Got space in your luggage? Air travellers get paid to carry parcels

If you're only takingcarry-on luggagethe next time you fly, Shelvie Fernan wants to talk. She'llbuyyour checked-baggage capacity and pay you up to $1,400 for it.

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Fernan is the CEO and co-founder of Fly and Fetch,an Edmonton-based startup that has its eye on being the next big shared-economy firm to disrupt a traditional business sector,similar to whatUberdid to the transportation industry.

Fernan is targeting air mail.

"Me and my team are hacking international shipping by hiring travellers to transport packages for us rather than using air cargo," saidFernan, who has been purchasingairline passengers' unused checked luggage to carry parcels to far off places since 2019.

By doing so, Fernancanoffer overseas shipping cheaper than traditional couriers, which she says is an important service toFilipino Canadians like herself who frequently senditems to and from thePhilippines.

"One day, I realized that we don't really use FedEx because it's so expensive,or DHL,because we just look for friends and family going back home. We've been doing this for like decades," said Fernan.

Crab paste and wedding shoes

Precious Simpao, arestaurant supervisorin Red Deer, Alta., has used theservice morethan 10 times to shipitems to herself fromManila: jewellery,cosmetics,dresses andeven a couple ofjars of crab paste.

"I had this craving it's a taste of home, that's why."

Last year, Simpaomailed asmartphoneto her fatherin thePhilippines. It arrived in three days and cost her $37 to sendit from Edmonton.

The Cost of Living comparedthe price of sendinganiPhone 13 in a padded envelope using one of fourtraditional courier services:Purolator, FedEx, DHL and UPS.

To send the parcelin the same time framefrom Calgary toManila would cost between $175 and $500.

Why is it so expensive to ship stuff?

It all comes down to overhead, and international shipping has a lot of that: storefronts where customers can drop off parcels, warehouses to sort and store mail, delivery vans to pick up and drop off packages, rising fuel pricesand planes, which are very expensive.

"Last time I checked, a big cargo plane like a Boeing 747was going to cost you about US $300 million," saidThomas Goldsby, a logistics expert and professor at the Haslam College of Business at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

As of 2022,FedExwasoperating697aircraft.

"Planes are very expensive, facilities are expensive and all the people you need to employ to maintain and operate that equipment, very pricey. And so you have a very hefty fixed cost proposition in front of you," saidGoldsby.

But with a crowdshippingmodel like Fly and Fetch, most of those fixed costs can be cut out of the equation. Senders drop off and travellers pick up at employees' homes, called "hubs" eliminating the need for the company to pay rent and utilities on brick-and-mortar locations.

So whether you're travelling to Manila in business or economy,the offer is the same: $125 to $1,400, depending how far you're going and how much you're willing to schlep.

It's called crowdshipping

The Fly and Fetch model, known ascrowdsourced shipping or crowdshipping,is new to Canadabut hasbeen tried before in other jurisdictionswith varyingdegrees of success.

EuropeanstartupPiggyBee was one of the first to appear in 2012, followed by the U.S.-based appAirWayBill. Both have since folded.

However, some found success.

Roadie, which matches gig-economy drivers with deliveries going places they were already travelling, is still going strong. The companygained attention in 2015 for using the American breakfast chain Waffle House as a neutral meetup location for drivers and senders. UPS bought the company for an undisclosed amount in 2021.

Read the fine print

There are no regulations or law under Transport Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA)that prevent airline passengersfrom carrying itemsfor other people in their checked luggage unlessthey are prohibited orillegal.

In an email statement, a spokesperson saidCBSA"is aware that having friends or family members ship goods to Canada through international travellers is not an uncommon practice,"but travellers are responsible for complying withall customs requirements,including payment of duties and taxes.

Cost of Living8:45The growth of crowdsourced parcel shipping

Another issue thatCBSA flagged, as did Alfred Chase director of compliance for Border Brokers is that a travellercarrying items for otherscould be interpreted as a "commercial carrier" andbe forced to leave the goods at airport customsuntil they're cleared through normal channels.

In an email, Chase said travellers can alsoface fines forunknowingly transporting goodsvalued over $2,000,or carrying one of the "thousands of different commodity types controlled by ninedifferent government departments"beyond theobvious exclusion of controlled items like firearms.

Chase added that even something as simple as missing a meat inspection certificate on a single can of beef stewcould resultin a $500 penalty.

"Some people will see this as a quick buck or discount to their vacation costs and will not think of the repercussions if something goes wrong. There is a reason the airports ask you not to carry anyone else's bag."

Fernan saidher company is careful to ensure travellers don't carryitemsvalued over the allowable limit and does notship prohibited or restricted items such as tobacco, alcohol, controlled drugs, weapons or currency over$10,000.

Also,she said, senders' parcelsare transported unsealed so thattravellers can inspect every item they're takingon their flight and decline anything they don't want to bring.

With Fly and Fetch, everything gets packed in a cardboard box, separate from personal items like toothpaste and underwear. Travellers drop the boxes offat the baggage area andget on their flight.

But passengerswon't get paid until they take the boxes off the baggage carousel and hand them over to a Fly and Fetch employee that meets them at the airport.

Fly and Fetch packs those boxes to the brimthe maximum allowable weight for a single piece of checked luggage, typically 23 kilograms. When flying internationally, most airlines allow passengers to check two bags for free.

Goldsby figures that's how the company is able to keep prices low and turn a profit it's found a loophole that allows travellers take full advantage of the cost of their airline ticket.

Air freight sector growing

According to a new report fromDeloitte, the volume of air cargo loaded and unloaded in Canada could grow by nearly one million tonnesby2025.The study also suggests that Canadian airports, airlines andglobal deliverycompanies will need to invest in logistics infrastructureto keep up withrising demand forinternational shipping.

Seeing opportunity, Fly and Fetch is increasing its Canadiandrop-off locations and expanding its routes. Buteven if it's able to undercut the competition, Deloitte's Dejan Markovicis not convincedcrowdshippingcould ever replace traditional shipping methods.

"It probably isn't going to do a whole lot of damage," saidMarkovic, the company'snational aviation leader. "In terms of theshipping giants the FedExs,the Purolators of the world these are Goliath's, right? They have a tonof product, a tonof demand and a lot of capacityas well."

Fernansaidshe has somethingthose "shipping giants" don't have. Something she believesis more important.

"The Filipino community, we're very tight with them and they feela little bit attached to us becauseit's not justtransactional," she said.

"Forexample, I asked my dad to deliver a package for us from Edmonton to Red Deer. I was like, 'Can you justdrop it off there? Because, like, it's just like a special case for us.'"

When herdaddropped off the package, thecustomer invited him inside for dinner and they ended up hanging out for hours.