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Old Sep 29, 2008 | 9:52 am
  #17  
gglave
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Vancouver, Canada
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Originally Posted by Adonsa
Why haven't the common carriers (UPS, Fedex, DHL, Airborne, Emory, Flying Tiger, etc) stepped up to the plate to provide airport convenient drop off and pick up points for luggage?
You can assume the execs have done the math and it doesn't pay off yet. Two thoughts come to mind -

1) I would assume it costs quite a bit of money to rent a large space in an airport that could receive all the luggage, sort it, and hand it out. You have the costs of renting the space, plus the capital costs of renovating it to sort your needs.

2) In order for the service to be of interest, they need to price it at a point where it's profitable and perhaps the market isn't there yet. For example, United airlines charges $15 to move a 50 pound bag and have it going around on a carousel at the airport exit. What would FedEx have to charge to have me choose them instead? I've got to drop the bag off somewhere, then go check in, then go find their office at a giant airport and pick my bag up again? They've probably got to save me at least $10 to make that worth my effort, which means they have to charge five dollars. Not gonna happen.

Finally, most of the major air couriers *do* have offices at airports for courier drop off and pick up. They're not in the passenger terminal - Often they're in the general aviation area. So likely not much of a stretch to have your cab stop there to/from the airport.

Cheers,
Geoff in Vancouver, Canada
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