Send it by Fedex via ground
Good New York Times article on how FedEx was able to realize its weaknesses (that overnight shipping overnight was dependent on the health of the economy, and rivals like UPS were beginning to take it on with overnight delivery) and find a solution: acquisition of related companies which were only rebranded last year under the FedEx name:
By the late 1990's, Frederick W. Smith, FedEx's founder and chairman, was fed up with the unavoidable ups and downs — particularly since U.P.S. had begun expanding into air delivery. If FedEx was going to lose market share to less expensive services, Mr. Smith figured, it should offer them itself. So he embarked on a buying binge, acquiring various types of ground transportation businesses.
"The economics of airplanes are such that we couldn't just keep taking prices down," Mr. Smith said. "We finally realized that if we wanted to grow, we had get into surface transportation."
Wall Street applauds the move. "Even if FedEx's ground delivery product cannibalizes its air delivery, at least it now can keep the revenues in-house," said John L. Barnes 3rd, an analyst at Deutsche Bank.
...FedEx Express, the air delivery unit, still contributed the biggest share — $15.3 billion — to the company's $20.6 billion in revenue in fiscal 2002. FedEx Ground, which delivers small packages to consumers or businesses, accounted for $2.7 billion. FedEx Freight, which consolidates industrial shipments that are too small to fill an entire truck, brought in $2 billion. The remainder came from FedEx Custom Critical's premium-priced delivery of time-sensitive products like medicines, as well as from consulting services and help with customs procedures.