Tote them bags - Travel

South Florida CEO, August, 2002

* Even the most luxurious travel arrangements come down to the nagging fact of luggage. It's inevitable, then, that companies providing "luggage courier services should arise. According to the Wall Street Journal, the best of this new breed is based in Boca Raton, a company called Universal Express (OTC BB:USXP).

While the company provides a variety of services, including a private postal network, its hot button at the moment is Luggage Express, wherein a staffer comes to your home or office and drags off those heavy bags, checks them through customs, and delivers them to your final destination. The price for the giddy freedom this provides starts at $70 a bag. According to spokeswoman Anne Kazel-Wilcox, Universal CEO Richard Altomare "has actually survived a major airline crash himself, so he certainly knows what happens to baggage that should not be on the airplane, let alone in the overhead." Check the website at www.usxpluggageexpress.com if you want to see what it costs to travel without hauling those golf clubs.