UAEBNA

Tennessee · BNA · approx. 15h 45m from the UAE

On board courier Nashville

A vetted courier collects in Nashville, carries your consignment in the aircraft cabin and hands it over in person in the Emirates, or does exactly the reverse. Never in the hold, never in a warehouse, never out of one named person's custody. There is no reliable non-stop from the Emirates, so the practical routing is a UAE flight into the nearest metro and a domestic sector or road leg into Nashville. We plan that leg as part of the assignment rather than handing it to a local agent.

Quote for Nashville ↔ UAE Fly this route as a courier

Departures from DXB, DWC, AUH, SHJ, RKT, FJR and AAN · both directions · third-country legs on request

RouteUAE → BNA

Typical flying time15h 45m

Distance≈12,850 km

Typical outcomeSame-Day

One person beats a parcel network to Nashville

The freight chain is not slow because aircraft are slow, it is slow because a consignment waits at every handover. A courier removes the queues, not the kilometres.

OnBoard CourierOne person. One seat. One signature.

CollectedIn the cabin Delivered in Nashville, same day or next morning

Conventional air freightA parcel in a system, every handover is a queue.

Drop-offAcceptance cut-off Build-upFlight Break-downCustoms Delivered, day 3 to 5

0h24h48h72h96h+

When a seat beats a parcel, the full comparison →

Firm quote in 15 minutes

Tell us what has to fly. We answer with a flight and a price.

Five short questions. A dispatcher replies with a named departure, the delivery hour and one fixed price, day and night.

One named courier from collection to signature
Customs cleared in person on arrival
Licensed UAE company, proper VAT invoices

Operational route facts

Last reviewed: August 2026, carrier line-ups and frequencies are indicative and change with seasonal schedules; your quote is priced on the day’s actual flights.

How the flying actually works

Nashville (BNA) has no scheduled Gulf non-stop, two honest patterns compete, and the quote states which one wins on your day:

Pattern ANon-stop to Chicago (ORD), ≈660 km away, then road or short hop

Pattern BOne stop over the strongest connection bank of the day (Istanbul, Doha or a European hub)

Alternative gateways nearby

, No practical alternate within 250 km, this airport carries the lane alone

When the primary airport’s timing loses, a late bank, a curfew, a fog morning, the quote compares these alternates with the true road leg included, and names the winner.

220countries and territories on the desk

500+airports a courier can be booked into

15 minfrom your message to a firm price

24/7the operations centre is awake

Three departure boards, one desk: Emirates, flydubai and Etihad for Nashville

A hand-carry is only as fast as the next departure. The desk watches three boards at once and books the one that lands first, then holds the one that leaves next.

Emirates

The night bank out of Terminal 3

Between one and four in the morning Emirates pushes back a wave of widebodies from Terminal 3 that reach Europe before the first meeting and Asia by the afternoon. For Nashville that wave is the reason a courier confirmed at eight in the evening is still delivering the next day.

Widebody only, non-stop to 140 plus cities

flydubai

The short sectors, several times a day

From Terminal 2 flydubai runs the one to five hour sectors: the Caucasus, Central Asia, East Africa, the Balkans, the subcontinent. Where a widebody leaves once a day, flydubai often leaves three times, which turns a missed slot into a ninety minute delay rather than a lost day.

Frequency is the fallback

Etihad

Abu Dhabi as the second runway

Ninety minutes down the E11, Etihad leaves from Zayed International with its own bank of departures and, for the United States, immigration cleared before boarding. When the Dubai departure for Nashville is gone, the desk looks at Abu Dhabi before it looks at tomorrow.

US preclearance at AUH

The desk holds no allegiance to a carrier. The booking goes to whichever board puts a courier at Nashville first, at a fare the quote can carry.

Nashville: every hour it waits is an hour it is not moving.

Five questions, one fixed price, a named flight. The desk answers within 15 minutes, day and night, and you decide.

Price it now How it works

What moves between Nashville and the Emirates

Healthcare management and services, music and entertainment, and automotive manufacturing.

Healthcare administration and compliance documents, music masters and entertainment production material, and automotive components.

Nashville has become the headquarters city for a large share of America's hospital and healthcare management companies, an industry that generates constant regulatory and compliance paperwork with hard filing dates. The entertainment side of the city adds a second stream entirely, masters, contracts and merchandising samples on their own release calendar. We route through Washington Dulles, Chicago or New York with a connecting sector.

Courier or air cargo out of Nashville?

On board courier vs air cargo

The same consignment could fly Nashville, Dubai as air cargo in the hold of the very same aircraft. This is what changes when a vetted person carries it in the cabin instead.

✓ On board courier

A person in a seat

Leaves on the next available flight, often within hours of your call, 24/7.
One named courier holds the consignment from collection to signature.
Travels in the aircraft cabin wherever the airline, cargo classification and security rules permit it; the transport configuration is confirmed before booking.
No warehouse, no consolidation window, no overnight sort.
Customs cleared in person, questions answered at the counter, immediately.
Same-day delivery is realistic on most sectors out of the UAE.
Built for high-value, fragile, temperature-critical goods and originals.
Proof of delivery with signature, ID check and a photograph within minutes.
A human being you can call at any point of the journey.

✕ Air cargo & express freight

A parcel in a system

Waits for the next consolidation and space allocation, not for you.
Passes through many hands: hub, build-up, ramp, break-down, delivery agent.
Rides in the hold, frequently sitting in a warehouse overnight.
Each handover is a queue, and each queue is where hours disappear.
Cleared in a batch by a broker; one query can idle the shipment for a day.
Next day at best on most lanes, two to three days if it is held.
Chain of custody is a scan history, not a person with the box.
Signed for by whoever happens to be at the door.
Right answer for heavy, bulky or non-urgent freight, and we will say so.

To be straight about it: air cargo is not a bad service, it is a different one. It moves weight cheaply and it does that extremely well. A hand-carry buys back hours, and it is worth paying for exactly when an hour of delay costs more than a seat on a plane, which is the case far more often than most shippers assume, and far less often than most courier companies claim.

The full comparison, with costs →

Both directions, and the third one

UAE → Nashville

Collection anywhere in the Emirates, departure from whichever UAE airport has the next suitable flight, clearance and delivery in Nashville against signature and ID.

Nashville → UAE

Collection in Nashville, export formalities handled, and delivery anywhere in the Emirates, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, the free zones or a hotel desk at three in the morning.

Nashville → the world

Onward through the Emirates to Europe, Africa, the Far East or the Americas on one continuous chain of custody, rather than two separate shipments with a gap in the middle.

Documents and originals

Tenders, attestations, apostilled certificates, bank instruments and contracts, the consignments where a scan is not a substitute and a deadline is a wall.

High value

Stones, jewellery, precious metals and prototypes, declared properly, insured on the declared value and never out of a named person's hands.

Regulated categories

Pharmaceutical, biological and temperature-controlled material with the permits confirmed before departure and a data logger where the specification calls for one.

Hand carry between Nashville and the Emirates, in detail

Every logistics option is a trade between cost, speed and control. Sea freight gives up speed. Air cargo gives up control. A charter gives up cost. An on board courier is the only option that keeps speed and control and pays for them with the price of a passenger ticket, which is why it exists at all.

The other thing being bought is answerability. When a customs officer has a question about a shipment, the shipment cannot answer, so it waits for someone who can. When the question is asked of a courier standing at the counter with the invoice in their hand, it is answered immediately. That is not a marketing claim; it is the entire operational advantage compressed into one sentence.

It is also worth saying what the service does not fix. It does not make a permit appear, it does not make a sanctioned party acceptable, and it does not make an undeclared battery legal. Where those are the problem, a courier only makes the problem arrive faster, which is why the screening happens before the quote.

For Nashville specifically, that means the useful conversation is not “how much” but “what exactly is in the box, and when does it have to be in whose hands”. Answer those two and everything else, the routing, the carrier, the airport, the paperwork, the price, follows in under an hour.

How a Nashville assignment actually runs

A Nashville assignment is not complicated, but every step has a failure mode, and the difference between an operator and a broker is whether those failure modes were planned for before the courier left the house.

Minute 0 to 15

You tell us what it is

The first conversation is short and specific: contents, declared value, collection address, delivery address in Nashville, and the real deadline rather than the comfortable one. If there are batteries, powders, liquids, biological material or anything regulated in the box, that is the moment to say so, not at the check-in desk.

Minute 15 to 45

We screen it and price it

We check three things at once: whether we may lawfully carry it, whether United States will let it in without a permit we do not have, and whether it physically fits an aircraft cabin. Only then do you get a fixed price, and the price includes the ticket, the courier fee, transfers and a hotel where an overnight is unavoidable.

Hour 1 to 3

A named courier is assigned and booked

The matching runs against couriers who are available now, whose passport and visas suit the route to Nashville, and whose delivery history fits the value of the consignment. The ticket is then bought in the courier's own name, matching their passport exactly, a booking in anything but the traveller's legal name is refused at the gate.

Hour 2 to 4

Collection, sealing and documentation

At collection the seal number is recorded, the goods are photographed and the paperwork is checked line by line against what is in the box. A description that does not match the contents is a common reason a hand-carry is held at Nashville International (BNA), and it is entirely preventable.

In flight

The consignment stays in the cabin

The flight is the boring part, and that is the point. No hold, no handling agent, no transfer between systems, one person, one box, one continuous chain of custody all the way to Nashville International (BNA).

On arrival

Customs, then a signature

The courier declares the goods through the red channel at Nashville International (BNA), answers questions in person and, where the category or the value warrants it, meets a customs broker we have already briefed. The handover is against signature, printed name and an identification reference, timestamped and with photographs where you have asked for them.

Who books a courier to Nashville

Hand-carry demand is not evenly spread, it clusters in industries where an hour of delay costs more than the flight. These are the ones that book Nashville most often, and what they send.

Semiconductors and electronics

Wafers, reticles, test boards, display panels and pre-production units. Small, fragile, export-controlled and usually holding up a fab, a lab or a product launch somewhere.

Aviation and AOG

A grounded aircraft costs more per hour than the entire logistics budget for the month. Rotables, avionics, seals and the certification paperwork that must travel with them are the most time-sensitive freight that exists, and industries like these in Nashville generate them continuously.

Energy, marine and mining

Downhole and subsea electronics, marine spares for a vessel with a sailing window, assay samples with a chain-of-custody requirement, and project equipment on a contractual schedule.

Legal, banking and tender originals

Closing documents, tender submissions, legalised certificates, guarantees and instruments that only count as originals. A scan is not a submission, and a deadline in Nashville is usually a clock on a wall rather than a courtesy.

Life sciences and diagnostics

Clinical trial samples, diagnostic material, reference standards and biologics, most of them with a stability window measured in hours rather than days and a data logger recording every minute of the journey to Nashville.

Media, events and production

Rushes, masters, broadcast hardware and event material with a transmission or a stage time attached, deadlines that do not move because logistics had a difficult day.

The paperwork that decides how fast Nashville goes

Nothing delays a hand-carry as reliably as a document that says something different from the box. This is what we prepare with you before the courier leaves, and why each piece matters at Nashville International (BNA).

Seal and photographic record

A numbered tamper-evident seal applied at collection and checked at delivery, with photographs at both ends. It costs nothing and it settles every argument about whether a package was opened between the two points.

Commercial invoice

The document customs actually reads. It needs a plain description of the goods, the real value, the currency, the terms of sale and the full names and addresses of both parties. “Samples, no commercial value” is not a customs value and it is the fastest way to turn a twenty-minute clearance at Nashville International (BNA) into an afternoon.

Certificates and permits

Certificates of origin, health and phytosanitary certificates, dangerous goods declarations, export licences for dual-use items, import permits for regulated categories. We identify which of these United States wants for your specific commodity at the quoting stage, because discovering it at Nashville International (BNA) is far too late.

Named consignee with authority

Someone in Nashville must be entitled to receive the goods and, where clearance requires it, able to act as importer of record. A delivery address without an authorised person behind it is where otherwise perfect assignments stall.

Proforma invoice for non-sales

Repairs, exhibition goods, replacements and samples still need a document with a realistic value on it. The value is what the goods are worth, not what you would like the duty to be, an understated value is a customs offence in United States rather than a negotiating position.

Tariff classification

The HS code decides the duty, the permits and sometimes whether the goods may enter United States at all. We would rather agree the classification with you before departure than watch an officer choose one for us, because the officer's choice is the one that stands.

What a Nashville courier actually costs, and why

We do not publish a price list, because a fixed table would be a lie: the same box on the same route costs differently at four hours' notice than at two days'. What we can do is be exact about which levers move the number, so nothing in the quote is a surprise.

Declared value and insurance

All-risk cover is priced on the declared value of the goods, and it is the number that matters, airline liability under the Montreal Convention is a fraction of what most courier consignments are worth. Understating the value to save a little on cover is a false economy the first time anything goes wrong.

Whether the courier returns immediately

A same-day turnaround, an overnight with a hotel, or a courier who continues to a third country all cost differently. On a Nashville routing the flight schedule usually decides this rather than anybody's preference.

What is always included

Ticket, courier fee, airport transfers, the hotel where an overnight is unavoidable, the documentation work and our operations desk being awake for the whole journey. What is not included is duty and tax in United States, and anything you ask for after departure that changes the routing.

Size, weight and whether it fits a locker

Anything beyond normal cabin baggage means a second seat, and occasionally two. An extra seat sounds dramatic until you compare it with a charter: it is an order of magnitude cheaper and it moves at the speed of a scheduled flight.

The ground legs at both ends

Collection in the Emirates and delivery beyond Nashville International (BNA) are part of the job, not an extra. Where the delivery address is a long drive from the airport, or a second domestic sector is needed, we price it in from the start instead of stopping at arrivals.

Weekends, nights and public holidays

We operate around the clock, and a consignment collected at 02:00 on a Friday is a normal assignment rather than a special case. It is priced the same way as any other; what changes is which flights exist, not what we charge for our part.

Every quote we send is fixed before departure and contains the flight, the courier's fee, transfers and, where an overnight cannot be avoided, the hotel. The things that can change it afterwards are the things you control: a change of destination, a change of goods, or a delay at your end that costs the booked flight. Duty and tax in United States sit with the consignee unless we have agreed otherwise in writing.

What can go wrong on a Nashville assignment, and what we do about it

Every operator has these problems. The difference is whether the answer was decided in advance or invented at the counter. This is our answer to each of them, written down before you need it.

The flight is cancelled

Not a crisis, a routine. Before the courier leaves for the airport we already know the next two departures that could carry the consignment to Nashville, on any carrier, from any of the seven UAE airports. Rebooking is a phone call, not a rescue operation.

The consignee is unreachable

We confirm the receiving party and a working phone number before the courier departs, and we agree a fallback in Nashville, a second authorised person, or a secure hold, so that a delivery does not fail because someone went into a meeting.

The consignment is larger than described

Measured at collection, not at the gate. If it will not fit a locker we buy a seat for it there and then and tell you the revised number before the courier moves, rather than improvising at check-in.

Customs asks a question

A person can answer it. That single fact is most of the difference between a hand-carry and a cargo booking: a query at Nashville International (BNA) that would idle a shipment for a day gets resolved at the counter in minutes because the person who knows what is in the box is standing there.

The courier is refused boarding

Almost always a document problem: a passport too close to expiry, a missing transit visa, a name on the ticket that does not match the passport. Every one of those is checked at assignment, and it is checked again before the courier leaves for the airport.

The connection is missed

This is why we build routings above the minimum connection time rather than at it. Where a connection is genuinely tight, the courier holds the consignment airside and takes the next available service rather than clearing into a country they were only passing through.

Questions about Nashville

01How long does a courier take between Nashville and Dubai?

Block time on this routing is about 15h 45m. Realistically the door-to-door figure is that plus the collection, the check-in cut-off, clearance and the delivery leg, so a consignment collected in the morning is normally handed over the same evening, and one collected in the evening lands overnight. There is no reliable non-stop from the Emirates, so the practical routing is a UAE flight into the nearest metro and a domestic sector or road leg into Nashville. We plan that leg as part of the assignment rather than handing it to a local agent.

02Do you carry from Nashville to the UAE as well as the other way?

Both directions, and third-country legs too. A great deal of Nashville work is outbound: an exporter sending samples, stones, documents or spares to a buyer in the Emirates or onward through Dubai to Europe, Africa or the Far East. We collect in Nashville, handle the export formalities and deliver in the UAE or wherever the routing ends.

03What do you usually carry to and from Nashville?

Healthcare administration and compliance documents, music masters and entertainment production material, and automotive components.

04Which airport do you use for Nashville?

Nashville International (BNA). On the UAE side we use whichever of the seven Emirates airports has the next suitable departure, Dubai (DXB and DWC), Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah or Al Ain. Being independent of any single carrier is what makes that choice possible.

05Can an American passport holder fly this route as your courier?

Yes, and a large part of the courier network is exactly that. For UAE entry we confirm the current visa position for each courier individually before assigning, the rules differ depending on which other visas or residence permits the courier already holds, and they change. If you are based in Nashville and want to fly as a courier, the application takes two minutes.

06What does customs look like at Nashville?

A commercial consignment is declared on arrival and duty or tax may apply. Regulated categories, pharmaceuticals, precious stones and metals, food and agricultural material, telecom and electronics in some cases, need a permit, a licence or a registered consignee, and we confirm the requirement for your specific commodity before the courier departs rather than at the counter.

Courier work to and from Other United States cities on this

Every one of them runs in both directions, with the same fixed pricing and the same documentation discipline.

New York Los Angeles Chicago Houston Dallas San Francisco Washington DC Miami Boston Orlando Seattle Atlanta San Diego Denver All United States cities →

Nashville · both directions

Send something between Nashville and the Emirates

Email us what it is, what it is worth and when it has to arrive. You get a fixed price, a named courier and a flight number, usually inside fifteen minutes, at any hour.

Request a quote → Earn as a courier →

What a quote to Nashville looks like

The reply you get back, usually inside 15 minutes, at any hour. Figures illustrate the AUH to BNA sector, not a live price.

Sample quotation, illustrative figuresRe: Urgent OBC, AUH to BNA

Client → bookings [at] onboardcourier [dot] ae

We have approval samples on a buyer deadline that must be in Nashville as fast as possible. Ready for collection in Abu Dhabi today, what can you do?

OnBoard Courier → Client replied in 13 min

ServiceAirport to airport · on board courier

LimitsMax. 152 linear cm · 23 kg per piece

PickupToday · 3 hrs before departure

DeliveryASAP after customs

Flight routing

AUH → BNAdep 10:05 · approx 15h 45m · Etihad

Customs

Export / importQuoted separately per shipment

Offer includes

Flight cost · courier fee · hotel where the routing needs one

Indicative total AED 25,400 (~US$ 6,920) typical band AED 19,550 to 31,250 (~US$ 5,320 to 8,510)

Offer validity: 60 minutes Reply “job confirmed” to book

Subject to seat availability at confirmation. Live quotes are priced on the day's fares.

Client → bookings [at] onboardcourier [dot] ae

job confirmed

From the operations desk

How jobs like this actually run

Illustrative cases, patterns from daily OBC work, details generalised for client confidentiality.

FashionMXP → DXB

Runway samples finished in Milan on Thursday, the show was Saturday.

Atelier pickup18:00

Morning departure09:35 +1

Backstage19:20 +1

✓ Every look on the rail before the rehearsal.

BankingZRH → DXB

Instruments that required a named carrier and a witnessed handover.

Vault release10:05

Non-stop13:40

Counter-signed22:10

✓ Both signatures on one timeline.

PharmaAUH → LHR

Validation samples at 2 to 8 °C for a London reference lab, data-logger sealed.

Cool-chain packed16:30

In the cabin21:05

Lab signature08:20 +1

✓ Chain of custody and temperature log unbroken.

Times are typical for these lanes; every job gets its own named flight and timeline before you confirm.

How it moves

Collected by hand, not by network

A named courier picks up at your door, the clock starts the moment you confirm.

Join the OBC network, become an on board courier

Every route on this site runs because somebody was willing to get on the plane with it. We are recruiting vetted couriers worldwide: we book and pay the flight, cover transfers and a hotel where an overnight is needed, and pay a fee for every completed assignment, stated in the offer before you accept it. You decide when you are available.

Flights paid
Fee per assignment
Assignments worldwide
You choose your dates
Training in our Academy

Join the OBC network now → See the open position What does an OBC earn?

Estimate your price, live, before you talk to anyone

An indicative calculation on the OBC-One pattern: airline seat, courier duty, hotel where the routing needs one, transfers and handling. Pick any of the airports we serve, adjust the settings, the breakdown updates as you go. Nothing here is a binding price; the airline fare on the day decides the final number.

Departure hub

Destination airport

What is travelling? Weight: 5 kg More than 23 kg, second courier Service

How urgent?

Indicative total ,

Happy with the estimate? Send it, done.

This sends exactly what you configured above, nothing to retype, no commitment. Indicative figures only; a person confirms the real fare and timing.

Aircraft wing above the clouds — A runway in the desert became the world’s busiest international airport in one generation.
The story of DXB

Get a quote for this route

Tell us what has to move and where it has to be. You get a fixed price and a departure time back, usually within 15 minutes, day or night.

Request a quote

Answered by a person, 24/7. No commitment. One form, one reply.

Origin airport

Destination airport

Shipment type

Ready date & time

Who is booking

Company

What does the company do?

Your name

Phone

Email address

What is in the consignment?

Request received. We reply by email from bookings [at] onboardcourier [dot] ae, usually within 15 minutes.

Confidential · no commitment · 24/7 availability

I need to send something

Book hand-carry delivery from the UAE to anywhere in the world, and follow it in real time. Same-day departure available.

Book a shipment → Client login

I want to fly as a courier

We pay the ticket and a fee per completed assignment. You choose when you are available.

Apply as an OBC → See the open position

Where to go from here

On board courier Nashville is one chapter of a larger network. OnBoard Courier moves time-critical consignments with vetted on-board couriers departing 24/7 from all seven UAE airports to 584 destinations across 219 countries. Choose the service that fits, classic hand-carry, AOG for grounded aircraft, medical and pharma, next flight out or high-value goods, then check entry requirements and customs by country and how an assignment actually runs, minute by minute.

Prefer to compare first? Read when a seat beats a parcel network, browse the industries we move for or scan the airlines the couriers the desk places fly with. If you travel often yourself, flying as an OnBoard Courier pays per completed assignment. For anything urgent, the fastest route is the quote form above, answered by a person, day or night.

One person beats a parcel network to Nashville

Tell us what has to fly. We answer with a flight and a price.

Operational route facts

How the flying actually works

Alternative gateways nearby

Three departure boards, one desk: Emirates, flydubai and Etihad for Nashville

The night bank out of Terminal 3

The short sectors, several times a day

Abu Dhabi as the second runway

Nashville: every hour it waits is an hour it is not moving.

What moves between Nashville and the Emirates

Courier or air cargo out of Nashville?

On board courier vs air cargo

✓ On board courier

✕ Air cargo & express freight

Both directions, and the third one

UAE → Nashville

Nashville → UAE

Nashville → the world

Documents and originals

High value

Regulated categories

Hand carry between Nashville and the Emirates, in detail

How a Nashville assignment actually runs

You tell us what it is

We screen it and price it

A named courier is assigned and booked

Collection, sealing and documentation

The consignment stays in the cabin

Customs, then a signature

Who books a courier to Nashville

Semiconductors and electronics

Aviation and AOG

Energy, marine and mining

Legal, banking and tender originals

Life sciences and diagnostics

Media, events and production

The paperwork that decides how fast Nashville goes

Seal and photographic record

Commercial invoice

Certificates and permits

Named consignee with authority

Proforma invoice for non-sales

Tariff classification

What a Nashville courier actually costs, and why

Declared value and insurance

Whether the courier returns immediately

What is always included

Size, weight and whether it fits a locker

The ground legs at both ends

Weekends, nights and public holidays

What can go wrong on a Nashville assignment, and what we do about it

The flight is cancelled

The consignee is unreachable

The consignment is larger than described

Customs asks a question

The courier is refused boarding

The connection is missed

More questions about couriers to and from Nashville

01Can a courier carry more than one consignment?

02Is the consignment insured?

03Are you an airline?

04What happens if the flight is cancelled?

05Do you handle customs at Nashville International (BNA)?

06How quickly can a courier leave for Nashville?

07Can you collect outside the UAE?

08What do you need from me to start?

09How is delivery proven?

Questions about Nashville

01How long does a courier take between Nashville and Dubai?

02Do you carry from Nashville to the UAE as well as the other way?

03What do you usually carry to and from Nashville?

04Which airport do you use for Nashville?

05Can an American passport holder fly this route as your courier?

06What does customs look like at Nashville?

Courier work to and from Other United States cities on this

Send something between Nashville and the Emirates

What a quote to Nashville looks like

How jobs like this actually run

Collected by hand, not by network