HomeBlogAutomationWhy Is Overnight Shipment the Lifeblood of Business Operations?

Why Is Overnight Shipment the Lifeblood of Business Operations?


Thanks to the magic of overnight shipping you can order a PlayStation online today and get it delivered by tomorrow. Businesses use overnight shipping for all kinds of purposes. They send their goods to client locations using overnight shipping to meet last minute deadlines. Both large multinational firms and local businesses order checks and other office supplies from vendors and online sellers who overnight it to them. In fact, ordering checks overnight is a common business practice as running out check paper is a common problem.

No matter what you are trying to ship or expecting to get delivered, overnight shipping is truly an impressive feat. We are not talking about local shipments either. You can actually send out a package from London in the afternoon and get it delivered in Anchorage, Alaska before 10:00 AM the next day. Delivery giants such as FedEx and UPS have invested millions to develop their state-of-the-art logistics network and the speed at which they process individual package is actually mind boggling. Right from their networks of global sorting and shipment hubs to a fleet of cargo aircrafts, these carriers get the packages to their respective destination well within the deadline.  

How Does Overnight Shipping Work?

Let’s say you want to send a check from Miami to Anchorage. Once it’s received by the courier guy, the mails that are sent to local addresses (within city and suburb) are immediately sorted out at a sorting station. Now, because your check envelope is addressed to go to Anchorage. It ends up at the Airport. From there it’s shipped off to a super hub. For FedEx, this location is Memphis. They have giant hubs that are responsible for sorting all the mail and then flying them out to their destinations.  It’s important to note here that these giant carriers have their own aircrafts, which means they can fly nonstop from their hubs to international destinations. While commercial flyers have to wait at airports for connecting flights, a FedEx flight reaches distant destinations non-stop. Once the package reaches its destination, in this case Anchorage, it’s sorted again and shipped out to local distribution hubs via trucks. From there it’s delivered to the address well within the timeline.

Why Businesses in America Need Overnight Shipment?

For every consumer that’s trying to order something online, there are businesses that are trying to get their products delivered on time. Businesses that sell their products online usually offer a “rush delivery” option, which completely relies on the overnight shipment prowess of the major carriers. Apart from sending products directly to consumers, businesses also need overnight shipment to pay other businesses. Online banking is still not very popular when it comes to business payments. Businesses routinely order checks overnight from online printing firms and then send those checks via mail to their vendors and utility companies. Most medium-sized businesses print checks in bulk to pay all its vendors and then send them out in double-window envelopes. Delay in delivering these checks can potentially stall business operations. As long as businesses continue to use paper checks to make payments, overnight shipment will continue to serve its purpose in America.

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