Julie: Nobody knows — it's been stolen from the warehouse in Croydon.
Mr. Brittas: What?
Julie: It's all right — they found you another one. They've had four man driving all night to bring it from Cardiff.
Mr. Brittas: So why isn't it here? Give me that number.
Julie: Apparently, they broke down in Swindon and had to carry the piano a mile and a half to where they could hire another van. They had quite a hard time by the sound of it.
A character is tasked by someone (or determined by themselves) to deliver or carry a product to a specific person or destination. The product can be anything—a briefcase, a large supply of contraband, a manila envelope, a fragile relic, something that's a complete mystery to the audience, it doesn't matter. Nevertheless, it sounds simple enough, so the character accepts the task and gets moving.
However, there is a problem. There is always a problem. Or several.
In fiction, delivery tasks are not as simple as they should be in theory, and various obstacles or challenges are sure to present themselves. Maybe the product gets misplaced. Maybe the moving truck gets a flat tire. Maybe the character needs to take a detour off the main highway and gets lost on some seedy scenic route. Maybe they have to cross a desolate wasteland with inconvenient beings like monsters or raiders lurking about. Whatever happens, the character(s) will do everything they can to overcome the obstacles and challenges before them and find a way to deliver their item to its destination. To heap on the pressure, there may also be a threat of severe punishment or other dire consequences if they fail to deliver their product and/or a looming deadline to meet, as well, thus having to deal with a Race Against the Clock (or, in a video game, with a Timed Mission).
How difficult or dangerous the product delivery ordeal may be can also depend on the product itself, leading to additional considerations:
- It may be durable, but heavy and/or large. As a result, it will have to be either pushed all the way or transported slowly with a vehicle. Hopefully, it can also fit through any narrow pathways that are encountered, and there won't be a need of raising it through a tall spot like a building's high floor or a cliff (because if that's the case, then tough luck).
- It may be relatively small, but also fragile, meaning it needs to be handled delicately and with proper finesse when navigating precarious terrain or protected from pesters who want to annoy the characters. In a video game, this will require the character(s) to deal with Mooks and/or obstacles for the sake of the object's integrity, thus doubling as an inanimate version of Escort Mission.
- Last, but not least, there's the scenario where the object isn't particularly big or fragile, but something or someone lurks along the way that the characters intend to avoid interacting with. The most common instance is a thief trying to transport something as contraband, but it may also happen with legal deliveries when a character doesn't wish to, say, pass through an expensive toll or approach a Tsundere or Jerkass who only wants to mess with the good guys. In the worst-case scenario, the object may be confiscated, seized, or stolen by the bothersome character, thus requiring an urgent retrieval (which is often a big challenge on its own).
Woe to the one who manages to reach their destination with the object intact but with no one else there to receive it... or it turns out the character(s) got the directions wrong. Compare the case of the Impeded Messenger, which is themed around a person (i.e. a courier or messenger) being unable to send a message/information or doing so too late, and focuses on what causes the failure or ill-fated lateness.
This trope is not only Truth in Television but also Older Than Dirt. There are ancient drawings depicting Egyptian workers transporting enormous bricks for the construction of pyramids.
Depending on the duration of this plot device in the work and the significance or value of the object that is being transported, the object may double as the plot's MacGuffin, which is common narrative examples outside of video games (where this trope is more often utilized in sidequests or lesser mission objectives).
Sub-Trope of Fetch Quest, a broader trope about finding things for someone and focusing more on where said thing can be found.
Sister Trope to Escort Mission, which revolves around taking someone to a marked destination while ensuring their safety (though both tropes differ greatly in terms of context and dynamic, especially when the escorted party also functions as a Living MacGuffin with whom the main character interacts, thus intertwining with tropes based on bonding or affinity).
Super-Trope to:
- 30 Minutes, or It's Free!: When a character is instructed to deliver a meal to a customer under a time limit so they can receive payment.
- Courier: A character who usually goes through this as part of their job; though it's their life that is more likely to get the higher risk factor, instead of the package or message they're carrying.
- Nitro Express: When the protagonists are tasked with delivering some kind of Hair-Trigger Explosive.
- Sheet of Glass: When this is what the characters are transporting. Fairly often, the glass is either broken due to an irresponsible speeder passing through or spared at the expense of said speeder hastily dodging it.
Someone who always overcomes every delivery ordeal, no matter how extreme, might be an Unstoppable Mailman.
Contrast: Instant Home Delivery, where the struggles are either nonexistent or brushed off as unimportant and thus not given focus.
