Get busy: Venerable courier service, amid pandemic, sees surge in demand

Area businesswoman has survived a gauntlet of challenges in 25 years, mostly with a full-throttle focus on providing the best customer service. The pandemic has pushed her resiliency to new levels.

By Brian Hartz
| 6:00 a.m. December 3, 2020
| 0 Free Articles Remaining!

Mark Wemple. Ricki South has owned and operated Busy Beaver Express, a Dade City-based courier service, since 1995.

Entrepreneurs

Fax machines. Email. Broadband Internet. The cloud. Busy Beaver Express, a Dade City-based courier company, has seen — and survived — it all during its two and a half decades in business. Founded in 1995 by Ricki South, who continues to own and operate the business today, the firm has weathered massive shifts in the way business documents and products are transmitted.

Then came the coronavirus pandemic. Suddenly, Busy Beaver, which offers same-day delivery service up and down the Gulf Coast, as well as to Lakeland and Orlando — for as little as $14 — is busier than ever. In a normal year, says South, the company’s client mix would be about 80% commercial and 20% residential, but the COVID-19 crisis has upended that ratio.