NPR, November 4, 2001
Host: Lisa Simeone
Time: 8:00-9:00 PM
 

LISA SIMEONE, host:

The intense security in place here in Washington since September 11th has hit workers in one industry especially hard. A lot of couriers have business that takes them to government buildings frequently. They used to be able to move quickly in and out of those buildings. But since September 11th, tight security has been slowing couriers down. NPR's Snigdha Prakash reports.

SNIGDHA PRAKASH reporting:

Cars used to be the fastest way to ferry packages from one end of Washington to another. But cars makes security guards nervous now, so they've become the slowest way to move things around.

Unidentified Man #1: Will you pop the hood, glove box, the trunk? I need everybody to step out of the car.

PRAKASH: We're at the National Institutes of Health just outside Washington, where scientists study everything from cancer to anthrax. Every car that comes into the sprawling compound is searched.

Unidentified Man #1: You check that glove box already?

Unidentified Man #2: Yeah, I checked the glove box already.

Unidentified Man #1: All right. Cool.

PRAKASH: Sometimes the line of cars waiting to be searched stretches well outside the compound. On this attempt it took 10 minutes to clear security and drive into NIH's parking area. That's too long if you're a courier, says Beth Fowler. She's an owner of Washington Express Courier Service, a large courier company.

Ms. BETH FOWLER (Owner, Washington Express Courier Service): We no longer send car couriers to NIH simply because the security has been so heightened up at NIH.

PRAKASH: Fowler says Washington Express only sends bike messengers to NIH and many other government buildings. Messenger Marty Brown makes the NIH runs. Security guards don't mind his bike the way they do cars. Still, once he's inside the compound, security slows Marty Brown, too.

Mr. MARTY BROWN (Messenger, Washington Express Courier Service): I have a pickup, Building 1, Room 201.

PRAKASH: Brown has to clear a metal detector before he gets past the lobby of this building. He's got so much metal in his pockets the detector is buzzing even before he steps through it.

(Soundbite of metal detector buzzing; items being placed in a tray)

PRAKASH: He empties his pockets, takes off his watch and chats with the guards.

Unidentified Man #3: Did you get your watch fixed?

Mr. BROWN: It wasn't fixed. It just--a little piece of it broke off, and it went right back on.

(Soundbite of metal detector buzzing)

PRAKASH: He's still buzzing a minute later when the guards let him in.

(Soundbite of metal detector buzzing)

Mr. BROWN: Fortunately, these gentlemen know me...

Unidentified Man #4: Yeah.

Mr. BROWN: ...and I'm going to get through even though I am still beeping this silly thing.

(Soundbite of metal detector buzzing)

PRAKASH: We go upstairs to retrieve the package. From start to finish, this pickup took about 10 minutes. It used to take five before September 11. In a business where time is money, these delays cut into commissions and profits. Marty's boss, Beth Fowler, says her company does charge a little extra when a courier has to wait around because of tight security.

Ms. FOWLER: Waiting time? Sure, we do charge for it. But it's nowhere near what he could make if he was actually doing a rush delivery for someone, picking up multiple boxes, so on and so forth.

PRAKASH: By the way, the package Marty Brown just picked up from NIH has only begun its complicated journey.

(Soundbite of computerized beep)

Mr. BROWN: Yeah, I have a package. You got a radio code who I'm handing this off to?

PRAKASH: Now Brown is at a gas station a few miles away from NIH. He'll hand off the package to a car courier, who'll take it on the next leg of its journey.

(Soundbite of computerized beeping)

Mr. BROWN: Copy that. Copy that. I'm calling him right now.

PRAKASH: Tough security isn't just slowing couriers down in Washington; it's also wiped out a whole chunk of their business. For example, lobbyists aren't sending mass mailings to lawmakers on Capitol Hill, at least not by courier. Couriers haven't been allowed to make deliveries to Capitol Hill since shortly after the US bombing campaign began. This week, the discovery of anthrax spores shut down deliveries to government mail rooms all over the city. Beth Fowler says her sales are off by 10 percent.

Ms. FOWLER: At current revenue levels, we think we can sustain ourselves without having to let any of our messengers go for the next 30 days. I think we can keep everybody making money for the next 30 days.

PRAKASH: After that, if business doesn't pick up, Fowler says, she' ll have to start laying off messengers. Snigdha Prakash, NPR News, Washington.