delivery option, for an extra fee. Their shipments usually arrive on time or even a bit before schedule (both on the regular delivery and on express delivery), and you can rarely find a review complaining about it or see anything unpleasant in the news related to their service.
6. Panda express delivery
Again on the topic of food, perhaps the most common and popular food delivery service is Panda Express. They deliver a varied range of Chinese-style dishes, with a longevity in the branch for over 30 years, having been a constant part of the United States food culture ever since. The process of finding the nearest restaurant and then placing and tracking an order is super-easy, and the company has also extended internationally quite a lot.
7. Express Wine Delivery
Express Wine Delivery is a highly popular company which, as the name says, provides their customers with a fine selection of wines to choose from and then delivers them to their door fast. It’s just what was missing from a perfect dinner at home, since when it comes to food there are much more options to choose from. They offer services all over the country, from Boston to Seattle or Las Vegas, so you can feel confident to browse their website and be sure that your order will meet its delivery times.
9. Flower express delivery
There are also a lot of floral delivery services to choose from, and many of them also offer express delivery to the recipient of your intended gift. On another note, there’s also the notorious case of Flower Delivery Express (also known as Wesley Berry Flowers), a company which was advertising such florist services but which turned out to be a scam for many of its customers, so if you see an ad for their services, be sure not to fall for it, since it’s not legit by far.
9. Urban express delivery
Urban Express is another mainstream service which you can use to make sure your parcels arrive at your intended destination in good form, without spending a small fortune. No matter if you live in the busy New York or in Springfield MA, Amherst or Northampton, express delivery with this service provider will always be a life saver.
10. Pizza Hut express delivery
Last, but not least, we’ll conclude our list with the express delivery service of Pizza Hut, one of the country’s most beloved pizza-centered restaurants. They have thousands of locations everywhere, designed to cover as many customer areas as possible, and it’s surely something we’d choose over any other restaurant or café delivery out there.
The list could go on with other examples such as Mountain Express delivery, or UPS delivery, or Express Tire delivery (for automotive emergencies), or A1 Express Delivery, Southwest Delivery Express, Mid-South delivery express, West Express Delivery, Austin Express delivery, Red Express Delivery, and so on. Virtually, almost every area has its own local delivery service besides benefitting from being covered by the giants in the niche. But, for the sake of editorial space, we will stop here. We are content to have offered you an overview of what is to be expected from express delivery services in the U.S and beyond, as well as a glimpse in the options you currently have in this department.
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