Supply Chain · Profile from Supply Chain Research Companion
UPS
United Parcel Service, the Atlanta-based integrated parcel and express carrier that grew from a Seattle bicycle-messenger company founded by Jim Casey and Claude Ryan in 1907 into the largest US parcel company by revenue (~$91bn in 2024, company; ~$22.9bn in Q3 2026 alone, company release, 27 Oct 2026). It runs one network for air and ground, delivered by the same unionised drivers in the same brown trucks, and its story turns on density and labour cost in a unionised network. For a century UPS sold density — more pieces per stop on routes its drivers ran anyway. Its defining strategic choice of the 2020s was the opposite of growth for its own sake: under Carol Tomé it chose profitable volume over volume ("better not bigger"), agreed in January 2025 to cut its largest customer, Amazon, by more than half, and shrank its network around the smaller book — ~48,000 jobs and 93 buildings in 2025, up to 30,000 more jobs and 24 more buildings in 2026 (reported; blueprint Shared facts). Its failures include the 1997 Teamsters strike, the EU's 2013 veto of its TNT bid, the Coyote brokerage bought at a high and sold at a trough, and the 2023 contract talks that drove away volume that did not all come back.
At a glance
- Founded
- 28 Aug 1907, Seattle, as the American Messenger Company (Jim Casey and Claude Ryan, with ~$100 borrowed — company history, widely repeated); Merchants Parcel Delivery (1913); United Parcel Service name from 1919 (company history)
- Headquarters
- Sandy Springs (Atlanta), Georgia, since 1991; earlier Greenwich, Connecticut (1975–91) and New York (from 1930) (company history)
- Ownership / structure
- Public since 10 Nov 1999 (NYSE: UPS); Class A shares (10 votes, held mainly by employees, retirees and founders' descendants) and Class B shares (one vote, traded) (company). Before 1999 owned by its managers and employees
- Leadership (2026)
- Carol Tomé (CEO since 1 Jun 2020; ex-Home Depot CFO; the first outsider CEO); Brian Dykes (CFO, from 2024; verify); Nando Cesarone (president, international, healthcare and supply chain, verify)
- Segments
- US Domestic Package; International Package; Supply Chain Solutions (forwarding, logistics, healthcare, digital) (company)
- Scale
- ~22m+ average daily pieces worldwide in 2024, of which ~18m in the US (company filings, verify by quarter); ~490,000 employees at end-2024 before the 2025–26 cuts (company, verify); ~500+ aircraft operated or chartered (verify); Worldport (Louisville) its main air hub
- Financials
- Revenue ~$91.1bn (2024, company, verify); Q3 2026 revenue ~$22.9bn (+6.7% y/y), GAAP operating margin 7.6%, adjusted 9.0%; US Domestic ~$14.87bn (+4.5%), adjusted margin 7.0%; International ~$5.01bn (+7.1%), margin 14.9%; Supply Chain Solutions ~$2.98bn (+18.2%) after a ~$182m goodwill impairment; 2026 guidance raised to ~$92.6bn revenue and ~$8.75bn adjusted operating profit (company release, 27 Oct 2026)
- Labour
- ~340,000 Teamsters under the national master agreement ratified 22 Aug 2023 (86.3% yes), running to 31 Jul 2028 (union, reported); pilots in the Independent Pilots Association
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Founding (1907); the 1997 Teamsters strike; IPO (1999); TNT bid and EU veto (2012–13) and the court annulment (2017); ORION route optimisation (2013–16); Coyote (2015) and its sale to RXO (2024); the 2023 Teamsters contract; the Amazon glide-down and network reconfiguration (2025–26); Andlauer Healthcare (closed 1 Nov 2025)
9 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
1907
American Messenger Company Founding
Founding
1997
Teamsters Strike
Labour agreement or strike (failure)
1999
Initial Public Offering
Spin-off or IPO
2012
TNT Express Bid and EU Veto
Acquisition (blocked); regulatory, customs or legal action (failure)
2013
ORION Route Optimisation
Technology or automation bet
2015
Coyote Logistics Acquisition and 2024 Sale
Acquisition (2015) and divestment (2024) — failure
2023
Teamsters Contract
Labour agreement
2025
Amazon Glide Down and Network Reconfiguration
Customer contract; restructuring
2025
Andlauer Healthcare Acquisition
Acquisition or merger