Big Ol Jet Airliner

My wife, Dorcas, and I are flying up to Florida on Sunday night, with the express purpose of picking up and bringing back pull-up banners, bulletin shells, promotional cards, welcome signs, and small groups books and materials for our church in Lima, Peru. Why are we flying roundtrip to Florida to do this? Because flying up and back is cheaper than sending it by FedEx!

Yes, believe it or not, it's true. It will cost less to fly two of us roundtrip from Lima-Miami-Lima than to ship all of the materials we need by FedEx, or by any other overnight service such as DHL or UPS.

The overnight services tend to work well for national deliveries, but not so well internationally. First off, it costs thousands of dollars to ship all of the banners, bulletin shells, etc., to us by an overnight service. Then, all of the materials always are delayed in transit in Peru Customs at the Lima International Airport. Our materials can sit in Peru Customs at the airport for up to a week, at times, as they decide whether or not to charge us a tax, and how much. An "overnight" delivery sometimes will not reach our door in Lima until 7-10 days after it has departed from Florida!

So, between costs and delays, it makes much more financial sense for us to fly up to Florida, say hello to our friends at FRC in Cooper City, and then fly back down with everything that we need for our Lima campus. You wouldn't think that it would make sense that way, but it does!

This is something you should check on for your international ministry. If your parent church or ministry is based in a country which is different from the country where you actually have your own church or ministry, then it may make more financial sense for you to flight back and forth, courier style, to collect items and materials that you need, instead of having it all shipped by one of the overnight services. This seems to make even more sense these days, with the international financial crisis and a drop in the number of people flying, and the resulting drop in airfare costs. You should check it out: you may be able to save yourself and your church or ministry many thousands of dollars!