Delivering the Goodies

The air package companies have created an overnight sensation

Americans are hooked on speed. Not the drug variety, mind you, but the overnight delivery kind. Like the microwave oven and the videocassette recorder, air packages have become such a convenience that people now wonder how they ever got along without them. Overnight delivery is also an exploding, $5 billion-a-year business. One of the fly-by-night companies, Emery Air Freight, ships Cabbage Patch Kids for Coleco, couture dresses for Bloomingdale's and personal computers for IBM. During the Christmas season, the boom time for shippers, Federal Express will carry almost 500,000 parcels daily. Last week...

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