Fedex

The Federal Express was a passenger train in the northeast U.S.

FedEx (NYSE: [FDX]), properly FedEx Corporation, is a company that offers overnight courier, ground, heavy freight, document copying and logistics services. FedEx is a syllabic abbreviation of the company's original name, Federal Express.

Contents

1 History
2 Operating units and logos
3 Aircraft Fleet
4 Trivia
5 Naming rights of sports stadiums and events
6 Motorsports
7 See also
8 External links

History

The company was founded as Federal Express in 1971 by former U.S. Marine Frederick W. Smith in Little Rock, Arkansas, but moved to Memphis, Tennessee in 1973 after Little Rock airport officials would not agree to provide facilities for the fledgling airline. The name was chosen to symbolize a national marketplace, and help in obtaining government contracts. The company officially began operations on April 17,1973, utilizing a network of 14 Dassault Falcon 20s which connected 25 U.S. cities. FedEx, the first cargo airline to use jet aircraft for its services, expanded greatly after the deregulation of the cargo airlines sector. Federal Express use of the hub-spoke distribution paradigm in air freight enabled it to become a world leader in its field. The company operates much of its U.S. overnight freight through its Memphis hub. Other U.S. hubs are located in Newark, Indianapolis, Oakland, Anchorage and Alliance, Texas. The Canadian hub operates from Toronto's Toronto Pearson International Airport.

In August 1989 the company acquired Flying Tigers, an international cargo airline. It inherited Flying Tigers's U.S. military transport contract and carried passengers between the continental United States and overseas military installations until October, 1992. In January 1998 Federal Express acquired Caliber System, Inc, which owned RPS, Roberts Express, Viking Freight and Caliber Logistics. When these companies combined, the new organization became known as FDX Corp.

The name "FedEx" had been a popular, if unofficial, abbreviation for Federal Express for several years before the company chose it as its primary brand name in 1994. The new identity was revealed to the world on June 24, 1994. The "Federal Express" name was eliminated entirely in 2000, when FDX Corporation changed its name to FedEx Corporation and adopted the tagline "The World On Time" [].

In 2001, FedEx acquired American Freightways, a leading less-than-truckload carrier in the U.S., combined its operations with Viking Freight and created FedEx Freight. In February 2004, FedEx bought Kinko's, a Dallas-based chain that provides printing and business services, for $2.4 billion. In its advertising, the company made famous the line "Absolutely, positively" for their overnight service; the original phrase was "When it absolutely, positively has to get there overnight." Another slogan, "Relax it's FedEx", is well recognized. For several years the company promoted the slogan "Don't panic", particularly on buttons. Throughout Europe, the marketing tag line is "Whatever it takes", referring to the efforts that individual employees will go to ensure that the package arrives on time, however at times such as December, this is not always possible.

Major competitors include DHL, TNT, UPS, and the USPS.

Operating units and logos

FedEx is now organized into a number of operating units, each of which has its own version of the logo, designed by Lindon Leader of Leader Creative. In all versions, the Fed is purple. The Ex is in a different color for each division. The corporate logo uses a grey Ex. Before all of that, the original "FedEx" logo saw the Ex in orange; it is now used as the FedEx Express logo. The award winning FedEx logo is notable for containing a hidden right-pointing arrow in the negative space between the "E" and the "X", something that many people don't notice in their usual cursory interactions with the FedEx brand.

FedEx Express -- The original overnight courier services. Uses a large fleet of aircraft and local delivery trucks to move packages. Logo color: orange.

A FedEx Express delivery truck, showing the dual branding—both "FedEx" and "Federal Express"—the company used from 1994 to 2000

Aircraft Fleet

A FedEx DC-10

(as of February 2006)

Aircraft	#	Notes
Airbus A300-600	52
Airbus A310-200F	49
Airbus A310-300F	14
Airbus A380	(10 on order)
Boeing 727-100	15
Boeing 727-200	94
McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10/DC-10-30/MD-10	89
McDonnell Douglas MD-11F	58
ATR 42	29
ATR 72	11
Cessna 208A/B	243
Fokker F27	13

Aircraft

Notes

(10 on order)

McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10/DC-10-30/MD-10

McDonnell Douglas MD-11F

243

FedEx has ordered 10 Airbus A380 freighters and has options on 10 more. [link]

FedEx is currently the largest operator of the A310 (49), 727 (109), DC-10 (89) and MD-11 (58).

Trivia

Why did Fed Ex change their main corporate signature color from purple to white? Limiting the use of purple on on the redesigned logo offered a lot of cost savings. Because purple was sensitive to ultraviolet light, it required a special vinyl coating to minimize fading and scuffing , as well as frequent repainting of their fleet of planes, vehicles, and drop boxes. Also, the purple pigment on the planes weighs more than white and absorbs more heat , which increased fuel and operating costs. According to Bruce McGovert, Landor's Implementation director, "Eliminating the purple field (from Federal Express's old corporate identity) saved as much as $1000 in labor costs and materials on a single 53 foot tractor trailer alone. And the company owns 10,000 of that type vehicle." He adds, removing the purple decreased the plane's surface temperatures by 40 degrees, thus lowering the cost to cool the planes.

They currently sponsor NASCAR Rookie Denny Hamlin's #11 Chevy Monte Carlo

The company's well-known logo has a right-pointing arrow located in the negative space between the E and x. While the arrow becomes quite obvious when pointed out, most people don't notice it otherwise. The arrow has been occasionally pointed to as a mild form of subliminal advertising, the arrow symbolizing forward movement and thinking.

The movie Cast Away, based on the story Robinson Crusoe, is about a FedEx employee who survives a plane crash and subsequently becomes stranded on an island. According to commentary on the DVD edition of the film, the use of the FedEx name was for authenticity, and not a result of product placement.

Chief operating officer Jim Barksdale went on to lead Netscape.

A common story is that Fred Smith got a C at Yale University on the paper where he came up with the idea that became FedEx. In an [article] he wrote for the October 2002 issue of Fortune Small Business he said that he doesn't actually know what grade he got. He said he probably didn't get a very good grade, though, because the paper was not very well thought out. In a similar case, a C on a paper by Gregory Watson led to the passage of the Twenty-seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The company's planes are named after the children of employees.

FedEx Express contractually flies a large number of packages for United States Postal Service totaling one billion dollars worth of packages per year, making it one of FedEx's biggest customers.

After Federal Express became known as FedEx and subsequently diversified its operations, it called the original service FedEx Express. Since "FedEx" derives from "Federal Express", this means that "FedEx Express" could be expanded to "Federal Express Express" - a pleonasm.

Jeopardy! superchampion Ken Jennings incorrectly asked "What is FedEx?" to the Final Jeopardy! answer: "Most of this firm's 70,000 seasonal white-collar employees work only four months a year." ending his 74-game winning streak. The correct response was "What is H&R Block?," which led to Nancy Zerg's win.

There is a popular story that the company almost went bankrupt in its first year, but to make it through the Christmas season, Fred Smith convinced his employees to work at 70% of their wage. He then took all of his money to Vegas and made enough at the tables to weather a few more months until business picked up. In fact, while financial distress was extreme and expense account payments were deferred, the reported voluntary pay cut was never requested or given. The trip to Las Vegas was real, but the company's future was neither wagered nor won that day.

In 2003 the "FedEx Panda Express" delivered two giant pandas from Beijing, China to the Memphis Zoo.

The April 25, 2006 episode of Comedy Central's 'The Colbert Report' listed FedEx as the number 2 most dangerous threat to America on its recurring "Threat Down" Segment for donating a substantial amount of money for a Grizzly Bear sanctuary at a major zoo. The show's character host Stephen Colbert is well known for his hatred of bears on the show (the animal usually being the Number 1 threat to America), claiming that they are "godless killing machines."

On Late Night With Conan O'Brien, Brian Mccann portrays a FedEx Pope, wearing a tattered bathrobe and a FedEx Box as a hat.

Naming rights of sports stadiums and events

FedExField (formerly Jack Kent Cooke Stadium) in suburban Landover, Maryland, home of the Washington Redskins of the National Football League.

FedExForum in downtown Memphis, home of the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association and the men's basketball program of the University of Memphis.

The FedEx St. Jude Classic is a PGA Tour event played annually in May in Memphis.

FedEx has been the primary sponsor of the Orange Bowl since 1989.

As of 2007, the PGA FedEx Cup, a points system for the PGA much like NASCAR's Chase for the Cup will be primarily sponsored by FedEx.

Motorsports

From 1997 until 2002, FedEx was the title sponsor of Champ Car World Series when it was known as CART. The series was known as the CART FedEx Championship Series, which led to the official "Champ Car" designation in reference to the fact they were the FedEx Championship. Ironically, The Nashville Network's Rick Benjamin used the "Champ Car" term a year before CART made it official in 1997.

FedEx became the sponsor of the #11 NASCAR Nextel Cup car owned by Joe Gibbs Racing in 2005. While the team struggled through much of the season, the late addition of driver Denny Hamlin and crew chief Mike Ford led to success, with a few top-10 finishes in his seven starts in the car late in the season. (A driver can run up to seven races without losing rookie eligibility.) Hamlin became the permanent driver for his rookie year in 2006. Recently this decision scored success as Denny Hamlin won the Bud Shootout and the Pocono 500 in the 2006 season and is the leading candidate for the 2006 Rookie of the Year award. FedEx uses five different paint schemes to showcase its different products, and in 2005 also ran a special scheme to promote a charity event at the FedEx St. Jude Classic golf tournament.

Members of the Air Transport Association

Associate Members: Aeroméxico | Air Canada | Air Jamaica | Mexicana

Members of the Air Transport Association
ABX Air \| Alaska Airlines \| Aloha Airlines \| American Airlines \| Astar Air Cargo \| ATA Airlines \| Atlas Air \| Continental Airlines \| Delta Air Lines \| Evergreen International Airlines \| FedEx \| Hawaiian Airlines \| JetBlue Airways \| Midwest Airlines \| Northwest Airlines \| Southwest Airlines \| United Airlines \| UPS Airlines \| US Airways
Associate Members: Aeroméxico \| Air Canada \| Air Jamaica \| Mexicana