United Parcel Service

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United Parcel Service Inc.
Type	Public (NYSE: UPS)
Founded	August 28, 1907, Seattle, WA
Headquarters	Sandy Springs, Georgia, USA
Key people	Michael L. Eskew, Chairman & CEO
Industry	Air Courier
Products	Freight Forwarding Services Logistics Services
Revenue	$42.581 billion USD (2005)
Operating income	$6.143 billion USD (2005)
Net income	$3.870 billion USD (2005)
Employees	407,000 (2006)
Subsidiaries	Mail Boxes Etc.
Slogan	What can Brown do for you?
Website	www.ups.com

United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS), commonly referred to as UPS, is the world's largest package delivery company, delivering more than 14 million packages a day to more than 200 countries and territories around the world. It has recently expanded its operations to include logistics and other transportation-related areas. It is headquartered in Sandy Springs, Georgia, USA.

UPS is well known for its brown trucks, internally known as package cars (hence the company nickname "The Big Brown Machine," and sometimes, because of its NASCAR-related commercials, "The #88 Car"). The brown color that UPS uses on its vehicles and uniforms is called UPS brown, which was chosen because it is the same color that was used on Pullman railroad sleeper cars and was seen as professional and elegant. The brown color hides dirt well and was inconspicuous. UPS's department store customers did not want to call attention to the fact that UPS was deliverying their furniture, rather than its own delivery men. UPS has trademarked the color brown, which prevents other delivery companies from using it as part of their brand. UPS also operates its own airline (IATA: 5X, ICAO: UPS, and Callsign: UPS ) ^[1] based in Louisville, Kentucky.

In April 2003, UPS unveiled the new logo, replacing the iconic package and shield originally designed in 1961 by Paul Rand. It also shortened its name from "United Parcel Service" to simply "UPS."

Major competitors include United States Postal Service (USPS), FedEx and DHL. Historically, UPS only faced competition from USPS for the inexpensive ground-based delivery market. However, in 2000 FedEx expanded into the ground market by acquiring RPS (originally Roadway Package System) and rebranding it as FedEx Ground. In addition, in 2003 DHL acquired Airborne Express. This acquisition significantly increases DHL's presence in the United States, which will add more competition to the ground delivery market.

UPS entered the heavy freight business with its purchase of Menlo Worldwide Forwarding, a former subsidiary of Menlo Worldwide, and rebranding it as UPS Supply Chain Solutions. The purchase was announced on December 20, 2004; the price was US$150 million and the assumption of US$110 million in long-term debt. Menlo Worldwide was the successor of Emery Worldwide. Emery was grounded on August 13, 2001 after a DC-8-71F crashed in Northern California.

On August 5, 2005 UPS announced that it had completed its acquisition of Overnite Transportation for US$1.25 billion. This was approved by the FTC and Overnite shareholders on August 4, 2005. On April 28, 2006, Overnite officially became UPS Freight.

UPS also owns Mail Boxes Etc. which franchises The UPS Store and Mail Boxes Etc. retail shops.

Contents 1 History 2 Uniform 3 Other codes 4 Personnel structure 4.1 Chief executives 5 System design 6 Fleet 7 Criticism 8 Trivia 9 See also 10 References 11 Further reading 12 External links

[edit] History

In 1907, 19-year-old Jim Casey founded the American Messenger Company in Seattle, Washington with $100 borrowed from a friend. In 1913, Jim Casey and Evert McCabe agreed to merge. Merchants Parcel Delivery was formed and focused on packages. In 1919, the company expanded beyond Seattle and changed their name to United Parcel Service.

• 1913: The first delivery car appeared, a Model T Ford. Merged with a competitor, Evert McCabe, and formed Merchants Parcel Delivery. Consolidated delivery was also introduced, combining packages addressed to a certain neighborhood onto one delivery vehicle.
• 1918: A new member was recruited, Charles W. Soderstrom, who helped manage their ever-growing fleet of delivery vehicles.
• 1919: Service expanded into Oakland, California. The name United Parcel Service was adopted.
• 1930: A consolidated service began in New York, and soon after began operations in other major cities in the east and midwest. First mechanical system for package sorting. Accountant George D. Smith joined the company. The name United Parcel Service was adopted all over the country. All UPS vehicles were then painted the familiar Pullman brown, chosen because it is neat, dignified, and professional.
• 1940–1959: Services were expanded by acquiring "common carrier" rights to deliver packages between all addresses, any customer, private and commercial.

• 1945: The Blue Air Label began service in Toronto, Canada (YYZ).
• 1952: Blue Label Air
• 1975: UPS began servicing all of the 48 contiguous states of the USA.
• 1976: UPS established itself in Europe with a domestic operation in West Germany. Blue Label Air.
• 1982: UPS Next-Day Air Service is offered in the US and Blue Label Air becomes UPS 2nd Day Air Service.
• August 28, 2007: Marks the 100th anniversary of the United Parcel Service.

UPS's Political Action Committee has been the most generous corporate giver to federal candidates for every U.S. election since 1992, donating a total of $14 million through December 31, 2005 according to Federal Election Commission records.

On October 3, 2005, UPS in the United Kingdom completed the purchase of LYNX Express Ltd, one of the UK's largest independent parcel carriers, for £55.5 million (US$97.1 million) after having received approval for the transaction from the European Commission. The first joint package car centre operation, in Dartford, east London, was opened during mid-2006. Dartford Centre carries the SLIC GB1330.

UPS also recently partnered with competitor USPS in offering UPS Mail Innovations, a program that allows UPS to pick up mail and transfer it to a USPS center for final distribution. [1]

On April 20, 2006, UPS reported earnings per diluted share of $0.89, up 14.1% over the previous year. Results were driven by a 9% increase in global small package volume or 1.24 million packages per day, outpacing worldwide market growth.

[edit] Uniform

The UPS delivery driver uniform is one of the most recognized symbols of corporate America. It consists of a brown short- or long-sleeve button-up shirt or blouse with a pointed collar, two front pockets, and the company logo above the left pocket. The shirt is worn with a pair of brown pants or shorts. When pants are worn, the shirttail is tucked in. All buttons, with the exception of the one on the collar, are fastened. The short-sleeve shirt can be worn with either the shorts or the pants. The long-sleeve shirt is worn exclusively with the pants. Drivers for UPS's SonicAir do not wear any uniforms and deliver in their own clothes.

[edit] Other codes

• AAR Reporting Marks: UPOZ, UPST, UPSZ, UPWZ
• Intermodal Reporting Marks: UPSU, FSTU, UPSC

[edit] Personnel structure

UPS employs approximately 407,200 staff, with 348,400 in the U.S. and 58,800 internationally. In the United States, UPS requires drug testing for full time driver positions who are looking to drive feeders or any other driving position that requires a commercial driver's license, but not for drivers of SonicAir vehicles. Approximately 215,000 UPS employees are represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The company had only one nationwide strike in its history, which occurred in 1997, lasting 16 days. [2]

[edit] Chief executives

• 1907–1962 James E. "Jim" Casey
• 1962–1972 George D. Smith
• 1972–1973 Paul Oberkotter
• 1973–1980 Harold Oberkotter
• 1980–1984 George Lamb
• 1984–1990 John W. Rogers
• 1990–1997 Kent C. "Oz" Nelson
• 1997–2001 James P. Kelly
• 2002–Present Michael L. "Mike" Eskew

[edit] System design

UPS's Parcel Network is based on a hub and spoke model. UPS operates centers which feed parcels to hubs where parcels are sorted and forwarded to their destinations. Centers typically are the point of entry for parcels and send the parcels to one or more hubs. A hub is a location where many centers send packages to be sorted and sent back out to other centers or hubs. For example, a parcel being shipped from Wilmington, NC to San Francisco, CA is picked up by a driver and taken to the 23rd street center in Wilmington, where it is loaded on a trailer and driven to Raleigh, NC. At Raleigh, the package would join packages from all over North Carolina and be forwarded to the Chicago Area Consolidated Hub in Hodgkins, Illinois. After arriving there, it would be loaded onto a trailer and sent by rail (trailer on flat car in most cases) to the North Bay, California hub in Richmond, California where it would then be forwarded to the delivery center, loaded onto the delivery vehicle, and transported to its final destination.

[edit] Fleet

The United Parcel Service fleet consists of the following aircraft as of December 2006:

UPS Fleet

Aircraft	In service	On order
Airbus A300-600R	53
Boeing 727-100C	5
Boeing 727-100F	28
Boeing 747-100F	7
Boeing 747-200F	4
Boeing 747-400F		8
Boeing 757-200PF	75
Boeing 767-300ERF	32	27
Douglas DC-8-71CF	9
Douglas DC-8-71F	11
Douglas DC-8-73CF	18
Douglas DC-8-73F	8
McDonnell Douglas MD-11	9
McDonnell Douglas MD-11F	22

United Parcel Service had ordered ten Airbus A380 freighters and had options on ten more. This order was canceled on March 2nd, 2007, one day after Airbus announced that it would halt development and production of the A380 freighter to prioritize the production of the A380 passenger version. To replace those orders, UPS may order a mixture of 777 and 747-8 freighters instead. [3] [4]. UPS has also ordered eight Boeing 747-400 freighters to increase capacity on its major "trunk" routes to Europe, Asia, and North America. These are expected to be delivered in June 2007 and go on through 2008. ^[2] UPS Airlines placed a firm order for 27 additional Boeing 767-300 Freighters in February 2007 to be delivered 2009 to 2012.^[3] Most UPS Airlines flights go through the UPS Worldport at Louisville International Airport, but also use hubs at Chicago/Rockford International Airport, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Philadelphia International Airport, Ontario International Airport, Miami International Airport, Columbia Metropolitian Airport, and Bradley International Airport in Hartford (CT).

[edit] Criticism

• In addition, several hundred storeowners of both unrebranded Mail Boxes Etc. and UPS stores are currently in litigation with their franchisor, Mail Boxes Etc., Inc, over disputes surrounding the rebranding. Most claim that UPS bought the franchise to enrich UPS at the expense of the storeowners. A motion to dismiss the charges was denied, and the lawsuits continue forward.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Trivia

• NASCAR driver Dale Jarrett has appeared in UPS commercials, and his No. 44 Toyota Camry is sponsored by the company. In most of the commercials, UPS employees (and sometimes his father, Ned Jarrett, kids in the shopping mall where Jarrett is shopping, and well-known celebrities) constantly ask Jarrett to race their trucks, and one new ad features all company trucks being painted to resemble the Michael Waltrip Racing No. 44 UPS Toyota. These commercials were filmed at the North Carolina Speedway test track.
• UPS delivered four whale sharks from Taiwan to the Georgia Aquarium.
• UPS recently announced that it will continue its relationship with Dale Jarrett by moving with him to Michael Waltrip Racing, racing Toyota Camrys in 2007. There was some speculation that UPS wanted to stay with Robert Yates Racing and hire a young driver to compete with competitor FedEx's NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin.
• UPS's total United Way contribution of more than $57.3 million sets a new national record.
• UPS Brown is a trademark of the company.
• UPS Brown is often erroneously referred to as Pantone color 0607298. 0607298 is not a valid Pantone number. ^[4]
• UPS inspired the off-Broadway musical Romance on Wheels during World War II.
• The body design of the "package cars" is unique to UPS, and the cars are only operated by them. Retired cars are scrapped and dismantled, and never sold for reuse. The manufacturer's name, Grumman-Olson, is not displayed on the outside of the car.
• A business biography about UPS and its founder Jim Casey: BIG BROWN: The Untold Story of UPS was published in February 2007.
• UPS's "Whiteboard" ad campaign, which launched 6 January 2007, features the song "Such Great Heights" by The Postal Service.^[5]
• During a skit on WWE's RAW a character appeared as an employee of "OPS" (a parody of UPS) as the "other guys" wanted an arm and a leg for delivering a package
• The tops of many of UPS trucks are not painted brown but are in fact white; this allows operators to take advantage of natural light in daytime to see the vehicle's inventory.

[edit] See also

• List of United Parcel Service hubs
• Worldport (UPS air hub)
• MaxiCode — A UPS developed and utilized square barcode-like symbol that appears on their package label
• Charles McKinley
• DHL (competitor)
• TNT (competitor)
• FedEx (competitor)
• USPS (competitor)
• Courier

[edit] References

1. ^ Airline Codes
2. ^ UPS press release, 17 August 2005
3. ^ http://ups.com/pressroom/us/press_releases/press_release/0,1088,4858,00.html,
4. ^ http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/colorfinder.aspx
5. ^ http://pressroom.ups.com/mediakits/landing/0,2307,69,00.html Retrieved 6 January 2007.

• Trains News Wire (May 17, 2005), UPS to buy Overnite trucking company. Retrieved May 18, 2005.
• SmartMoney Magazine (Nov 11, 2003), 10 Things Your Delivery Service Won't Tell You. Retrieved May 24, 2006.

[edit] Further reading

• "Insourcing," Thomas L. Friedman, The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, updated and expanded, 2006, pp. 167-176.
• "Big Brown: The Untold Story of UPS". Niemann, Greg. John Wiley & Sons, 2007.

[edit] External links

• UPS corporate website, shipping, tracking, service information
• UPS whiteboard advertising campaign
• Portal del Transporte de la Sección Sindical de UGT en Seur GeoPost + UPS transportes
• Yahoo! — United Parcel Service, Inc. Company Profile
• Ask Yahoo!: Who manufactures the brown UPS trucks?
• UPSers — Resource for UPS Employees
• U.S. Mail holidays - UPS holidays - FedEx holidays - Internet Accuracy Project
• UPS’s New Hydraulic Hybrid Available For Test Ride In NYC
• Brown Cafe Forum for UPS employees, retirees and shareowners. Not sponsored or endorsed by UPS.