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August 2005:CATALYST Magazine
Being a courier traditionally is a low-tech job. Anyone with a bicycle, car or even two feet can deliver a letter. But that was before John Lauth got into the business.
Lauth started Courier Connection Inc. in 1999 and has turned it into one of the most hi-tech courier companies in the city, if not the country. “Very few have what we have in terms of technology,” he says. “Our cars are all equipped with global positioning systems (GPS) and all our drivers have mobile data units, which is like a GPS chip. We know where our drivers at all times and they never get lost.”
The technology certainly improves customer service and satisfaction. “We can get it there faster and therefore cheaper because our drivers do more deliveries,” he says. But it also helps in employee satisfaction. “It means that our new drivers are profitable from the beginning because they know where they’re going. Without GPS, it takes a driver six months to figure out how to drive around Atlanta and they get frustrated and quit.”
Courier Connection offers other amenities as well. First off, the drivers, who are always well dressed, are available for deliveries 24 hours a day. And, they won’t just drive around Atlanta; they will make deliveries anywhere in the country.
The business is taking off. Revenues have jumped from almost $1 million in 2003 to $4 million in 2004. “We’re going to saturate metro Atlanta and open up other centers in the metro area.” The company has about 45 drivers and more will be hitting the streets.
Lauth has no intention of selling his business nor does he envision going into other cities. He already built a courier business with two lawyers and sold it. With the money from that sale, he started Courier Connection. “It was great in that I had no partners and I paid cash so I had no debt. I was able to build the place I wanted and develop a culture where it was a good place to work. I want to do business with people I like and trust.”
He has a standing offer to sell the company but the 40-year-old bachelor says that’s not for him. “With the sale, I would get several millions after taxes. Nothing wrong with that, but what would I do?”
Lauth flies airplanes (he volunteers for Angel Flight) and is thinking about helicopter lessons. Although he has two shelties, he admits he’d like to get married. “I’m looking for a super intelligent woman – lots of mental horsepower – who understands the entrepreneur spirit.”
He enjoys being a part of YEO. “I love the networking because you can pick the brains of other entrepreneurs going through the same stuff as you,” he says. “You can ask them what they’re doing about insurance, taxes, employee relations. You don’t feel like you’re by yourself.”? - Mary Welch
