Sending, or to send, is the action of conveying or directing something or someone to another physical, virtual, or conceptual location for a specific purpose. The initiator of the action of sending is the sender. With respect to humans, "sending" also encompasses instructing others to go to another physical location, whether voluntarily or by force.
Sending and volition
Sending is generally an act of volition, requiring the intent and purpose of the sender to cause a thing to be sent. English language authority James C. Fernald, in his 1896 English Synonyms and Antonyms, with Notes on the Correct Use of Prepositions, provided a lengthy examination of concepts falling within the rubric of sending:
Sending messages
A message may be sent by both physical means of conveyance such as mail, or electronic means such as email and texting. The practice of communication by written documents carried by an intermediary from one person or place to another almost certainly dates back nearly to the invention of writing. However, the development of formal postal systems occurred much later. The first documented use of an organized courier service for the dissemination of written documents is in Egypt, where Pharaohs used couriers to send out decrees throughout the territory of the state (2400 BCE). The earliest surviving piece of mail is also Egyptian, dating to 255 BCE.
The phrase "send a message" or "sending a message" is also used with respect to actions taken by a party to convey that party's attitude towards a certain thing. For example, a government that executes people who commit acts of treason is sending a message that treason will not be tolerated. Conversely, a party that appears through its actions to endorse something that it actually opposes can be said to be "sending the wrong message", while one which appears to simultaneously endorse contradictory things can be said to be "sending mixed messages".
Communications are not necessarily things that are sent at all. An alternative is to sending a communication somewhere is to create a sufficiently durable means of conveying the communication, such as carving or painting on a surface, or sculpting a three-dimensional representation, and placing it where persons arriving at that location will receive the communication. Some scientists have proposed the possibility of using quantum effects to convey messages without "sending" information at all, though this proposition depends on a semantic distinction between different meanings of the word, "sending".
Sending items and objects
Physical items or objects can similarly sent from one place to another for a wide variety of reasons, for the benefit of the sender, the recipient, or others. Things may be sent by a merchant in response to a remote purchase, or as a gift. International trade is primarily focused on the sending of goods from one place to another. Packaging, containerization and the like have developed to help facilitate the sending of cargo. Items as well as messages may be sent through the services of a courier or a post office. The sending of objects as gifts may involve multiple models of sending. For example, if a person orders a gift for another through a third-party website, from a social perspective the person making the order is sending the gift, while from the physical and economic perspective, it is the third-party website, or a vendor doing business with it, that is sending the item to the recipient.
Sending of small objects is done through package delivery or parcel delivery. The service is provided by most postal systems, express mail, private courier companies, and less than truckload shipping carriers. With respect to sending large items such as pieces of furniture, specialized less-than-truckload shipping carriers handle shipping furniture and other heavy goods from the manufacturer to a last mile hub. The last mile problem can also include the challenge of making deliveries in urban areas. Deliveries to retail stores, restaurants, and other merchants in a central business district often contribute to congestion and safety problems.