Umm,
just think if every parcel was taken from point A to point B, and what that would mean for couriers. Sure, it works if you have very few parcels, all for delivery within a smallish area. But if you're delivering over a large area then grouping them into delivery rounds makes much more sense. In fact there's an interesting linear-programming exercise you can do to optimize your depot set up. The other problem, of optimizing your delivery routes, is much more complex. I leave it as an exercise to the reader to demonstrate exactly how much more complex it is (10 points)
(Smale is stuffed, Wed 29 Feb 2012, 9:46, 2 replies)

I've run the
analysis through my CRAY MPx supercomputer, using advanced heuristic polynomial modeling algorythms, with multidatapoint weighting, and it has come up with the answer:

It is MUCH more complex.
(username failed moderation, Wed 29 Feb 2012, 9:51, closed)

This seems fair,
but if I were to hire a courier to move a box of stuff between two shops in the same town, I don't really think it'd be an efficient process to have it diverted to a depot in the arse end of nowhere.
Meh, good thing I'm not running a courier service, I suppose.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Wed 29 Feb 2012, 10:33, closed)

Most small courier companies would go directly
But big organizations like DHL or the Post office are set up to work via Depots.
(username failed moderation, Wed 29 Feb 2012, 11:16, closed)

To be honest,
most of my knowledge of courier services comes from playing Frontier. All I can really be sure of is: slaves + [forgetting to install life support] = fertiliser
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Wed 29 Feb 2012, 11:36, closed)

We prefer to think of ourselves
as "some-where's arsehole". Thankyou.
(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Wed 29 Feb 2012, 13:42, closed)

My apologies
to the good people of Oz.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Wed 29 Feb 2012, 16:28, closed)