Delivery in a Flash

Whether on the ground or through the air, the team at Mercury Messenger and Freight delivers everything from ice cream samples to legal briefs to computer systems—fast. Here’s how top companies across our area have built their business models around this local carrier.

By: Ken McEntee
Date: 02/25/2009 Starting with newspaper routes as kids growing up in Berea, and later delivering pizzas, Joe, Dom and Vince Cirigliano have been in the delivery business almost their whole lives.

“We’ve even delivered horses,” Dom laughs, recalling the foals the trio of brothers helped birth when they worked together raising race horses on a farm in Brunswick.

Their deliveries over the last 10 years, as owners of Mercury Messenger and Freight, in Strongsville, can be anything from an urgent letter going downtown to an industrial machine part that has to be in Chicago by third shift tonight.

Like the harness racers at Northfield Park, the Ciriglianos take pride in outrunning the competition.

“Speed is our greatest advantage,” Dom says. “I challenge anybody in town to deliver faster than we do.”
Mercury specializes in expedited service. For example, if you have a document that has to get to your lawyer before Happy Hour, one of Mercury’s 20+ radio-dispatched drivers will pick up and deliver it anywhere in Cuyahoga or Lorain County within two hours of your call. Need it delivered even faster? Mercury’s Red Alert Premium Delivery Service will pick it up your package within 30 minutes of your call and drive it directly to its destination. Red Alert delivery time is usually under an hour.

Like the three ballplayers they were named after—Joe, Dom and Vince DiMaggio, the Ciriglianos get a rush from delivering in the clutch.

“Just today,” reports Warren Reinhard, Mercury’s sales and warehouse manager, “We expedited trial briefs to a courthouse in Akron, a load of paper to a business in Elyria, commissary supplies to the Summit County Jail and ice cream samples to a lab in Twinsburg.”

Along with local deliveries, Mercury is licensed by the P.U.C.O. and the U.S. Department of Transportation to ship up to 12,000 pounds anywhere in America. And Mercury is certified by the Transportation Security Administration to offer same-day flight service through Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.

“If tomorrow is soon enough to get your package to Phoenix, you can go with a next day carrier,” Vince says. “If it has to be there today, call us.”

For regional shipments, Vince adds, Mercury’s air shipping rates are competitive with the next day carriers.
On ground shipments, Joe notes, your cargo never leaves the secure possession of Mercury’s drivers. Unlike the international carriers who will probably route your package to a series of hubs, trucks and planes before it reaches its destination, Mercury drives your package directly to where it needs to go.
“We get it there safely and on time,” Joe assures.

While building their reputation with on-call, expedited service, Mercury also handles scheduled deliveries for a variety of clients. And with its 8,000 square feet of climate-controlled warehouse space, the company is the local inventory and delivery arm for many regional and national suppliers, including leading manufacturers and distributors of computer and networking systems.

“We hold and control their inventory for them, and when something needs to be shipped to one of their customers, we take care of it,” Dom explains. “That saves them the expense and inconvenience of having to maintain their own warehouse and inventory.”

As businesses look for ways to trim costs, using Mercury to store, track and deliver their parts and products can be a huge money saver.

“Whether you need to store a few parcels or racks full of skidded material we can assist you,” Dom says. “With just a phone call your critical item can be delivered anywhere in Ohio or the U.S. as quickly as we can pull it from our warehouse, load it in one of our vehicles and send it on its way.”
Before starting Mercury, all three brothers had worked for couriers on Cleveland’s East Side and noticed a void in service on the West Side. With the knowledge of how to run a courier service—and how not to run one—in 1998, Mercury was established in Berea.

Then, after moving to Westlake for a few years, Mercury built its new Strongsville facility, which was designed by Vince, in 2006.

From the beginning, strict professionalism was a primary focus at Mercury, which was named for the Roman messenger and god of commerce and trade.

“Appearance is key,” Dom says. “Our customers trust us with payroll, important papers and valuable products. We’re not going to show up in a beat up truck wearing an Iron Maiden t-shirt.”

Just as Joe, Dom and Vince have always worked and played together, the new generation of Ciriglianos are regular occupants at Mercury’s offices, spending their time in a playroom loaded with Legos and other toys and games.

On a tight schedule, of course.

Mercury Messenger and Freight is located at 16172 Imperial Parkway, in Strongsville.
You can call Mercury at 440-572-3900. Find more information on the company’s website at www.MercuryMessenger.net.

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