History Main / Courier

* In ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' fic ''Fanfic/ThePriceOfFlight'', Ankh-Morpork's courier needs are served by the {{Pegasus}} Service, the marvellous winged horses which are nominally part of the City Air Watch. Each of those seventeen pilots, viewed as the élite of the Air Watch, is served by a Feegle Navigator who can get the pilot and her mount anywhere on the Disc within an hour. Lord Vetinari uses them to convey diplomatic bags, air mail, and his personal greetings to Governments around the Disc. Read more in the works of Creator/AAPessimal.

* ''Fanfic/VowOfNudity'': Fiora grew up in a primitive village where her mother serves as the “runner,” aka the one who delivers messages on foot to other clans in the savannah.

* ''Fanfic/VowOfNudity'': Fiora grew up in a primitive village where her mother’s job is to run messages on foot to other clans in the savannah.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'': [[SubspaceAnsible FTL communications]] are not possible, so messages have to be carried through jump space on a starship before being transmitted. Usually carried by the Imperial Interstellar Scout Service's X-Boats, though it's possible for a player character group to make a modest living as private couriers (especially if one of the PCs received a surplus Scout ship after mustering out of the IISS).

* ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'': [[SubspaceAnsible FTL communications]] are not possible, so messages have to be carried through jump space on a starship before being transmitted. It can be a profitable mission option for player characters who don't have enough cargo space for speculative trading.

%% Needs Context * The profession of the central characters in ''ComicBook/TheCouriers''.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Drowntown}}'', Gina Cassel works as an aqua-courier in [[SunkenCity flooded London]]. This can be dangerous -- when we first see her, she's being chased by a gang of thugs. (She's rather annoyed at the end of it when the supposedly important package is just a rich guy's clothes which he could easily have waited for or replaced.)
%% Needs Context * The subject of the story "The Courier" in ''ComicBook/{{Flight}}'' volume five.
* Ramona Flowers' job in ''ComicBook/ScottPilgrim''. The fact that she has the ability to open subspace tunnels to use as shortcuts [[MundaneUtility comes in handy for this job]].

* ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'': [[SubspaceAnsible FTL communications]] are not possible, so messages have to be carried through jump space on a starship before being transmitted.

* ''WesternAnimation/AThousandAndOneAmericas'': In the eleventh episode, as Chris and his pet dog Lon walk through a paved road in the middle of the Sechura Desert in Peru, they meet a Chasqui, a messenger from the Incan civilization to whom an important information was entrusted in order to send it to a destination (in this case, the city of Moche). This one in particular got his leg injured due to an ongoing battle between factions, but he tells Chris that he must fight his way to send the message no matter what, since that's what Chasquis were trained for. Chris manages to convince him to take his place to deliver the message so the man can rest and heal his wounds.

* Courier businesses have existed for thousands of years.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'':

See PonyExpressRider for the 1800s mounted variety and UnstoppableMailman for the government-employee version. May involve DeadlyDelivery, ShootTheMessenger or YouGotMurder. A courier may use a bike, motorcycle, CoolCar, a [[FlyingPostman flying courier]] may have a CoolPlane or, in science fiction, a CoolStarShip; if they drive a vehicle, they may be a BadassDriver. A VenturousSmuggler specializes in illegal deliveries and knows how to avoid police and customs inspections. Given their occupation and its inherent risks, a courier is often used to undertaking a ProductDeliveryOrdeal, making this a SubTrope thereof.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1642697454028410300
%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.

[[quoteright:250:[[Manga/TegamiBachiLetterBee https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/courier_2.png]]]]

See PonyExpressRider for the 1800s mounted variety and UnstoppableMailman for the government-employee version. May involve DeadlyDelivery, ShootTheMessenger or YouGotMurder. A courier may use a bike, motorcycle,CoolCar, a [[FlyingPostman flying courier]] may have a CoolPlane or, in science fiction, a CoolStarShip; if they drive a vehicle, they may be a BadassDriver. A VenturousSmuggler specializes in illegal deliveries and they know how to avoid police and customs inspections. Given their occupation and its inherent risks, a courier is often used to undertaking a ProductDeliveryOrdeal, making this a SubTrope thereof.

* The crew of the ''Manga/BlackLagoon'' call themselves couriers. Smugglers, pirates, and mercenaries would also fit.

%% Needs Context * This is basically Celty's job on ''Literature/{{Durarara}}''

* ''Manga/GetBackers'' mixes in super powers and takes it to the logical extreme.
* The ''Manga/GunsmithCats'' manga has Bean Bandit (from spiritual predecessor ''Anime/RidingBean''). His line of work in general is getting things to their destination guaranteed, ''almost'' no questions asked. His reputation comes from being a CombatPragmatist as well as being a BadassDriver.

* A filler episode of ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' introduced courier ninjas, shinobi trained to deliver their packages and defend them against any ninja who might attempt to steal it.

* Koguma, the protagonist of ''Literature/SuperCub'', starts to work part-time as a courier by transporting documents between schools.
* ''Literature/SwordArtOnline'': Tomo/Argo is friend and fellow beta tester of Kirito. Within SAO, she works as a KnowledgeBroker and messenger.

* The profession of the central characters in Brian Wood's series ''ComicBook/TheCouriers''.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Drowntown}}'', Gina Cassel works as an aqua-courier in [[SunkenCity flooded London]]. This can be dangerous — when we first see her, she's being chased by a gang of thugs. (She's rather annoyed at the end of it when the supposedly important package is just a rich guy's clothes which he could easily have waited for or replaced.)
* The subject of the story "The Courier" in ''ComicBook/{{Flight}}'' volume five, by Kazu Kibuishi.
* Ramona Flowers' job in ''ComicBook/ScottPilgrim''. The fact that she has the ability to open subspace tunnels to use as shortcuts [[MundaneUtility comes in handy for this job.]]

* ''Film/PremiumRush'' with Creator/JosephGordonLevitt is all about bike couriers, and the rush of navigating a busy city like New York. In the movie, he is transporting a priceless MacGuffin that a DirtyCop is obsessed with stealing. As a result, there is a cross-city chase between the bike courier and the car-driving cop.
* The protagonist of the ''Film/TheTransporter'' series of films is an ex-special forces soldier who has a new career as a BadassDriver for hire. He gets the package to the delivery point no matter what the risks or obstacles, by violating numerous traffic laws and safe driving practices.
* ''Film/Ronin1998'' is a spy thriller about a team of retired spies who take on a mission to steal a priceless MacGuffin in the possession of a BigBad's team. The MacGuffin is always transported by an armed courier who has it in a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist. The courier is always protected by a heavily armed security detail.

* Creator/WilliamGibson's works:
** The short story "Literature/JohnnyMnemonic" is about an underworld courier who transports digital information in a brain implant.
** Chevette Washington, the protagonist in ''Literature/VirtualLight''.
** Fiona from ''Literature/ZeroHistory'' has this as her regular job.
* ''Literature/SnowCrash'''s Y.T., although she often delivers through [[strike:suburbs]] burbclaves.
* ''Literature/TheBooksOfEmber'': Lina Mayfleet, who is excited about being a messenger in ''The City of Ember''.
* ''Literature/TheHardyBoys'': Bart in the Casefiles book "A Killing in the Market". As the office assistant of a person of interest in the case, he's assigned to serve as a Courier to the Hardy Boys, but while he's trying to meet them, he aborts the meeting and makes a beeline out of there when he spots a couple of mooks who had beaten him up earlier.
* In the ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'', a courier position is the cover story for Miles Vorkosigan as opposed to his real job as head of the Dendarii. A mistake during the rescue of a ''real'' courier is what eventually ends his military career.
* In Creator/UmbertoEco's ''Loana'', the protagonist remembers reading a fascist children's book about a hero trying to smuggle an important message to Italy's then-colony Abyssinia (Ethiopia). This being a serial novel, in RealLife Abyssinia is liberated from the Italian fascists long before the story ends. And at the end, the oh so secret message delivered essentially boils down to: "Hold out!"
* Matty from ''Literature/{{Messenger}}'' by Lois Lowry pretty much embodies this trope, minus the money-making aspect (though he does crave the admiration and prestige that comes with doing a dangerous job).
* In Literature/TheCompanyNovels book ''Black Projects, White Knights,'' Kalugin has a run-in with a brain-damaged immortal ''literally'' named Courier, who goes berserk if he spends the night in one place for more than one night in a row.
* In Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's book ''Literature/GoodOmens'', a courier is tasked with informing the Horsemen of the Apocalypse that Armageddon is imminent. He tracks down all of them including Death, despite having no apparent powers of his own.
* In the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' series, apprentices play this role during the battle against the Dark Forest cats - traveling through a battle-filled forest where any enemy will kill them on sight so that the Clans can send messages to each other on the status of their warriors.

* "Literature/TheUltimateRush" by Joe Quirk: Protagonist Chet Griffin is the only rollerblading messenger at a San Francisco courier service.

** In Europe, Couriers hold the rank of captain, because they each [[DragonRider have their own dragon]]. But they're low-status captains, because their dragons are of the smallest breeds and they don't have a crew to manage.

* In ''Literature/GunsOfTheDawn'', Penny Belchere is an official military courier for the kingdom of Lascanne, and is the first woman most of the characters have seen in army uniform. It's an early sign that Lascanne is running out of male conscripts and is thinking about how women can be put in military roles, which presages Emily's own conscription. (Penny Belchere herself shows up again a number of times, including once when [[spoiler:her supposedly non-front-line role doesn't stop her getting captured]].)

* In ''Literature/RangersApprentice,'' Couriers are a mixture of {{Ambadassador}}s and {{Badass Bureaucrat}}s, with a healthy dose of SilkHidingSteel. They bring important messages around the nobles of the Kingdom of Araulen and work on treaties with other nations. Though not warriors, they're definitely not weaklings to be pushed around, either. Especially since both of the ones we see end up married to {{Ranger}}s.
* ''The Two-Headed Eagle'' by John Biggins. The Chief of Staff of the Austrian military gets Otto Prohaska to transport a package of top secret documents in his aircraft. Otto is proud to be selected for such an important mission, but his airplane crashes in a storm and his pilot is seriously injured; Otto has the chance to save him if he surrenders to Italian troops, but realises they will find the secret documents and evades them instead, losing his direction and any chance of leading a rescue party to the crash site. Turns out it was AllForNothing as the 'top secret documents' were just love letters the Chief of Staff was delivering to his wife by airplane as a GrandRomanticGesture.

* The job of half the cast of ''Series/DarkAngel''. It's a bike messaging service called Jam Pony that pays minimum wage and has high turnover. Max and Alec particularly like the free sector passes and opportunity to case joints.
* While it's just a throwaway gag, Vince in ''Series/TheMightyBoosh'' [[TheMagazineRule subscribes to hyper-cutting-edge fashion magazine]] ''Cheekbone'', which has to be delivered by {{ninja}}s to avoid being obsolete by the time it's read.

* On ''Series/BabylonFive'', this is one of the roles taken on by the Anla'Shok, also known as the Rangers. Due to the density of conspiracies that happen to pass through [[CityOfSpies Babylon 5]], a wide variety of one-off (and often [[RedShirt killed-off]]) minor characters will also fill this role for various parties.
* In season 3 of ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'', The Burn crippled CasualInterstellarTravel so much that many colonies are dependent on couriers to bring them supplies. Unfortunately, many of these couriers work for the [[NGOSuperpower Emerald Chain]] and exploit their customers.

* Music/NeilYoung's song "[[Music/RustNeverSleeps Sedan Delivery]]" is about one of these. For the drug industry, it's implied.

* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': The bicycle-riding telegram delivery boy, in "Telegram for Mrs. Davis". HilarityEnsues when Mrs. Davis is too superstitious to open the telegram, or allow Miss Brooks to open the telegram on her behalf. The boy won't leave until he gets the requested reply . . . .

* I.C.E.'s Cyberspace: The Skateboys is a gang that carries messages and packages while riding motorized skateboards.
* ''TabletopGame/DyingEarth'' RPG supplement ''Scaum Valley Gazetteer''. The River Skaters use ice skates to carry messages along the frozen Scaum River during winter.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'': Justified in that FTL communications are not possible so messages have to be carried through jump space on a starship before being transmitted.
* ''TabletopGame/{{BattleTech}}'': FTL communications do exist... but they do so primarily in the form of large stationary installations called Hyperpulse Generators (or [=HPGs=] for short) run by the same ostensibly neutral monopolist throughout the Inner Sphere, so all the alternatives remain alive and well. After Grey Monday, when most of the HPG network went permanently offline and started the Dark Age, "pony express" style courier services became the primary means of getting information between star systems.

* ''VideoGame/MirrorsEdge'': Runners, including the player character, have a valuable job for LaResistance TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, because [[JustifiedTrope it's virtually impossible]] [[ShownTheirWork to send secure messages over the net]]. Thus, they give physical packages to fearless ''[[LeParkour parkour]]'' runners.
* ''VideoGame/InFAMOUS'': Cole is couriering the Ray Sphere when it activates. There are also side missions in which Cole must spy on enemy couriers.
* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'': Throughout the series, Link is asked to transport/protect an item while delivering it to its destination.
* ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'': Vent and Aile are couriering the Biometals when they activate. In ''ZX Advent'', it depends on [[SchrodingersPlayerCharacter which main character you choose]]: Grey meets Model A because he's delivering it to Legion, while Ashe meets it because she's trying to ''steal'' it.
* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'':
** The protagonist ''is'' The Courier, with the default name being simply "Courier". Some refer to them as Courier Six. The plot revolves around [[MacGuffin the package they're carrying]], over which they were shot in the head at the start.
** Ulysses, the BigBad of ''Lonesome Road'' and a major player in the other three [[DownloadableContent DLCs]] ([[spoiler:and several major events in the game]]) is another courier. It's later revealed that the reason he became one is [[spoiler: after witnessing the Courier [[ButForMeItWasTuesday unwittingly]] delivered a package that ended up destroying Ulysses' adopted homeland, showing him the effect that one individual can have on the world]].
** It seems that being incredibly badass is one of the job requirements for being a courier, since their job requires them to travel across the post-apocalyptic wastelands, often by [[OneManArmy themselves]]. Seemingly reinforced by Cass' comment:
---> '''Cass''': Caravan code of the wastes is you don't ''fuck'' with the one who brings you your mail...
* ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' has the entire Cabot House questline fired off by one of their couriers being killed and his package stolen. You are sent to retrieve that package and deliver it to the Cabots.
* ''VideoGame/UnlimitedSaga'' has the Carriers' Guild, which [[{{Keet}} Ventus]] joins at the start of his scenario. Parts of his quest involve him making deliveries; in addition, he can take several optional {{Side Quest}}s of this nature. While other characters can recruit him during their stories, [[GuideDangIt they still can't access these special quests themselves]].
* The game ''Courier Crisis'' has you playing as a bicycle courier, delivering packages through multiple levels, dealing with angry dogs, traffic, and the occasional gunshot [[WrongSideOfTheTracks on the bad side of town]]...all while [[MeanBoss being berated and insulted by your boss]].

* In ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'' the series of hidden missions at the end of the game has John Marston [[spoiler: Junior]] pretending to be one.
* In the upcoming MMO ''VideoGame/StarCitizen'', information runners are basically couriers [[RecycledInSpace in space]] and functioning part of a vital line of communication that keeps the Human civilizations together in an universe where Faster-Than-Light travel is hazardous and/or unstable. There are ships either dedicated or better-equipped out of the factory for this role although many plain-vanilla civilian ship models with sufficient internal capacity can presumably be configured for info runner duties as well.
* In ''VideoGame/TransformersWarForCybertron'' Bumblebee is acting as a courier because the communications in Iacon City aren't safe from the Decepticons. Ironically, the one he's trying to get a message to (Optimus Prime) is the one that saves him from a Deception ambush. The message he's delivering (that [[spoiler: Zeta Prime is assumed dead]]) is disturbing enough that Optimus decides to step up and take "temporary" command of the Autobots.
* Jake Armitage in the SNES ''VideoGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' game is almost killed on a delivery run in the intro of the game and part of the plot revolves around the information he's supposed to deliver.
* Keith can take on quite a few courier or passenger transport missions in ''VideoGame/GalaxyOnFire''. Often the better paying gigs have him traveling far and into dangerous pirate infested places.

* ''VideoGame/DeathStranding'': Couriers became extremely important to what's left of society after the Death Stranding... with the collapse of infrastructure and the loss of the mail system and Internet, people hand-delivering packages from place to place became the only method of long-range communication left. The player character, Sam [[PunnyName Porter]] Bridges, has this for a job. It's particularly dangerous due to the Timefall (rain that rapidly ages whatever it touches) and the [[EldritchAbomination ghostly BT's]] (which could possibly cause a nuclear-level explosion if they manage to catch a living human). There are even gangs of rogue couriers known as [=MULEs=], who have become [[ItMakesSenseInContext "addicted" to package delivery]] and will steal packages from legitimate couriers to hoard them for themselves.
* The protagonist of ''VisualNovel/DaughterForDessert'' disguises himself as a courier to break into Mortelli’s office when he suspects that the detective isn't telling him everything.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''WebComic/YokokasQuest'', Vivi is the cute critter who [[https://yokokasquest.com/comic/chapter-1-page-17/ delivers the mail in Betel's Forest]], though this is depicted more in [[SideStoryBonusArt art outside the comic itself]].
* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'': Grace steps into the skin of The Courier during a playthrough of ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas''.

* ''WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck'' plays a courier in the cartoon "Donald's Lucky Day", in which he unwittingly carries a TimeBomb on [[ThirteenIsUnlucky Friday the 13th]], no less.
%% * ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': "Yay, I'm a delivery boy!"

* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' have an episode starring Paul the Delivery Guy, the guy who always delivers Phineas and Ferb's supplies.
* On one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Bart and his friends get stranded halfway across the country, so he gets a job as a courier in an attempt to get back home.

See PonyExpressRider for the 1800s mounted variety and UnstoppableMailman for the government-employee version. May involve DeadlyDelivery, ShootTheMessenger or YouGotMurder. A courier may use a bike, motorcycle,CoolCar, a [[FlyingPostman flying courier]] may have a CoolPlane or, in science fiction, a CoolStarShip; if they drive a vehicle, they may be a BadassDriver. A VenturousSmuggler specializes in illegal deliveries and they know how to avoid police and customs inspections. Given their occupation and its inherent risks, a courier is often used to undertaking a ProductDeliveryOrdeal, making it a SubTrope thereof.

* Paul and George get thrust into this role by the Guardians in ''Fanfic/TheKeysStandAlone: The Soft World''. After the “debacle” by George and John the previous day, the only mission that the Guardians will give them is a boring courier mission to a distant coastal town. (Though things get a lot livelier when the recipient of their delivery turns out to have been missing for several days.)
** The four find being couriers desperately boring and pointless, and they make it clear later on that they will not accept such missions any longer.

* Likewise seen in the ''TabletopGame/{{BattleTech}}'' setting. Here, FTL communications do exist... but they do so primarily in the form of large stationary installations called Hyperpulse Generators (or [=HPGs=] for short) run by the same ostensibly neutral monopolist throughout the Inner Sphere, so all the alternatives remain alive and well. After Grey Monday, when most of the HPG network went permanently offline and started the Dark Age, "pony express" style courier services became the primary means of getting information between star systems.

** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureTheJoJoLands The JoJoLands]]'': As a child, Jodio was invited to be a gofer to deliver objects to their recipients. It wasn't long until the praise and receiving pocket money made him embrace his mechanism.

* Lina Mayfleet who is excited about being a messenger in ''Literature/TheCityOfEmber''.

There are several varieties. A mainstream commercial courier is fast and reliable, but they won't transport illegal or contraband items or goods that FellOffTheBackOfATruck. A BlackMarket courier, who either works freelance or for TheSyndicate, is willing to take riskier parcels, for a commensurately high fee. The mainstream commercial courier is unarmed, but a Syndicate courier probably is packing heat, and moreover, they have the enforcement powers of their organization behind them. Another type of courier is one who works for the military or for a secret agency; they too are armed and backed by a powerful organization. Both Syndicate and military/spy couriers may travel in disguise with a cover story.