United Parcel Service
Encyclopedia : U : UN : UNI : United Parcel Service
United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS) (NYSE: [UPS]
UPS is well-known for its brown trucks, internally known as package cars (hence the company nickname "Big Brown", and sometimes, because of its NASCAR-related commercials, "The #88 Car"). The brown color that UPS uses on its vehicles and uniforms is called Pullman brown, after the railroad sleeper cars created by George Pullman, which used the same color. UPS also operates its own airline (IATA: 5X, ICAO: UPS, and Callsign: UPS) based in Louisville, Kentucky.
In April of 2003, UPS unvield the new logo, replacing the iconic package and shield originally designed in 1961 by Paul Rand.
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, FedEx recently expanded into the ground market by acquiring RPS (originally Roadway Package System) and rebranded it as FedEx Ground. In addition, DHL acquired Airborne Express. This acquisition significantly increases DHL's presence in the U.S. 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. The purchase was announced on December 20th, 2004, the price was US$150million and the assumption of US$110million 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 May 16, 2005, UPS announced it would purchase Overnite Corporation for $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.
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.UPS' Political Action Committee has been the most generous corporate giver to federal candidates for every election since 1992, donating a total of $14 million through Dec. 31, 2005 according to Federal Election Commission records.
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.
April 20, 2006, UPS today reported earnings per diluted share of $0.89, up 14.1% over the prior year. Results were driven by a 9% increase in global small package volume or 1.24 million packages per day, outpacing worldwide market growth.
Other codes
- AAR Reporting Marks: UPOZ, UPST, UPSZ, UPWZ
- Intermodal Reporting Marks: UPSU, FSTU, UPSC
Personnel Structure
UPS is made up of approximately 407,200 staff, with 348,400 in the U.S. and 58,800 Internationally.
Chief executives
- 1907–1962 James E. 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. "Jim" Kelly
- 2002–Present Michael L. "Mike" Eskew
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, IL. After arriving there, it would be loaded onto a trailer and sent by rail (trailer on flat car in most cases) to North Bay, CA where it would then be forwarded to the delivery center, loaded onto the delivery vehicle, and transported to its final destination.
| City |
|---|
| Hamilton, ON |
| Vaughan, ON |
| Mississauga, ON - Toronto Pearson International Airport |
| Mirabel, QC |
| Calgary, AB |
| Vancouver, BC |
| Winnipeg, MB |
| City |
|---|
| Incheon, Korea |
| Pampanga, Philippines |
| Cologne, Germany |
| Taipei, Taiwan |
| Hong Kong |
| Singapore |
- Note
- HRS codes are five letter designators with two letters being the state and three letters for the city. Operations traditionally places state after the city as done in this table, whereas Information Technology and a few other departments place the state before the city.
UPS Airlines Fleet
Employees : 18,138
Delivery Fleet: 235 UPS Jet Aircraft (as of November 2005)
- 47 Airbus A300-600R
- 13 Boeing 727-100
- 7 Boeing 747-100
- 4 Boeing 747-200
- 75 Boeing 757-200
- 32 Boeing 767-300ERF
- 40 McDonnell Douglas DC-8-70
- 17 McDonnell Douglas MD-11F
Most UPS Airlines flights go through the UPS WorldPort at Louisville International Airport.
Trivia
- NASCAR driver Dale Jarrett has appeared in UPS commercials, and his No. 88 Ford Fusion is sponsored by the company. In most of the commercials, UPS employees (and sometimes his father, Ned Jarrett, even 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 replaced by copycats of his Ford, complete with the No. 88 and UPS logo.
- 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 isn't a valid Pantone number.
- UPS inspired the off-Broadway musical Romance on Wheels during World War II.
- The body design of the "package cars" are unique to UPS, and are only operated by them. Retired cars are scrapped and dismantled, and never sold for reuse. The manufacturer's name is not displayed on the outside of the car.
Critics
United Parcel Service is not without unhappy customers due to alleged incidents of mishandling of packages or difficulty making insurance claims for packages lost or damaged. Several unhappy customers have gone so far as to dedicate entire websites to their complaints about the company. A customer from Michigan created a site that allows others to post their experiences called United Package Smashers. Other customers have chosen only to post only their own complaints, for example [A Shipment to My Daughter]. Still others have used consumer feedback sites like [Epinions.com] to register their unhappiness.In addition, Several hundred storeowners of both unrebranded MBEs and UPS stores are currently in litigation with its franchisor, UPS, 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.
See also
- WorldPort (UPS air hub)
- MaxiCode - The new square barcode like symbols appearing on UPS packages
- Charles McKinley
- FedEx (competitor)
- DHL (competitor)
- USPS (competitor)
External links
- [UPS corporate website, shipping, tracking, service information]
- [Yahoo! - United Parcel Service, Inc. Company Profile]
- [Brown Cafe - Information and resources for UPS employees, retirees and shareowners. Not sponsored or endorsed by United Parcel Service]
- [Ask Yahoo!: Who manufactures the brown UPS trucks?]
- [UPSers - Resource for UPS Employees]
- [Talkbrown.com]
- [UPS Racing]
- [U.S. Mail holidays - UPS holidays - FedEx holidays - Internet Accuracy Project]
- [UPS’s New Hydraulic Hybrid Available For Test Ride In NYC]
References
- 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.
| 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 | |
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