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TL;DR version:

• It does still exist.
• It has become a lot less prevalent, but only partly due to post-911 security changes.
• The savings are far smaller than they used to be.
• They use your checked luggage, not your hand luggage.

Sources:

The term used is air courier, and I found several resources on the topic after more searching:

• WikiVoyage actually has an article on air couriering.
• about.com has a good article too.
• There's a writeup here on a website called seminar.org.
• A company called "Air Courier International" has information specifically detailed for the UK and USA.