My job as a courier in Los Angeles

I’ve been a courier with A-1 Courier for about 5 months now. What I love about this job is how many different people and places I get to see doing same-day deliveries in the Los Angeles area. One moment I’m picking up gift bags from a client in Calabasas, and the next I’m delivering tile samples to an interior designer in Inglewood. I’ve been as far north as Camarillo, and as far south as Newport Beach, and as far east as Palm Springs (thankfully not in the same day). Sure, the roads can be unpredictable – as anyone in Los Angeles knows.  You never know which car is going to pull a brazen stunt next. I’ve learned the best way to deal with working for a courier service in Los Angeles, is to play some good music or a podcast and take things nice and easy. It’s always appreciated when someone makes space for me to change lanes, and I try to pay it forward to others, even though my goal is always to provide fast courier services. For particularly long drives, catching up with a friend on a hands-free phone call really helps pass the time. One thing about driving in LA is that no matter where you’re stuck in traffic, there’s always a pretty view out the window. 

Of course, the second biggest hurdle in Los Angeles is parking. Thankfully with the rise of food delivery, it’s become more okay for cars to stall at a red curb with their hazards on. Hospitals and hotels are my favorite to service, because there’s always a nice big place to pull up, and there’s always someone managing the parking who I can ask where to stop for a minute or two. 

Some of the houses in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, that I deliver to are spectacular! I’ll put it this way: on more than one occasion I have gotten stuck inside the property because I needed security to buzz me out of the front gate. Those big tough guys you sometimes see protecting a sizable estate? They’re very friendly when they know you’re not a threat. I always make a point of parking out of the way and making my presence known as I approach those high-profile houses.

The most important thing to making courier deliveries fast, simple, and efficient is confidence. I’m often given detailed notes about where to go and who my contact is at a given pick-up or drop-off, but sometimes it isn’t so clear once you’re actually there. When something looks like it might be a private area, it is important to remember that I have a reason to be there. I will make myself known and find someone to introduce myself to, telling them who and what I am looking for and that I’m with a courier service. People are actually very helpful when you ask nicely for it, even if they don’t have all of the answers. More often than not, they’ll point me in exactly the right direction. My A-1 Courier shirt and hat help show that I am official.

I’ve even made some friends with people I regularly see at picks or drops. There are the employees at a premiere clothing distributor who always say good morning, the woman at a prop warehouse and her dog Chico, and the security guard at a gated community who tells me about his latest surfing story, to name a few. As I said I love the adventure of new, unique service orders, but I do enjoy revisiting common locations to see the people there. Repeat visits also are nice because I know exactly where to park and enter as soon as I recognize the location.

Working for A-1 Courier is great because the company values my time, and delivering packages gives me a great taste of all the diverse parts that make up Los Angeles.