Every day, thousands of parcels, packages, documents, letters and memos pour through the offices of The Messengers International in downtown Toronto.

Their destination: Business offices, job sites, warehouses, stores and residences throughout North America and Europe, as well as across the breadth and width of the Greater Toronto Area.

But perhaps the most important message ever delivered by company founder Frank D'Angelo can be summed up in two words: We care.

D'Angelo believes The Messengers International shares responsibility for the care and comfort of employees, customers and the community in which they do business. There's plenty of proof for the accuracy of this statement, but actions speak louder than words.

Frank D'Angelo and The Messengers International have added environmentally friendly Smart Cars to their fleet.

That's why The Messengers International, a full-service express courier company, recently added Daimler-Chrysler Smart Cars to the downtown Toronto fleet.

"We wanted to do our part, to take a greener approach," D'Angelo explained his reasons for the purchase of these zippy low-emission vehicles, which take the concept of fuel efficiency to whole new levels.

"We thought our customers would appreciate it if we did our part to reduce pollution in the downtown core. Of course, we've always been pretty green," he added with a sly chuckle. "We have the most walkers and cyclists in all of downtown Toronto. And they don't pollute at all."

Since D'Angelo founded the company almost 20 years ago, The Messengers International has set a number of new standards for speed of delivery, all-around efficiency and old-fashioned courtesy.

This is truly a messenger company with a difference.

Speed? From initial phone call to final delivery, The Messengers International averages 17-19 minutes within Toronto's downtown district.

Professionalism and courtesy?

All walkers, cyclists and drivers for The Messengers International dress in office/professional attire and D'Angelo proudly refers to them as the most dedicated - and best-dressed - couriers in the world.

"From the beginning, my feeling has been: If I'm going to get into the courier business, I'm going give it everything I've got. Otherwise, why do it at all," D'Angelo reasoned.

He founded his busy company on the Golden Rule principal: Treating staff, suppliers and customers just as he would wish to be treated in return.

(Since then, however, D'Angelo has gone himself one better. He now follows what he terms the Platinum Rule, namely making sure that his employees EXCEED customer expectations).

Performance? It's the best. Because The Messengers International is not afraid to compete against the Big Guys on their own turf.

"I'll be honest with you. Major companies such as FedEx and UPS do a fantastic job," D'Angelo freely gave the competition its due. "They do overnight deliveries. And most of the smaller companies specialize in rush deliveries," he continued.

"But we do both. We try to make it as easy as possible for our clients to ship anything, anywhere in the world. We will also pickup from anywhere. We have agents across Canada."

D'Angelo is a 21st-Century entrepreneur in every respect. The Messengers International relies on state-of-the-art computerized tracking and dispatching equipment, with an eye to serving the customer with maximum efficiency.

At The Messengers International, however, there is one domain where the almighty computer is unwelcome to intrude: the telephone switchboard.

To make life easier for customers, D'Angelo and his executive team have implemented a ban on voice mail and answering machines.

"No disrespect to the machine, but we believe our customers have earned the right to speak to a human being when they call us," he explained.

"I don't understand a company that tells its clients: 'Your call is important to us ... but please wait.' " In fact, telephone operators for The Messengers International work under a unique incentive system.

If they answer their phones before the first ring is complete, they can qualify for cash bonuses at month's end.

"These people set the tone for the whole office. They're the ones who make initial contact with our customers. And if you're calling a rush company, and a machine asks you to wait, well, that doesn't inspire confidence," he grinned.

The Messengers International stands by the company's hard-won reputation for honesty and fair dealing across the board.

That means delivering on time, even when conditions are less than ideal. If company dispatchers are asked to follow through on a rush order and find no staff couriers are available, they're authorized to call in a Toronto taxi company as backup.

Even during occasional power blackouts, The Messengers International has continued to haul the freight in downtown Toronto.

"Once we even kept operating by candlelight," D'Angelo laughed. "Nothing stops us."

So call The Messengers International for rush or overnight delivery, locally and worldwide. Phone 416.365.0155. And learn more by accessing the company website at www.themessengers.ca