International Courier Services

Mark: Hi, it's Mark from Top Local. We're here with Mark Huggan of Phantom Couriers in Vancouver. Vancouver's favourite couriers and we're talking package delivery. How're you doing Mark?

Mark: Doing excellent. How are you?

Mark: Good. So if I want to send a package or an envelope or something like that, say to some weird and wonderful place, like Vietnam or Nepal, how does that actually work? What happens?

Mark: Customers call us. We obviously arrive and pick it up. We bring it back to our office and we manifest and ship it out. So we make sure we do our due diligence. Confirming the address. Make sure all the contact information is done and then we get it on the fastest flight out or whatever you want. But mainly international stuff always goes on a plane. We leave our office between three and four, goes to the airport, gets put on a cargo plane and boom it's gone. Then we'll use whatever third party courier on the other side to get it done. The world wide network.

Mark: And how long have you been doing this for? Like, you've got, you mentioned before that you basically hit every country in the world. How does that work? How do you get all those connections in place to be able to do that?

Mark: Like you said, I've been doing it a long time. First I had a business partner, a long time ago and he was an ex-Purolator guy and he's like, "Oh we'll just take Purolator down to the airport" because if you bring it to us, we will give you like a kickback. And I was like, that sounds kind of cool. Why don't we just open our own network. So I just started back then, not knowing anything and now it just seems like it's so easy but I need to explain it to like everybody else. I just developed it by doing it forever until it basically, I didn't know, I just started off mailing things and tracking them and then I was like, well what if I just phone the guy in Armstrong, BC and send it up to him and have a courier drop it off. I just built a network. And it was like you, just being dumb and not knowing what I'm doing to being smart and having it all done right. Fake it till you make it. Made it. There you go.

I'm just taking a look at what we've got, some things going out today, like just out of the city and out of the country. We're going to, oh nothing super interesting. Oh where's this. Where's Katella? It just seems like a lot of Canadian stuff today. But we did a bunch of eBay returns to Japan. And so you know, you don't want to send out, "Yeah I don't like my shirt from Japan", and charge them $400 bucks to return his shirt. And so I had to find a decent vertical to get it out with and found the carrier and found the guy who would deliver it. You know, spoke a little Japanese and a little English and got it done, and cheap so it was good.

Mark: So is that using ship transportation instead of air?

Mark: No, we just got an LTL air freight. Like there was a container that needed to be filled up with returns and stuff. I'm just like, put this in there, ok. So you just meet people talk to people, figure things out and get it done. And it's nice you know, after 25 years, there's that network to fall back on. Otherwise I could just sent it direct, put it on a flight, play for it, it's done. And we just track it all here.

Mark: And so the tracking when it's in a place like Vietnam for instance, like how does the tracking work?

Mark: Usually our way bill goes to their way bill and we starting using their way bill through their system. And sometimes tracking simple, like it could be a SMS or an email where we just go to their portal or they just keep us in touch. Like a lot of guys just text us the stuff. What's happening or is even through email. It's all just, because everybody has a website, it's all tracked through their site. Like our dispatch system would be with their dispatch system. The API's can talk on a few occasions and then otherwise they upload a file to us. And or if it's like a national carrier like DHL, Purolator, TNT any of those guys, we just jack onto their site.

Mark: Sure, and in some of these lesser developed countries, the final delivery, the last mile could be a scooter, or a...who knows for sure. Bicycle.

Mark: Yeah, definitely. Just like the last mile is always the interesting mile I can tell you that. But guys are working hard all over the world, getting it done.

Mark: So there you are. If you need a package or a letter delivered anywhere in the world, the guys to call in Vancouver, Phantom Couriers. You can reach them at 604-899-5447. They're busy. You've got to call them and talk to them and they'll fix it, they'll get it there. 604-899-5447. One of the top 100 fastest growing companies in British Columbia. Thanks Mark

Mark: Right on. Thank you