Two years ago, on a Saturday morning, as retiree Neelakantan was about to chuck the local week-end paper away, a courier-service ad in it caught his eye. He called and got answers that dispelled all his misgivings about the new service. “That initial conversation, and my hunch based on that, were the deciding factors,” he confessed. He spoke to his son in Denver, U.S., told him about the service, and asked for a “send” list. The first packet travelled like a breeze, and since then his son and family have been enjoying India-made pickles, snacks, Ayurvedic/allopathy medicines and whatever else they fancied. “Happy with the service,” he said. “The courier guy picks up things from home and takes care of packaging and delivering them. No complaints!”
Give me a step-by-step, I asked Express Couriers, one of the three “wholesalers” in this business.
Collect the food/other items (anything safe by airport standards) you want to send and call your courier – FedEx/DHL/UPS, he said. We take them to all destinations across the globe. Medicines need a doctor's prescription and bill. Some couriers demand ID proof (ration card/driving license/Aadhar card) and a photocopy of the sender's proof of address. Items are charged by weight. The rate is high for the first kg but comes down as it goes up.
Door collection and company-packing is a huge relief, say the senders. Most companies take a description of items and guestimate of weight and pack the items in front of you. The agent arrives with a smart electronic weighing-machine, cardboard box, bubble-wrap, sticking tape, packs the stuff, or takes them to his office. The packing is professional, said Kannan, Neelakantan's son, and in the multiple times he received parcels, not once did he find it tampered with or damaged. But take care to write the delivery address meticulously, said retiree Chandru. “A hashtag the agent placed in front of the door number delayed the package at the Fremont post office.” Finally, do collect the receipt (an airways bill) – this contains the tracking number. Mail the recipients this number and ask them to “follow” the parcel's journey and be home to receive it.
Just one piece of info — advertisers are agents, wholesalers generally do not deal with collection directly (job creation?). And rates differ.
“International dealership is restricted to Express, Deskmate and Aviation Star,” said Senthilkumaran of Express, sharing how his circle of customers went up from 1 to 3000 in ten years. “I was at the airport when this gentleman from Nangnallur rushed out of the check-in area and begged me to courier his excess baggage. It was urgent, he said, meant for the consecration of a temple in Australia. He left a heavy box of puja vessels and decorations, thrust Rs. 60,000 in my hand and vanished!” Senthilkumaran managed to reach the 200-kg box in time, word spread, and a new business was born to instant success.
“Indian food products sold abroad are at least a year old, often unusable,” he said. “We reach freshly-ground masala powders in under three days. And puja stuff isn't even available there. For our diaspora across the world, this service is a boon.” It is cost-effective, he insists. Indian items aren't cheap anywhere abroad, and this service does away with the hassle of driving to the Indian store in hostile weather.
U.S. customers e-mail him monthly grocery lists with names of stores (Grand Sweets, Ambika Appalam, Narasu's Coffee, Norton Road couple), he said. Express buys/ships them for an extra fee. Their FDA clearance helps couriers ship most items, “only some medicines get thrown out. Why should you bring generic medicines available at drugstores here, they ask.” Package loss is rare, and has happened 2-3 times in ten years, he said. The company compensates by paying the invoice value or by free shipping. “It's a service based on trust and stats show it is not misplaced.”
Receiver's note:
Both my grandfathers studied in London, lived on bread, cheese and vegetables for want of anything better in a meat-eating country. By their own admission, it was a difficult time. Fast forward seven decades, and we now receive Indian perishables in a matter of days! I remember the day when the first package was due in the heart of winter. It had snowed all day and then there was frigid darkness by nightfall. All hope of the package was abandoned, but the online tracker showed it was on its way. Around 7 p.m., we saw a man trudging through a foot of snow – to bring a box of warm-weather foods from half a world away. It was surreal! We were soon lapping up goodies we grew up with!
