Basic Info: Dwarf Courier was founded in
Vancouver, B.C. a great many years ago
(actual date unknown, estimated 1940's). It's motto is "When time is short, you can count on Dwarf."
History: Dwarf Courier slowly increased it's reputation and business over many years, until the
late 80's and
early 90's. At this point, they dominated the
Vancouver Island and
Vancouver courier scene, eating up most of the business. They were a common household name, what with their amusing logo and motto. At their peak, in 1991, they were cited in
BC Business Magazine as the #1 most desireable company to work at.
Things went downhill from there.
The owner got
greedy and started to spend his money wildly. He bought a $1 Million
courier dispatch computer system, which included a 10-terminal dispatching/calltaking center, each with 2 monitors. A giant wall map adorned the north wall of the building, with laser-pointers showing the
GPS-reported positions of the company's 80-or-so drivers. The computer system had an in-depth map of Vancouver on board, and could plan a driver's route, taking into account time of day, traffic, one-way streets, and more. They oft out-thought the drivers themselves, and predicted delivery times, etc.
This
incredibly expensive system disallusioned many employees of the company, and as a result quality of service started dropping. By 1995, the company was officially "in trouble." Now not even in the top 10 of
any list in
BC Business Magazine, the company started losing employees altogether.
In late 1999, in a desperate bid to change the company image, the owner sold off most of the expensive equipment and relocated the warehouse, changing the company name to
Nova Express. He declared bankruptcy in January 2000.
After the
Vancouver Island operations were liquidated, a 3rd party company specializing in restoring faltering businesses bought Nova Express/Dwarf Courier. Since then, the company has been stuck in their "rut," not getting any better, not getting any worse.
Lesson learned today: Don't bite off more you can chew.
Details: Nova Express provides overnight and some same-day courier service to and from Vancouver. Out-of-town deliveries are accepted (even international) but a 3rd party company is used (namely,
UPS and
Purolator).