Author: Nikki Bennett

By Matt Wiley

During this busy season of holiday shopping, when so many gifts are being purchased online, it can be tough to decide which shipping method actually will get your purchases where they need to go in the time period left before the big gift-giving holiday. Sometimes, things get lost in the mail or delayed, forcing them to arrive later than expected.

However, this is not the case with New Tampa-based D & E Couriers, a local delivery service that truly ensures same-day delivery to locations all across the Tampa Bay area. D & E specializes in delivering packages, sensitive documents or anything else that individuals and businesses need delivered in a timely manner, without having to go through a major delivery service at the risk of that delivery showing up late.

Whether it’s document deliveries, pharmaceutical transfers, court deliveries, inter-office deliveries, bank deposits or payroll deliveries, D & E Couriers is your safe, dependable and efficient solution.

“We are always on time,” says D & E owner David Gross. “We are very conscious about (our delivery time).”

David and his wife Ellen (together, the “D & E” in the company’s name) have lived in New Tampa’s Heritage Isles community off Cross Creek Blvd. since they relocated to Florida twelve years ago from West Orange, NJ, where David ran a limousine service. Although he says he doesn’t like to drop names, he admits that transporting top-billed actors and directors around the Big Apple (New York City) was a pretty common task.

David sold that business before the couple moved to New Tampa, where he worked in retail sales and even got his real estate license. He also worked as an independent courier, delivering documents for law firms, prescriptions for doctors and pharmacies, as well as other deliveries for local companies before deciding to start his own delivery service.

“I knew I wanted to start a courier service, but I didn’t want to do limousine service anymore,” David explains.

Now, David has a fleet of independent couriers that work for him at D & E. Ellen handles the calls from businesses looking for a courier and dispatches drivers to handle the different deliveries.

“(Ellen’s) job is pretty tough,” David explains. “In addition to knowing the area well, she also has to know which driver is located within that surrounding area so that packages will get delivered in the most prompt manner.”

Despite owning the company, David still also does deliveries on a regular basis himself. On any given day, drivers may travel back and forth between Tampa and St. Petersburg multiple times before heading as far north as Brooksville and then taking something back to South Tampa, David says.

“We have access to as many drivers as a company may need,” David explains. “All of which are insured and have been personally interviewed by me.”

Drivers have their own vehicles and look to D & E for assignments. Although D & E is mostly a local service, the couriers can make deliveries all over the state.

“We pride ourselves on same-day deliveries, locally,” David says. “However, we can make deliveries across the state. If you need something taken to Miami, or even Jacksonville, we’ll get it there, quickly. It just won’t be in an hour.”

D & E offers four levels of service: Express, Standard, Economy and Priority Out-of-Town. Customers are charged for each service based upon the mileage required for each delivery and the time in which the package (whatever it may be) needs to be delivered. Whatever the per-mile rate is determined to be for Economy Service, the price for Standard and Express service will be slightly higher.

Express Service promises pick-up and delivery with 90 minutes of the package being ready. Standard Service promises pick-up and delivery within three hours of being ready. Economy Service ensures that all deliveries that are ready for pick-up by 11 a.m. will be delivered by the end of the business day at 5 p.m.

“What a lot of people don’t realize is that courier services are usually cheaper and, in many cases, more reliable than the big-name overnight delivery services,” David explains. “A lot of people don’t even realize that they can use courier services for their deliveries.”

West Meadows resident and local attorney Dennis Kapustin knows the benefits of using D & E well.

“We use D & E for all of our courier services,” Kapustin says. “D & E has always been good to me. I can’t give them a better rating. No matter what it is, (D & E) always is prompt and efficient.”

Kapustin explains that he uses D & E to send legal documents around town to clients and other attorneys, including wills, trusts and real estate deeds.

“I highly recommend D & E,” Kapustin says.

Need something delivered around town the same day? Give D & E Couriers a try. For more info, please visit decouriersinc.com or call 994-5909.