United Parcel Service facts for kids
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Formerly
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American Messenger Company (1907–1913) Merchants Parcel Delivery (1913–1919) |
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| Public | |
| Traded as |
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| Industry | Courier |
| Founded | August 28, 1907 in Seattle, Washington, U.S. as the American Messenger Company |
| Founder | James E. Casey |
| Headquarters | Sandy Springs, Georgia, U.S. |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
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Key people
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| Services | |
| Revenue |  US$90.96 billion (2023) |
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Operating income
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US$9.141 billion (2023) |
| US$6.708 billion (2023) |
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| Total assets | US$70.86 billion (2023) |
| Total equity | US$17.31 billion (2023) |
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Number of employees
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c. 500,000 (2023) |
| Subsidiaries |
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United Parcel Service, Inc. (or UPS) is a huge American company that delivers packages and manages supply chains. It started in 1907 and is now one of the biggest shipping companies in the world. UPS is famous for its brown delivery trucks and its ground shipping services.
UPS also has a chain of stores called The UPS Store. These stores help people send packages and offer tools for small businesses. UPS also provides fast air shipping, like overnight or two-day delivery. They even deliver to post office boxes through special services that work with the United States Postal Service.
UPS makes a lot of money, with yearly earnings around US$85 billion in 2020. This makes it the largest courier company by revenue, bigger than DHL and FedEx. UPS has a main international hub called UPS Worldport in Louisville, Kentucky. This airport is one of the busiest in the world for cargo. UPS is also one of the biggest private employers in the United States.
Contents
History of UPS: Delivering the World
How UPS Started
On August 28, 1907, a person named James E. Casey started the American Messenger Company in Seattle, Washington. He started it with a friend, Claude Ryan, and they had $100. At first, most deliveries were done by walking. For longer trips, they used bicycles.
The American Messenger Company mainly delivered packages to stores. Their biggest customer was the U.S. Post Office, for whom they delivered special mail. In 1913, the company bought its first delivery vehicle, a Ford Model T. James Casey and Claude Ryan then joined with another delivery company owner, Evert McCabe. They changed the company name to Merchants Parcel Delivery. They also started combining packages going to the same area onto one delivery vehicle. This made deliveries more efficient.
In 1916, Charlie Soderstrom joined the company. He brought more vehicles, which helped the business grow. In 1919, the company grew outside of Seattle for the first time, opening in Oakland, California. At this point, they changed their name to United Parcel Service.
In 1922, UPS started offering a "common carrier" service in Los Angeles, California. This meant they could deliver packages for anyone, not just specific stores. UPS was one of the few companies in the U.S. to offer this. At first, this service was only in a small area around Los Angeles. But by 1927, it grew to cover areas up to 125 miles away. In 1924, UPS started using a special conveyor belt system to handle packages. This made things much faster.
By 1930, UPS began offering its common carrier service in New York City and soon in other big cities in the eastern and midwestern United States. When UPS started delivering packages across state lines, it began to compete directly with the USPS. The first city outside California where UPS used common carrier status was Chicago, Illinois, in 1953.
UPS first tried air delivery in 1929 using private airlines. But this service stopped because of the Great Depression and not enough packages to send by air. In 1953, UPS started air service again. It was called UPS Blue Label Air and offered two-day delivery between major cities on the East and West Coasts.
Growing Bigger and Offering More Services
In 1975, UPS moved its main office to Greenwich, Connecticut. That same year, they started delivering to all 48 states in the continental U.S.. This made UPS the first package delivery company to serve every address in these states. Also in 1975, UPS started delivering internationally by opening in Canada. In 1976, they began operations in West Germany.
UPS launched its Next Day Air Service in 1985. This service was available for all 48 states and Puerto Rico. In 1988, UPS Airlines started. It grew very quickly and became one of the largest airlines in the United States. In 1989, UPS added domestic air service in Germany. In 1991, UPS moved its headquarters again to Sandy Springs, Georgia, near Atlanta.
In 1992, UPS bought two companies, Haulfast and Carryfast, and renamed them UPS Supply Chain Solutions. These companies helped with moving large pallets and trucking. By 1993, UPS was delivering about 11.5 million packages and documents every day!
To handle so many customers, UPS developed new technologies in 1991. They created a handheld device called "Delivery Information Acquisition Device" (DIAD). UPS drivers use this device to record and send delivery information right away. In 1992, UPS started tracking all ground shipments electronically. In 1994, UPS.com launched, allowing customers to track their packages online.
In 1995, UPS bought SonicAir to offer services for delivering parts and competing with other logistics companies. That same year, UPS Logistics Group was launched to help manage global supply chains for customers. In 1997, there was a strike by 185,000 members of the Teamsters union. It lasted for 16 days. In 1998, UPS Capital was created to offer financial services to help businesses grow. UPS also bought Challenge Air in 1999 to expand its services in Latin America.
On November 10, 1999, UPS became a public company. This was one of the biggest stock offerings of the 20th century.
UPS in the 21st Century
In 2001, UPS bought Mail Boxes Etc., Inc., which was a network of packing and shipping stores. In 2003, these stores were renamed The UPS Store.
In 2004, UPS started in the heavy freight business by buying Menlo Worldwide Forwarding. They renamed it UPS Supply Chain Solutions. In 2005, UPS bought a trucking company called Overnite Transportation for $1.25 billion. In 2006, Overnite officially became UPS Freight.
Also in 2005, UPS started non-stop delivery service between Guangzhou, China, and the United States. On October 3, 2005, UPS bought Lynx Express, a large package delivery company in the United Kingdom.
On August 28, 2007, United Parcel Service celebrated its 100th birthday! In 2008, All Nippon Airways and UPS formed a partnership to transport cargo together.
In 2012, UPS tried to buy TNT Express to grow more in Europe and Asia, but the deal didn't happen. In February 2012, UPS bought Kiala, a company that lets online shoppers pick up their packages at local stores.
In May 2019, UPS started working with TuSimple, a company that makes self-driving trucks. They use these trucks to carry cargo between Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona. In October 2019, UPS got permission from the Federal Aviation Administration to fly drones. This allows UPS to deliver healthcare supplies using drones.
In January 2020, UPS announced it was investing in a UK company called Arrival. They ordered 10,000 electric vehicles to make their delivery fleet cleaner and more high-tech. In March 2020, Carol Tomé became the new CEO of UPS.
In January 2021, UPS sold its freight business, UPS Freight, to TFI International for $800 million. This allowed UPS to focus more on delivering smaller packages. In 2021, UPS saw a big jump in sales, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. They reported a 21% increase in sales in the fourth quarter.
In September 2021, UPS agreed to buy Roadie, a company that offers same-day delivery. In November 2022, UPS bought Bomi Group, a European company that handles healthcare warehousing and transport. In September 2023, UPS acquired MNX, a company that specializes in time-critical healthcare logistics. In October 2023, UPS bought Happy Returns from PayPal, which helps with returning online purchases.
In January 2024, UPS announced plans to cut 12,000 jobs. They also asked staff to return to the office five days a week.
UPS Locations Around the World
United States Hubs
Louisville UPS Worldport
UPS's main global hub for air shipments is called Worldport. It's located at the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. This huge facility helps make Louisville the second-busiest cargo airport in the United States.
The Worldport is massive:
- It handles 290 aircraft.
- More than 20,000 people work there.
- It has 5.2 million square feet of building space, which is like 90 football fields!
- It can handle 115 packages every second, or 416,000 packages every hour.
Regional Air Hubs
UPS has five other large regional air hubs in the United States. These are in Ontario, California; Dallas, Texas; Rockford, Illinois; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Atlanta, Georgia. These hubs are important places for sorting, transferring, and delivering packages.
Europe Hubs
Poland
UPS has a large package center in Mysłowice, Poland. It's 11,000 square meters big. This facility has a conveyor belt system that can sort up to 6,000 packages every hour. It also has parking for 170 delivery vans and a customer call center. Mysłowice was chosen in 2017 because it's close to many businesses and the Katowice airport.
Turkey
UPS has 15 small package facilities and 4 supply chain facilities in Turkey. These are located in cities like Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Bursa, and Antalya.
Asia-Pacific Region Hubs
Asia-Pacific Air Hub
UPS's main Asia-Pacific Air Hub is at Singapore Changi Airport. This is the company's biggest hub outside of the United States. It handles over 1.1 million packages every day! The hub was made 25% bigger in 2023 to handle more online shopping demand after the pandemic. Now, it can process 40% more incoming packages and 45% more outgoing packages.
This hub also has special refrigerators and freezers. They can keep temperatures between -20 and 25 degrees Celsius. This is important for storing sensitive shipments, especially healthcare items like COVID-19 vaccines. It helps keep the "cold chain" unbroken for medicines.
Regional Hubs
UPS has five other regional hubs in the Asia-Pacific region. These are in Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, and Thailand. These hubs are major places for sorting and distributing packages within and between different regions.
UPS Money Matters
For the year 2023, UPS reported making US$6.71 billion in profit. Their total yearly income was US$90.96 billion. This was a 9% decrease from the year before. UPS was ranked number 34 on the 2022 Fortune 500 list. This list shows the largest companies in the United States by their total income.
How UPS Works: Services and Deliveries
UPS's main job is to deliver packages and documents on time all over the world. Recently, UPS has also started offering services for larger shipments (called LTL transportation) and managing supply chains for businesses.
UPS organizes its work into three main parts:
- U.S. Domestic Package operations (delivering within the United States)
- International Package operations (delivering to other countries)
- Supply Chain & Freight operations (managing logistics and larger cargo)
Shipping Within the United States
UPS offers different services for sending packages within the U.S.:
- UPS Ground: This is for regular deliveries that take a few days, usually up to 5 days.
- UPS 3-Day Select: For shipments that need to arrive in three days. It can use air or ground transport.
- UPS 2nd Day Air: For packages that must arrive within two days. There's also a "2nd Day Air AM" service for morning delivery.
- UPS Next Day Air: For packages that need to arrive overnight. There are three levels:
- Next Day Air Saver: Guaranteed overnight delivery by the afternoon.
- Next Day Air: Guaranteed overnight delivery between 10:30 AM and noon.
- Next Day Air Early: Guaranteed overnight delivery by 8:30 AM in major cities or 9:30 AM elsewhere.
- UPS Express Critical: This is UPS's fastest service. It delivers to all 50 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico by the end of the day.
UPS also has a service called UPS SurePost. With this, UPS handles the package for most of the journey. Then, the United States Postal Service (USPS) delivers it for the "last mile" to your door.
International Shipping
UPS delivers to more than 220 countries and territories worldwide. This includes shipments that start and end outside the U.S., as well as those going to or from the U.S.
Here are some international shipping services:
- UPS Standard: For shipments to Mexico and Canada.
- UPS Worldwide Expedited: For all international shipments, usually delivered within 2-5 business days.
- UPS Worldwide Saver: Also for all international shipments. It usually delivers overnight to Canada, in 2 days to Mexico, Latin America, and Europe, and in 3 or more days to other parts of the world, all by the end of the day.
- UPS Worldwide Express: For important international shipments with similar delivery times to Worldwide Saver, usually by 10:30 AM to noon.
- UPS Worldwide Express Plus: For Worldwide Express shipments that need to arrive even earlier in the morning.
Supply Chain and Freight Services
This part of UPS's business, called UPS Supply Chain Solutions (UPS-SCS), includes managing freight and logistics. UPS-SCS offers services in over 175 countries. These services include designing and managing supply chains, freight forwarding, distribution, customs help, and consulting.
Other parts of this segment include The UPS Store and UPS Capital (which offers financial services).
Until 2021, this segment also included UPS Freight. This part of the company offered services for larger shipments (less-than-truckload and truckload) in North America. UPS Freight was sold in April 2021 and is now called TForce Freight.
UPS Employees
In 2023, about 500,000 people worked for UPS. Around 330,000 UPS drivers, package handlers, and clerks are part of the Teamsters union. This union helps workers get good wages and benefits. In 2023, a full-time UPS delivery worker with more than four years of experience earned about $95,000 per year.
UPS has agreed to equip new delivery vans with air conditioning starting in January 2024. They will also add fans and better ventilation to older vehicles to keep drivers cooler. All large tractor-trailers already have air conditioning.
Who UPS Competes With
In the United States, UPS's main competitors are the United States Postal Service (USPS) and FedEx. There are also smaller regional delivery companies. Around the world, UPS competes with many other companies like SF Express, Canada Post, Deutsche Post (which owns DHL), and Japan Post Service.
In the past, UPS mostly competed with cheaper ground delivery services. But then, FedEx started its own ground delivery service called FedEx Ground. DHL also grew its operations in the U.S.
To compete, UPS partnered with the USPS to create UPS Mail Innovations. This program allows UPS to pick up smaller mail and packages. Then, they transfer them to a USPS center for the final delivery. UPS also has a similar product called "SurePost." This uses the UPS Ground network to get packages to a local UPS center, which then transfers them to the USPS for the "final mile" delivery.
With more people shopping online, new types of delivery services have appeared. The USPS, for example, says its deliveries are "greener" because their mail carriers already visit every address.
How UPS Moves Packages: Transportation
UPS uses over 119,000 delivery vehicles worldwide. These range from bicycles to large tractor-trailer trucks. UPS has a policy to remove all manufacturer logos from their vehicles. This is so they don't advertise any specific car company.
A typical UPS ground vehicle can last for 20–25 years or even longer! When a vehicle is retired, it's usually taken apart for reusable parts. Then, the rest is crushed. UPS makes sure all company branding is painted over before a vehicle is scrapped.
Delivery Vans
UPS calls its delivery vans "package cars." They use different designs and sizes depending on the delivery route and how many packages there are. The unique rounded "bubble-nose" design of the front was introduced in 1965. The bodies of these package cars are made by companies like Morgan Olson and Utilimaster. While older vehicles used Ford or General Motors parts, newer ones use Freightliner or Workhorse chassis.
Until the late 1900s, UPS delivery vehicles had manual transmissions and steering. Newer vehicles now have automatic transmissions and power steering.
For routes with fewer packages, UPS uses regular production vehicles. These include minivans like the Ford Transit Connect or Dodge Grand Caravan C/V, and Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vans. UPS has also ordered Modec electric vans for its fleets in the UK and Germany. Using electric vehicles helps save on fuel costs.
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A 1990s UPS package car, showing the 1965-design rounded nose.
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A 2000s propane-fueled package car in Montreal, Quebec.
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An early 2010s package car in Ontario.
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A Utilimaster-body package car on an Isuzu Reach chassis in New York City.
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A Ram ProMaster package car.
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A Modec electric-powered van in Germany.
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An Iveco Daily package car in Leamington Spa, United Kingdom.
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Most UPS Ground vehicles do not have air conditioning, except for the large tractor-trailers. This has been a concern for drivers working long shifts in hot weather. Newer vehicles have better ventilation systems.
On January 29, 2020, UPS invested in Arrival and ordered 10,000 new electric vehicles from them.
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A UPS 1990 Ford LN8000 in Seattle, Washington.
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A 2017 Ford F-650 in New York City.
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A UPS International 9000 towing triple trailers in Beatty, Nevada.
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A UPS DAF LF cabover straight truck in Plymouth, United Kingdom.
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A UPS MAN TGL truck in Denmark.
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Bicycles
In 2008, UPS started using bicycle delivery people in Vancouver, Washington, and several cities in Oregon. In 2018, UPS began a new program in Seattle, Washington. They use electric cargo bikes to deliver around busy downtown areas like Pike Place Market. In Amsterdam, UPS also uses Urban Arrow delivery bicycles.
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A UPS e-drive electric-assisted cargo tricycle in Hamburg, Germany.
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A UPS e-drive electric-assisted cargo tricycle in Cologne, Germany.
UPS Airlines: Flying Packages Around the World
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UPS Airlines is the fourth-largest cargo airline in the world. It flies to over 800 places worldwide, which is more than any other airline! It started in 1988 and its main office is in Louisville, Kentucky. That's where its worldwide air hub, Worldport, is located. UPS Airlines also has other hubs in the United States, Germany, and China.
The airline has a fleet of over 260 aircraft. It competes directly with FedEx Express to deliver packages by air to over 200 countries and territories.
UPS Flight Forward: Drone Delivery
UPS Flight Forward is a special part of UPS that started in 2019. It was the first company to get a special certification from the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) to fly drones for deliveries. This certification allows UPS to operate many drones of any size, even carrying cargo heavier than 55 pounds. They can also have an unlimited number of remote operators.
The UPS Brand: What Makes it Unique?
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The Color Brown
The brown color you see on UPS vehicles and uniforms is called Pullman brown. The company's founder, James E. Casey, first wanted yellow vehicles. But one of his partners, Charlie Soderstrom, said that yellow vehicles would be hard to keep clean. He pointed out that Pullman railroad cars were brown for that very reason.
In the 2000s, UPS used its famous brown color in an advertising slogan: "What can Brown do for you?"
The UPS Font
UPS asked a company called FutureBrand to create its own special font, called UPS Sans. This font is used in their marketing and communication materials.
UPS and the Environment
As of 2013, UPS had over 104,900 vehicles worldwide. Nearly 7,000 of these were alternative fuel vehicles. In 2008, UPS ordered 200 hybrid electric vehicles and 300 compressed natural gas vehicles. These compressed natural gas vehicles are 20% more fuel efficient. In 2016, the company added another 200 hybrid electric vehicles to its fleet.
The Climate Counts Group gave UPS a good rating (80 out of 100 points) for its efforts to reduce its impact on the environment. UPS also received the Clean Air Excellence Award from the United States Environmental Protection Agency for its alternative fuel program.
In October 2009, UPS became the first small-package carrier to let customers buy carbon offsets. This helps to balance out the greenhouse gas emissions created when their packages are transported.
UPS Carbon Footprint
UPS reported its total carbon dioxide emissions for 2020 as 16,500 kilotonnes. This was a 10% increase from the previous year. UPS aims to have zero net emissions by the year 2050.
See also
In Spanish: United Parcel Service para niños
- Big Brown – A famous racehorse named after the company's color
- MaxiCode – A special square barcode-like symbol developed by UPS that appears on their package labels
