Public Courier Contracts

In the last week I've expanded to 6 new regions which means I'm buying a lot more stuff and it's spread out over a much larger area. Since I want to spend less time flying around picking stuff up, not more, I had to try something different to cut the time down.

In the past I rarely used public courier contracts but for the last week I've been using them a lot more, especially in the larger regions and in or near low sec PvP areas.

I'll fly around gathering up buys in a small area and dropping them off in 500 mil+ lots somewhere convenient. Then I courier the whole lot to my main base of operations in the region and continue doing pickups without having to fly back to base all the time.

I make long trips to and from base far less frequently and I can do all the long trips on autopilot without fretting since I'm always flying them empty now.

Any station that has stuff on it worth about 500 mil or more I just courier to my base in the first place without even leaving base.

Anything way out in the middle of nowhere 15 or 20 jumps away from base and far from any other pickups I'll just courier to the closest station I get a lot of stuff at. Assuming doing so is profitable, otherwise I'll just post it for sale right where it is.

For items acquired in low sec I've started using public courier contracts even if it's only a jump or two away. That's been working great too, especially in PvP areas and near gate-camps.

Public courier contracts have been working out a lot better than I expected so far, in all ways. I really didn't think there'd be many takers on public contracts paying a few million (300-500 k per jump) with 500+ mil collateral but it's been working great for me so far. I didn't think there'd be many takers on public contracts in close proximity to a major gate-camp either but it looks like I was wrong on both counts.

I set realistic collateral values 10-20% higher than I expect to sell the items for (usually that's quite a lot more than I paid for it). Even if someone does steal a load (hasn't happened yet) all he'll really be doing is providing me with a quick turnover at a better than expected profit.

So far all my public courier contracts have been delivered within 24 hours. AFAIC that's fantastic, it's as good as or better than RFF service between hubs.