FedEx was a pet project of Yale University student Fred Smith, who wanted to find a way for one carrier to take care of a package from pick-up to delivery, making the mail a more convenient endeavor. Smith made his dream a reality in 1971, putting up the Federal Express Corporation in Little Rock, then moving to Memphis, Tennessee. The company’s first delivery was for 18 packages, growing rapidly to reach more than one billion US dollars in sales by 1983. By 1994, the company had reached such a height of success and popularity that the time was dubbed, “the FedEx Era”.
Throughout its years of providing unparalleled package and freight delivery to multiple locations across the globe, FedEx has acquired several smaller delivery companies and has expanded its air fleet to accommodate more than 660 aircraft. It has also won numerous awards in cargo, business, customer service, workplace preference and trusted brands. With its headquarters still located in Memphis, FedEx’s “SuperHub” can be found at Memphis International Airport, with more operations bases at different airports throughout the United States. The company’s current head is David J. Bronczek, President and CEO, and FedEx remains to be the top in its field with some 146,000 employees everywhere, working on an estimated 3.5 million packages and 11.5 million pounds of freight being flown, shipped and hand-delivered daily.