United Couriers Inc history

The UPS, created in 1907, and the United States Postal Service were a few of the options customers had to mail packages.

By 1913 UPS consisted of seven motorcycles.

With Casey's tacit approval, UPS drivers joined the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in 1916.

In 1918 three Seattle department stores hired the service to deliver merchandise to purchasers on the day of the purchase.

In 1929 UPS began air delivery through a new division, United Air Express, which put packages onto passenger planes.

In 1930 the United Parcel Service moved its headquarters to New York City; it steadily expanded thereafter.

Casey resigned as chief executive officer in 1962 and was succeeded by George D. Smith.

UPS in 1969 served 31 states on the east and west coasts.

In 1970 Congress considered a reform of the United States Postal Service that would allow it to subsidize its parcel post operations with profits from its first-class mail.

Federal Express Corporation, however, which began operations in 1973, was siphoning off a growing amount of UPS's business.

In accepting packages from the general public, UPS put itself in competition with the parcel post service of the United States Post Office (now United States Postal Service). Not until 1975 did UPS clear away regulatory barriers to operation in all 48 contiguous states.

In 1976 UPS launched service in Germany with 120 delivery vans.

By 1980 UPS earned $189 million on revenues of $4 billion, shipping 1.5 billion packages.

To compete with Federal, UPS bought nine used 727 airplanes in 1981 from Braniff Airlines for $28 million.

Jack Rogers became UPS chairman in 1984.

In 1985, the Diplomatic Courier Service became part of the Diplomatic Security Service during a State Department consolidation that included the creation of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and DSS.

UPS's healthy river of cash flow enabled it to pay $1.8 billion for 110 aircraft in 1987.

By 1988 UPS's ground service was growing by seven percent to eight percent per year, and air service was growing by 30 percent per year.

In 1991 UPS headquarters were moved again, to Sandy Springs, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta.

By 1992, the corporation was investing more money in computers than in ubiquitous brown vehicles.

As the company approached its ninetieth anniversary in 1997, it looked forward to reaping the rewards of its global investment.

Not until 1999 were shares first offered to the public.