Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your United Parcel Service shopping experience:

1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the United Parcel Service offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of United Parcel Service at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.

2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about

3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a United Parcel Service? Wrong! If the United Parcel Service is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.

4. Questions - Got a question about United Parcel Service then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....

5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling United Parcel Service? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about United Parcel Service and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.

6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your United Parcel Service wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.

7. Feedback - happy with your United Parcel Service then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.

8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the United Parcel Service site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site

9. Contact - got a question about United Parcel Service, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.

10. Payment - ready to pay for your United Parcel Service, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.

{{Infobox_Company | company_name = United Parcel Service, Inc.| company_logo = ]| company_type = [Public company ({{NYSE|UPS-->)| company_slogan = What can Brown do for you?| foundation = August 28, [, [Seattle, Washington| location = {{flagicon|USA--> {{flagicon|Georgia (U.S. state)--> [Sandy Springs, Georgia, [United States of America| key_people = [Michael Eskew, Chairman & CEO| industry = [Trucking| num_employees = 483,000 ()| products = [Freight[logistics| revenue = {{profit-->$47.547 billion United States dollar ([)| operating_income = $6.635 billion United States dollar (2006)] (2006)]
UPS Supply Chain Solutions
UPS Capital
UPS Air Cargo
UPS Express Critical
UPS Freight
UPS Logistics
UPS Mail Innovations
[UPS Professional Solutions| -->United Parcel Service, Inc. (), commonly referred to as UPS, is the world's largest package delivery company, delivering more than 15 million packages a day to 6.1 million customers in over 200 countries and territories around the world. Since 2005, its operations include logistics and other transportation-related areas. It is headquartered in Sandy Springs, Georgia, USA.

UPS is well known for its brown trucks, internally known as package cars (hence the company nickname "The Big Brown Machine"). UPS also operates its own #UPS Airlines Fleet based in Louisville, Kentucky.

UPS also owns The UPS Store (formerly Mailboxes Etc.), a Chain store chain which provides shipping, packaging, and copy services.

History

• August 281907: 19-year-old James E. Casey and 18-year-old Claude Ryan founded the American Messenger Company in Seattle, Washington with one hundred borrowed dollars. The first main service was the delivery of opium which was fully legal at that time.

• 1913: The first delivery car appeared, a Model T Ford, Merged with a competitor, Evert McCabe, and formed Merchants Parcel Delivery. Consolidated delivery was also introduced, combining packages addressed to a certain neighborhood onto one delivery vehicle.
• 1918: A new member was recruited, Charles W. Soderstrom, who helped manage their ever-growing fleet of delivery vehicles.
• 1919: Service turned into Oakland, California. The name United Parcel Service was adopted.
• 1930: A consolidated service began in New York City, and soon after began operations in other major cities in the east and midwest. First mechanical system for package sorting. Accountant George D. Smith joined the company. The name United Parcel Service was adopted all over the country. All UPS vehicles were then painted the familiar Pullman brown, chosen because it was considered neat, dignified, and professional.
• 1940–1959: Services were expanded by acquiring common carrier rights to deliver packages between all addresses, any customer, private and commercial.

, Venice, Italy

• 1952: Blue Label Air
• 1975: UPS began servicing all of the 48 Continental United States of the USA. UPS also established Canadian operations in 1975. On Feb. 28, UPS Ltd. (later changed to UPS Canada Ltd.) began operations in Toronto, Ontario with a single delivery vehicle. UPS Canada's head office is located in Mississauga, Ontario.
• 1976: UPS established itself in Europe with a domestic operation in West Germany. Blue Label Air.
• 1982: UPS Next-Day Air Service is offered in the US and Blue Label Air becomes UPS 2nd Day Air Service.
• November 10, 1999: UPS became a public company
• August 282007: Marks the 100th anniversary of United Parcel Service.

UPS has an ongoing history of its employees stealing firearms while in transit to licensed firearm dealers. In 1999, in response to these thefts, UPS issued a policy that all handguns must be shipped overnight. "We're trying to protect ourselves from employees stealing," UPS spokesman Bob Godlewski said.

In March 2003, UPS unveiled a new logo, replacing the iconic package and shield originally designed in 1961 by Paul Rand.

UPS entered the freight business with its purchase of Menlo Worldwide, a former subsidiary of Menlo Worldwide, and rebranding it as UPS Supply Chain Solutions. The purchase was announced on December 20, 2004; the price was US$150 million and the assumption of US$110 million in long-term debt. Menlo Worldwide was the successor of Emery Worldwide. Emery was grounded on August 13, 2001 after a DC-8 crashed in Northern California.

On August 5, 2005 UPS announced that it had completed its acquisition of Overnite Transportation for US$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.

On 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 Pound sterling55.5 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.

UPS's Political Action Committee has been the most generous corporate giver to Federal government of the United States candidates for every U.S. election since 1992, donating a total of $14 million through December 31, 2005 according to Federal Election Commission records.

On April 20, 2006, UPS reported earnings per diluted share of $0.89, up 14.1% over the previous year. Results were driven by a 9% increase in global small package volume or 1.24 million packages per day, outpacing worldwide market growth.

Competitors Major domestic (United States) competitors include United States Postal Service (USPS), FedEx and DHL. In addition to these domestic carriers, UPS competes with a variety of international operators, including TNT N.V., Deutsche Post, Royal Mail, Japan Post, India Post and many other regional carriers, national postal services and air cargo handlers (see Package delivery and Mail pages).

Historically, the bulk of UPS' competition came from inexpensive ground-based delivery services, such as Parcel Post (USPS). But in 1998 FedEx expanded into the ground parcel delivery market by Mergers and acquisitions Roadway Package System (originally Roadway Package System) and rebranding it as FedEx Ground in 2000. In 2003 DHL expanded its US operations by acquiring Airborne Express, significantly increasing its presence in the United States, and adding more competition in the ground delivery market. In response to this, UPS partnered with the US Postal Service to offer UPS Mail Innovations, a program that allows UPS to pick up mail and transfer it to a USPS center, or destination delivery unit (DDU), for final distribution. This process is also known as zone skipping, long used by Parcel Consolidators.

More recently, the continued growth of online shopping, combined with increasing awareness of the role transportation (including package delivery) has on the Natural environment, has contributed to the rise of emerging competition from niche carriers or rebranded incumbents. For instance, the US Postal Service claims "greener delivery" of parcels on the assumption that USPS letter carriers deliver to each US address, six days a week anyway, and therefore offer the industry's lowest fuel consumption per delivery. Other carriers, like ParcelPool.com, which specializes in residential package delivery to APO-FPO addresses, Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico and other US Territories, arose in response to increased demand from catalog retailers and online e-tailers for low-cost residential delivery services closely matching service standards normally associated with more expensive expedited parcel delivery.

Branding Brand Mark In April 2003, UPS unveiled a new logo, the fourth the company has used, replacing the iconic package and shield originally designed in 1961 by Paul Rand. The original logo first saw use in 1916 when the company was American Messenger Service. In 1935, the logo was redesigned to reflect the company's new name United Parcel Service. All four designs for the logo shared the shield theme, and UPS employees often refer to the brand mark as "the shield."

Brown The brown color that UPS uses on its vehicles and uniforms is called UPS Brown, which was chosen because it is the same color that was used on Pullman Company railroad sleeper cars and was seen as professional and elegant. The brown color hides dirt well and was inconspicuous. This color is often erroneously referred to as Pantone color 0607298, but this is not a valid Pantone number. UPS's department store customers did not want to call attention to the fact that UPS was delivering their furniture, rather than its own delivery people. The color UPS Brown is trademarked, which prevents other delivery companies from using it as part of their brand.

Font UPS has also designed and trademarked a font UPS Sans for use in marketing and communication material. While similar to other sans-serif fonts in many respects, certain characters (including p, s, and u) have been stylized to match the company branding.

Uniforms The UPS delivery driver uniform is one of the most recognized symbols of corporate America. It consists of a brown short- or long-sleeve button-up shirt or blouse with a pointed collar, front left pocket, and the company logo above the pocket. The shirt is worn with a pair of brown Trousers or shorts. When pants are worn, the shirttail is tucked in. All buttons, with the exception of the one on the collar, are fastened. The short-sleeve shirt can be worn with either the shorts or the pants. The long-sleeve shirt is worn exclusively with the pants. Drivers for UPS's SonicAir do not wear any uniforms and deliver in their own clothes.

Other codes

• Association of American Railroads reporting mark: UPOZ, UPST, UPSZ, UPWZ
• Intermodal freight transport reporting mark: UPSU, FSTU, UPSC
• National Motor Freight Traffic Association Standard Carrier Alpha Codes: UPSS, UPSN, UPSC

Personnel structure UPS employs approximately 407,200 staff, with 348,400 in the U.S. and 58,800 internationally. In the United States, UPS requires drug testing for full time driver positions who are looking to drive feeders or any other driving position that requires a commercial driver's license, but not for drivers of vehicles not requiring a commercial driver's license.Approximately 215,000 UPS employees are represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The company had only one nationwide Strike action in its history, which occurred in 1997, lasting 16 days.

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. Nelson
• 1997–2001 James P. Kelly
• 2002–Present Mike Eskew

In October 2007, the Board of Directors announced Scott Davis will replace Mike Eskew following Eskew's retirement at the end of the year.{{cite news| url = http://www.andhranews.net/Intl/2007/October/16/bwi-UPS-Chairman-amp-19137.asp| title = UPS Chairman & CEO Mike Eskew to Retire; Scott Davis Named as Successor-->

System design UPS's Parcel Network is based on a Spoke-hub distribution paradigm. UPS operates UPS hubs 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, North Carolina to San Francisco, California 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, North Carolina. At Raleigh, the package would join packages from all over North Carolina and be forwarded to the CACH in Hodgkins, Illinois. After arriving there, it would be loaded onto a Trailer (vehicle) and sent by rail (trailer on flat car in most cases) to the North Bay, California hub in Richmond, California where it would then be forwarded to the delivery center, loaded onto the delivery vehicle, and transported to its final destination.

UPS's air network runs similarly to the ground network through a hub-and-spoke system, though air hubs are typically located at airports so packages and planes can quickly be unloaded, sorted, and loaded again. Centers feed packages to facilities at airports (called gateways), which in turn send them to an air hub to be sorted and put on another plane to a final destination gateway, and then from there to a center. For instance, a package traveling from Seattle, WA to Atlanta, GA, would be loaded onto an Unit Load Device at KBFI and flown to the UPS Worldport (UPS air hub) in Louisville, KY. From there it would be sorted to a container heading to Atlanta to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, and taken by truck from the airport to the delivery center.

Fees for Canadians The normal procedure for residential customers in Canada to import goods from the U.S. by mail is relatively simple; they are required to pay 6% GST on the item, plus a $5 or $8 CAN handling fee collected by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) on behalf of Canada Post. This applies for mailed items greater than $20 CAN and gifts greater than $60 CAN in value. However, this does not apply to items shipped by couriers such as UPS.

When delivering packages in Canada, UPS Customs broking or clears the item through the CBSA and transfers a cost to the buyer. These fees are not disclosed at the time of purchase by the seller as many sellers from the U.S. are themselves unaware of this. UPS “Brokerage fee” class-action UPS Brokerage Fee Canadian Customs: What's The Deal. Why we hate UPS UPS brokerage fees shock horror! UPS Problems -- WARNING

As a result , there have been two class-action lawsuits filed against UPS by Canadians. The first one filed in October, 2006 by Robert Macfarlane, a resident of British Columbia alleges that the UPS brokerage is "so harsh and adverse as to constitute an unconscionable practice."

The second filed by Ryan Wright and Julia Zislin in Ontario claims "that UPS failed to obtain consumers’ consent to act as a customs broker; to disclose the existence and/or amount of the brokerage fee; and to provide consumers with the opportunity or disclose to them how to arrange for customs clearance by themselves."

It is possible for the recipient to avoid these brokerage fees if the parcel is being shipped by a UPS "express" (premium) service, that is, another service other than UPS Standard (Ground).

This distinction is not limited to Canada, or to UPS. As a rule, "mail" import procedures in all countries apply only to items imported by mail, i.e., originated by the exporter's local postal authority (for Canadians, commonly United States Postal Service) for delivery by the importer's local postal authority (Canada Post); they do not apply to shipments made by courier services such as UPS, FedEx, or DHL. For example, this distinction is specifically noted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in its website's page on Internet purchases imported into the United States; it also warns that imports by courier may come with "higher than...expected" brokerage fees that "sometimes exceed the cost of (the) purchase", and that prepaid shipping charges on imports by courier normally do not include duties or brokerage fees. (The distinction may be sharper in the U.S. because CBP normally waives duties on mail imports of up to US$200 per day, but not on courier imports of any amount. Use tax, the U.S. equivalent of GST, is collected only by the states, not by CBP or shippers.) What makes this case unique is that UPS charges a substantial brokerage fee on ground shipments to Canada, when other Canadian small-package services apparently charge nothing (UPS "express" services) or a minimal fee (Canada Post).

Fuel economy In 2004 UPS announced that they would save fuel by minimizing left turns. Because drivers idle at intersections while waiting to make left turns, UPS developed software that routes the day's packages with preference to right turns. Another advantage of right turns is at stop signs because they spend less time waiting to cross several lanes of traffic when making a left. Now many fire fighting units and EMT services use this system as well. Since UPS operates a fleet of over 88,000 ground vehicles, the fuel savings are considerable. In 2005, UPS eliminated 464,000 miles from its travel and saved 51,000 gallons of fuel within Washington D.C. alone.

UPS is also utilizing hybrid electric vehicles (HEV). As of May 222007, the company has 50 deployed in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, and Phoenix. The 50 HEVs are expected to cut fuel consumption by 44,000 gallons and 454 metric tons of CO2 emissions.

Aircraft The United Parcel Service fleet consists of the following aircraft as of December 2006:{| class="toccolours" border="1" cellpadding="3" style="border-collapse:collapse"|+ UPS Fleet|- bgcolor=#BB9966!Aircraft!Total!Notes|-|Airbus A300|53||-|Boeing 747|7||-|Boeing 747|4||-|Boeing 747Boeing 747-400F|2
(7 orders)||-|Boeing 757|75||-|Boeing 767|32
(27 orders)||-|Douglas DC-8|9||-|Douglas DC-8|11||-|Douglas DC-8|18||-|Douglas DC-8|8||-|McDonnell Douglas MD-11F] freighters and had options on ten more. However, this order was canceled on March 22007, one day after Airbus announced that it would halt development and production of the A380 freighter to prioritize the production of the A380 passenger version. To replace those orders, UPS may order Boeing 777 and Boeing 747 freighters instead. UPS has also ordered eight Boeing 747-400 freighters to increase capacity on its major "trunk" routes to Europe, Asia, and North America. The first was delivered on July 19, 2007 and the latter deliveries go on through 2008. Furthermore, UPS Airlines placed a firm order for 27 additional Boeing 767s in February 2007 to be delivered 2009 to 2012.

Most UPS Airlines flights go through the UPS Worldport (UPS air hub) at Louisville International Airport, but also use hubs at Chicago/Rockford International Airport, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Philadelphia International Airport, Ontario International Airport, Miami International Airport, Columbia Metropolitan Airport, and Bradley International Airport in Hartford (CT). A new UPS hub is set to be opened at Shanghai Pudong International Airport in 2008. It will link for all of China to Shanghai.

Trivia

• UPS delivered two whale sharks from Taiwan to the Georgia Aquarium.
• UPS inspired the off-Broadway musical Romance on Wheels during World War II.
• The body design of the "package cars" is unique to UPS, and the cars are only operated by them. Retired cars either become crew vans for use at air hubs, or are destroyed. Destruction of retired vehicles must be witnessed by a management representative of the UPS Automotive Department. The manufacturer's name, Grumman-Olson, Union City Body is not displayed on the outside of the car.
• The tops of many of UPS trucks are not painted brown but are in fact a white and translucent skylight; this allows operators to take advantage of natural light in daytime to see the vehicle's inventory.
• The average lifespan of a UPS package car is 18-25 years. The classic UPS package cars made by Union City Body and Grumman-Olson are aluminum-bodied with fibreglass roofs. They are typically based on Freightliner, GMC, Ford, or International medium-duty chassis.
• Most, if not all vehicles in the UPS fleet, ranging from "package cars" up to the tractor-trailer combinations do not display the manufacturer's name. (ie. Mack, Sterling, Dodge, Grumman-Olson).
• UPS was the first shiping company that was allowed to operate in Oklahoma City following the Oklahoma City bombing, and New York City following the attacks on 9/11.

See also

• List of United Parcel Service hubs
• Worldport (UPS air hub)
• MaxiCode — A UPS developed and utilized square barcode-like symbol that appears on their package label
• DHL (competitor)
• TNT N.V. (competitor)
• FedEx (competitor)
• United States Postal Service (competitor)
• Courier

References Further reading

• "Insourcing," Thomas Friedman, The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, updated and expanded, 2006, pp. 167-176.
• "Big Brown: The Untold Story of UPS" Niemann, Greg. John Wiley & Sons, 2007.

External links

• UPS corporate website, shipping, tracking, service information
• Portal del Transporte de la Sección Sindical de UGT en Seur GeoPost + UPS transportes
• Yahoo! — United Parcel Service, Inc. Company Profile
• Ask Yahoo!: Who manufactures the brown UPS trucks?
• U.S. Mail holidays - UPS holidays - FedEx holidays - Internet Accuracy Project
• UPS’s New Hydraulic Hybrid Available For Test Ride In NYC
• SmartMoney Magazine (Nov 11, 2003), 10 Things Your Delivery Service Won't Tell You. Retrieved May 24, 2006.

{{Infobox_Company | company_name = United Parcel Service, Inc.| company_logo = ]| company_type = [Public company ({{NYSE|UPS-->)| company_slogan = What can Brown do for you?| foundation = August 28, [, [Seattle, Washington| location = {{flagicon|USA--> {{flagicon|Georgia (U.S. state)--> [Sandy Springs, Georgia, [United States of America| key_people = [Michael Eskew, Chairman & CEO| industry = [Trucking| num_employees = 483,000 ()| products = [Freight[logistics| revenue = {{profit-->$47.547 billion United States dollar ([)| operating_income = $6.635 billion United States dollar (2006)] (2006)]
UPS Supply Chain Solutions
UPS Capital
UPS Air Cargo
UPS Express Critical
UPS Freight
UPS Logistics
UPS Mail Innovations
[UPS Professional Solutions| -->United Parcel Service, Inc. (), commonly referred to as UPS, is the world's largest package delivery company, delivering more than 15 million packages a day to 6.1 million customers in over 200 countries and territories around the world. Since 2005, its operations include logistics and other transportation-related areas. It is headquartered in Sandy Springs, Georgia, USA.

UPS is well known for its brown trucks, internally known as package cars (hence the company nickname "The Big Brown Machine"). UPS also operates its own #UPS Airlines Fleet based in Louisville, Kentucky.

UPS also owns The UPS Store (formerly Mailboxes Etc.), a Chain store chain which provides shipping, packaging, and copy services.

History

• August 281907: 19-year-old James E. Casey and 18-year-old Claude Ryan founded the American Messenger Company in Seattle, Washington with one hundred borrowed dollars. The first main service was the delivery of opium which was fully legal at that time.

• 1913: The first delivery car appeared, a Model T Ford, Merged with a competitor, Evert McCabe, and formed Merchants Parcel Delivery. Consolidated delivery was also introduced, combining packages addressed to a certain neighborhood onto one delivery vehicle.
• 1918: A new member was recruited, Charles W. Soderstrom, who helped manage their ever-growing fleet of delivery vehicles.
• 1919: Service turned into Oakland, California. The name United Parcel Service was adopted.
• 1930: A consolidated service began in New York City, and soon after began operations in other major cities in the east and midwest. First mechanical system for package sorting. Accountant George D. Smith joined the company. The name United Parcel Service was adopted all over the country. All UPS vehicles were then painted the familiar Pullman brown, chosen because it was considered neat, dignified, and professional.
• 1940–1959: Services were expanded by acquiring common carrier rights to deliver packages between all addresses, any customer, private and commercial.

, Venice, Italy

• 1952: Blue Label Air
• 1975: UPS began servicing all of the 48 Continental United States of the USA. UPS also established Canadian operations in 1975. On Feb. 28, UPS Ltd. (later changed to UPS Canada Ltd.) began operations in Toronto, Ontario with a single delivery vehicle. UPS Canada's head office is located in Mississauga, Ontario.
• 1976: UPS established itself in Europe with a domestic operation in West Germany. Blue Label Air.
• 1982: UPS Next-Day Air Service is offered in the US and Blue Label Air becomes UPS 2nd Day Air Service.
• November 10, 1999: UPS became a public company
• August 282007: Marks the 100th anniversary of United Parcel Service.

UPS has an ongoing history of its employees stealing firearms while in transit to licensed firearm dealers. In 1999, in response to these thefts, UPS issued a policy that all handguns must be shipped overnight. "We're trying to protect ourselves from employees stealing," UPS spokesman Bob Godlewski said.

In March 2003, UPS unveiled a new logo, replacing the iconic package and shield originally designed in 1961 by Paul Rand.

UPS entered the freight business with its purchase of Menlo Worldwide, a former subsidiary of Menlo Worldwide, and rebranding it as UPS Supply Chain Solutions. The purchase was announced on December 20, 2004; the price was US$150 million and the assumption of US$110 million in long-term debt. Menlo Worldwide was the successor of Emery Worldwide. Emery was grounded on August 13, 2001 after a DC-8 crashed in Northern California.

On August 5, 2005 UPS announced that it had completed its acquisition of Overnite Transportation for US$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.

On 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 Pound sterling55.5 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.

UPS's Political Action Committee has been the most generous corporate giver to Federal government of the United States candidates for every U.S. election since 1992, donating a total of $14 million through December 31, 2005 according to Federal Election Commission records.

On April 20, 2006, UPS reported earnings per diluted share of $0.89, up 14.1% over the previous year. Results were driven by a 9% increase in global small package volume or 1.24 million packages per day, outpacing worldwide market growth.

Competitors Major domestic (United States) competitors include United States Postal Service (USPS), FedEx and DHL. In addition to these domestic carriers, UPS competes with a variety of international operators, including TNT N.V., Deutsche Post, Royal Mail, Japan Post, India Post and many other regional carriers, national postal services and air cargo handlers (see Package delivery and Mail pages).

Historically, the bulk of UPS' competition came from inexpensive ground-based delivery services, such as Parcel Post (USPS). But in 1998 FedEx expanded into the ground parcel delivery market by Mergers and acquisitions Roadway Package System (originally Roadway Package System) and rebranding it as FedEx Ground in 2000. In 2003 DHL expanded its US operations by acquiring Airborne Express, significantly increasing its presence in the United States, and adding more competition in the ground delivery market. In response to this, UPS partnered with the US Postal Service to offer UPS Mail Innovations, a program that allows UPS to pick up mail and transfer it to a USPS center, or destination delivery unit (DDU), for final distribution. This process is also known as zone skipping, long used by Parcel Consolidators.

More recently, the continued growth of online shopping, combined with increasing awareness of the role transportation (including package delivery) has on the Natural environment, has contributed to the rise of emerging competition from niche carriers or rebranded incumbents. For instance, the US Postal Service claims "greener delivery" of parcels on the assumption that USPS letter carriers deliver to each US address, six days a week anyway, and therefore offer the industry's lowest fuel consumption per delivery. Other carriers, like ParcelPool.com, which specializes in residential package delivery to APO-FPO addresses, Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico and other US Territories, arose in response to increased demand from catalog retailers and online e-tailers for low-cost residential delivery services closely matching service standards normally associated with more expensive expedited parcel delivery.

Branding Brand Mark In April 2003, UPS unveiled a new logo, the fourth the company has used, replacing the iconic package and shield originally designed in 1961 by Paul Rand. The original logo first saw use in 1916 when the company was American Messenger Service. In 1935, the logo was redesigned to reflect the company's new name United Parcel Service. All four designs for the logo shared the shield theme, and UPS employees often refer to the brand mark as "the shield."

Brown The brown color that UPS uses on its vehicles and uniforms is called UPS Brown, which was chosen because it is the same color that was used on Pullman Company railroad sleeper cars and was seen as professional and elegant. The brown color hides dirt well and was inconspicuous. This color is often erroneously referred to as Pantone color 0607298, but this is not a valid Pantone number. UPS's department store customers did not want to call attention to the fact that UPS was delivering their furniture, rather than its own delivery people. The color UPS Brown is trademarked, which prevents other delivery companies from using it as part of their brand.

Font UPS has also designed and trademarked a font UPS Sans for use in marketing and communication material. While similar to other sans-serif fonts in many respects, certain characters (including p, s, and u) have been stylized to match the company branding.

Uniforms The UPS delivery driver uniform is one of the most recognized symbols of corporate America. It consists of a brown short- or long-sleeve button-up shirt or blouse with a pointed collar, front left pocket, and the company logo above the pocket. The shirt is worn with a pair of brown Trousers or shorts. When pants are worn, the shirttail is tucked in. All buttons, with the exception of the one on the collar, are fastened. The short-sleeve shirt can be worn with either the shorts or the pants. The long-sleeve shirt is worn exclusively with the pants. Drivers for UPS's SonicAir do not wear any uniforms and deliver in their own clothes.

Other codes

• Association of American Railroads reporting mark: UPOZ, UPST, UPSZ, UPWZ
• Intermodal freight transport reporting mark: UPSU, FSTU, UPSC
• National Motor Freight Traffic Association Standard Carrier Alpha Codes: UPSS, UPSN, UPSC

Personnel structure UPS employs approximately 407,200 staff, with 348,400 in the U.S. and 58,800 internationally. In the United States, UPS requires drug testing for full time driver positions who are looking to drive feeders or any other driving position that requires a commercial driver's license, but not for drivers of vehicles not requiring a commercial driver's license.Approximately 215,000 UPS employees are represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The company had only one nationwide Strike action in its history, which occurred in 1997, lasting 16 days.

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. Nelson
• 1997–2001 James P. Kelly
• 2002–Present Mike Eskew

In October 2007, the Board of Directors announced Scott Davis will replace Mike Eskew following Eskew's retirement at the end of the year.{{cite news| url = http://www.andhranews.net/Intl/2007/October/16/bwi-UPS-Chairman-amp-19137.asp| title = UPS Chairman & CEO Mike Eskew to Retire; Scott Davis Named as Successor-->

System design UPS's Parcel Network is based on a Spoke-hub distribution paradigm. UPS operates UPS hubs 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, North Carolina to San Francisco, California 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, North Carolina. At Raleigh, the package would join packages from all over North Carolina and be forwarded to the CACH in Hodgkins, Illinois. After arriving there, it would be loaded onto a Trailer (vehicle) and sent by rail (trailer on flat car in most cases) to the North Bay, California hub in Richmond, California where it would then be forwarded to the delivery center, loaded onto the delivery vehicle, and transported to its final destination.

UPS's air network runs similarly to the ground network through a hub-and-spoke system, though air hubs are typically located at airports so packages and planes can quickly be unloaded, sorted, and loaded again. Centers feed packages to facilities at airports (called gateways), which in turn send them to an air hub to be sorted and put on another plane to a final destination gateway, and then from there to a center. For instance, a package traveling from Seattle, WA to Atlanta, GA, would be loaded onto an Unit Load Device at KBFI and flown to the UPS Worldport (UPS air hub) in Louisville, KY. From there it would be sorted to a container heading to Atlanta to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, and taken by truck from the airport to the delivery center.

Fees for Canadians The normal procedure for residential customers in Canada to import goods from the U.S. by mail is relatively simple; they are required to pay 6% GST on the item, plus a $5 or $8 CAN handling fee collected by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) on behalf of Canada Post. This applies for mailed items greater than $20 CAN and gifts greater than $60 CAN in value. However, this does not apply to items shipped by couriers such as UPS.

When delivering packages in Canada, UPS Customs broking or clears the item through the CBSA and transfers a cost to the buyer. These fees are not disclosed at the time of purchase by the seller as many sellers from the U.S. are themselves unaware of this. UPS “Brokerage fee” class-action UPS Brokerage Fee Canadian Customs: What's The Deal. Why we hate UPS UPS brokerage fees shock horror! UPS Problems -- WARNING

As a result , there have been two class-action lawsuits filed against UPS by Canadians. The first one filed in October, 2006 by Robert Macfarlane, a resident of British Columbia alleges that the UPS brokerage is "so harsh and adverse as to constitute an unconscionable practice."

The second filed by Ryan Wright and Julia Zislin in Ontario claims "that UPS failed to obtain consumers’ consent to act as a customs broker; to disclose the existence and/or amount of the brokerage fee; and to provide consumers with the opportunity or disclose to them how to arrange for customs clearance by themselves."

It is possible for the recipient to avoid these brokerage fees if the parcel is being shipped by a UPS "express" (premium) service, that is, another service other than UPS Standard (Ground).

This distinction is not limited to Canada, or to UPS. As a rule, "mail" import procedures in all countries apply only to items imported by mail, i.e., originated by the exporter's local postal authority (for Canadians, commonly United States Postal Service) for delivery by the importer's local postal authority (Canada Post); they do not apply to shipments made by courier services such as UPS, FedEx, or DHL. For example, this distinction is specifically noted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in its website's page on Internet purchases imported into the United States; it also warns that imports by courier may come with "higher than...expected" brokerage fees that "sometimes exceed the cost of (the) purchase", and that prepaid shipping charges on imports by courier normally do not include duties or brokerage fees. (The distinction may be sharper in the U.S. because CBP normally waives duties on mail imports of up to US$200 per day, but not on courier imports of any amount. Use tax, the U.S. equivalent of GST, is collected only by the states, not by CBP or shippers.) What makes this case unique is that UPS charges a substantial brokerage fee on ground shipments to Canada, when other Canadian small-package services apparently charge nothing (UPS "express" services) or a minimal fee (Canada Post).

Fuel economy In 2004 UPS announced that they would save fuel by minimizing left turns. Because drivers idle at intersections while waiting to make left turns, UPS developed software that routes the day's packages with preference to right turns. Another advantage of right turns is at stop signs because they spend less time waiting to cross several lanes of traffic when making a left. Now many fire fighting units and EMT services use this system as well. Since UPS operates a fleet of over 88,000 ground vehicles, the fuel savings are considerable. In 2005, UPS eliminated 464,000 miles from its travel and saved 51,000 gallons of fuel within Washington D.C. alone.

UPS is also utilizing hybrid electric vehicles (HEV). As of May 222007, the company has 50 deployed in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, and Phoenix. The 50 HEVs are expected to cut fuel consumption by 44,000 gallons and 454 metric tons of CO2 emissions.

Aircraft The United Parcel Service fleet consists of the following aircraft as of December 2006:{| class="toccolours" border="1" cellpadding="3" style="border-collapse:collapse"|+ UPS Fleet|- bgcolor=#BB9966!Aircraft!Total!Notes|-|Airbus A300|53||-|Boeing 747|7||-|Boeing 747|4||-|Boeing 747Boeing 747-400F|2
(7 orders)||-|Boeing 757|75||-|Boeing 767|32
(27 orders)||-|Douglas DC-8|9||-|Douglas DC-8|11||-|Douglas DC-8|18||-|Douglas DC-8|8||-|McDonnell Douglas MD-11F] freighters and had options on ten more. However, this order was canceled on March 22007, one day after Airbus announced that it would halt development and production of the A380 freighter to prioritize the production of the A380 passenger version. To replace those orders, UPS may order Boeing 777 and Boeing 747 freighters instead. UPS has also ordered eight Boeing 747-400 freighters to increase capacity on its major "trunk" routes to Europe, Asia, and North America. The first was delivered on July 19, 2007 and the latter deliveries go on through 2008. Furthermore, UPS Airlines placed a firm order for 27 additional Boeing 767s in February 2007 to be delivered 2009 to 2012.

Most UPS Airlines flights go through the UPS Worldport (UPS air hub) at Louisville International Airport, but also use hubs at Chicago/Rockford International Airport, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Philadelphia International Airport, Ontario International Airport, Miami International Airport, Columbia Metropolitan Airport, and Bradley International Airport in Hartford (CT). A new UPS hub is set to be opened at Shanghai Pudong International Airport in 2008. It will link for all of China to Shanghai.

Trivia

• UPS delivered two whale sharks from Taiwan to the Georgia Aquarium.
• UPS inspired the off-Broadway musical Romance on Wheels during World War II.
• The body design of the "package cars" is unique to UPS, and the cars are only operated by them. Retired cars either become crew vans for use at air hubs, or are destroyed. Destruction of retired vehicles must be witnessed by a management representative of the UPS Automotive Department. The manufacturer's name, Grumman-Olson, Union City Body is not displayed on the outside of the car.
• The tops of many of UPS trucks are not painted brown but are in fact a white and translucent skylight; this allows operators to take advantage of natural light in daytime to see the vehicle's inventory.
• The average lifespan of a UPS package car is 18-25 years. The classic UPS package cars made by Union City Body and Grumman-Olson are aluminum-bodied with fibreglass roofs. They are typically based on Freightliner, GMC, Ford, or International medium-duty chassis.
• Most, if not all vehicles in the UPS fleet, ranging from "package cars" up to the tractor-trailer combinations do not display the manufacturer's name. (ie. Mack, Sterling, Dodge, Grumman-Olson).
• UPS was the first shiping company that was allowed to operate in Oklahoma City following the Oklahoma City bombing, and New York City following the attacks on 9/11.

See also

• List of United Parcel Service hubs
• Worldport (UPS air hub)
• MaxiCode — A UPS developed and utilized square barcode-like symbol that appears on their package label
• DHL (competitor)
• TNT N.V. (competitor)
• FedEx (competitor)
• United States Postal Service (competitor)
• Courier

References Further reading

• "Insourcing," Thomas Friedman, The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, updated and expanded, 2006, pp. 167-176.
• "Big Brown: The Untold Story of UPS" Niemann, Greg. John Wiley & Sons, 2007.

External links

• UPS corporate website, shipping, tracking, service information
• Portal del Transporte de la Sección Sindical de UGT en Seur GeoPost + UPS transportes
• Yahoo! — United Parcel Service, Inc. Company Profile
• Ask Yahoo!: Who manufactures the brown UPS trucks?
• U.S. Mail holidays - UPS holidays - FedEx holidays - Internet Accuracy Project
• UPS’s New Hydraulic Hybrid Available For Test Ride In NYC
• SmartMoney Magazine (Nov 11, 2003), 10 Things Your Delivery Service Won't Tell You. Retrieved May 24, 2006.