United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS) is a package delivery company. The Company delivers packages each business day for 1.8 million shipping customers to 6.1 million consignees in over 200 countries and territories. During the year ended December 31, 2008, UPS delivered an average of 15.5 million pieces per day worldwide, or a total of 3.92 billion packages. Its primary business is the time-definite delivery of packages and documents worldwide. UPS operates in three segments: U.S. Domestic Package operations, International Package operations, and Supply Chain & Freight operations. U.S. Domestic Package operations include the time-definite delivery of letters, documents, and packages throughout the United States. International Package operations include delivery to more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. Supply Chain & Freight includes its forwarding and logistics operations, UPS Freight, and other related business units.
Business Overview
UPS was founded in 1907 by 19 year-old Jim Casey as the American Messenger Company, a private messenger service employing local teenagers in Seattle. In 1913, the company moved from messages to packages, began using automobiles, and started making deliveries for retailers.
Realizing that service for retailers was limited, UPS moved into the parcel shipping business shortly thereafter. Despite legal restrictions that it faced initially, UPS offered parcel delivery services between the 48 contiguous United States by 1975. In the 1980s, UPS began flying packages on its own airplanes to avoid the risk associated with relying on commercial airlines. UPS is now the 9th largest airline in the world.
In the 1990s, UPS launched online package tracking, the UPS Logistics Group, and UPS Capital, which offers customers financing for the supply chain purchases that they ship via UPS. These steps marked the beginning of UPS’s first efforts to expand its services beyond shipping, efforts that remain key to UPS’s growth strategy for the coming years. Today, UPS offers business customers supply-chain management, financing, and the option to incorporate UPS shipment data into their own IT systems. For individuals, more than 6,000 franchisee-owned UPS Store and Mail Boxes Etc. locations across the U.S. offer private mail box rentals, packaging supplies for purchase, and convenient drop-off locations for UPS shipments. These services are available in 24 countries and include about 150,000 access points.
Company structure
UPS's primary business is the time-definite delivery of packages and documents worldwide. In recent years, UPS has extended their service portfolio to include less than truckload transportation (primarily in the U.S.) and supply chain services. UPS reports their operations in three segments: U.S. Domestic Package operations, International Package operations, and Supply Chain & Freight operations.
U.S. Domestic Package
U.S. Domestic Package operations include the time-definite delivery of letters, documents, and packages throughout the United States.
International Package
International Package operations include delivery to more than 200 countries and territories worldwide, including shipments wholly outside the United States, as well as shipments with either origin or distribution outside the United States.
Supply Chain & Freight
Supply Chain & Freight includes UPS's forwarding and contract logistics operations, UPS Freight, and other related business units. UPS's forwarding and logistics business provides services in more than 175 countries and territories worldwide, and includes worldwide supply chain design, execution and management, freight forwarding and distribution, customs brokerage, mail and consulting services. UPS Freight offers a variety of less than truckload (“LTL”) and truckload (“TL”) services to customers in North America. Other business units within this segment include Mail Boxes Etc. (the franchisor of Mail Boxes Etc. and The UPS Store) and UPS Capital.
Transportation
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