Typically drop shipping something on an airline is substantially cheaper than a full fledged seat fare. You go to the counter, say you want to ship something, they toss it in the belly and your friend picks it up at the counter at the destination. We used to do this all the time with equip in Alaska.
See, I always told my friends it was faster to burn to CD and then toss the disc their way. I mean, the last time I had to make a null modem cable it took me hours just to find the right tools!