James E. Casey

• James E. ("Jim") Casey was born on March 29, 1888 in Pick Handle Gulch, Nevada. As a teenager he worked for local delivery companies in Seattle in Washington State. After a friend loaned him 100 dollars, Casey founded on August 28, 1907 the American Messenger Company, a messenger and delivery service in Seattle. It was not until six years later that the US Postal Service was established.
• With his brother George, Jim ran his business from a basement. On request, the company delivered in the city parcels, documents, luggage and food from restaurants on foot or bicycle 24 hours a day. Soon after, Casey acquired his first delivery vehicle, a bright red Ford T. Brown was not adopted as the distinctive col-our until 1917.
• The young entrepreneurs focused on delivering parcels for retailers. In 1913, he joined forces with competi-tor Evert ("Mac") McCabe to establish a company called Merchants Parcel Delivery. The vehicle fleet grew and for cost reasons the company developed a groupage delivery service, because loading parcels on ve-hicles all destined for the same area was significantly more efficient.
• In 1919 the company carried parcels outside Seattle for the first time and acquired its present name, United Parcel Service, or UPS. "United" derives from the fact that it was a groupage delivery service, while Charlie Soderstrom, who was in charge of the vehicle fleet of the company, said. "Service is all we have to offer." From a small business with a handful of couriers, the company quickly became known nationwide and later worldwide.
• In the 1970s, UPS opened offices in more and more countries. On August 16, 1976, the first office outside America opened in Germany at Rheinpark-Center in Neuss, thus immediately becoming a rival for the for-mer German Postal Service,  transport companies Kuehne + Nagel , Dachser and Schenker & Co. The first managing director of United Parcel service in Germany was Detthold Aden. 
• After approval by the US Federal Aviation Administration, UPS officially became an airline in 1988. Today it is among the world’s ten largest airlines.
• UPS now operates an international network for the transport and delivery of parcels and documents in more than 200 countries and trading areas. The company is headquartered in Atlanta. The European headquar-ters is in Brussels and the largest site outside the United States is in Neuss. While UPS still obtains most of its revenue from the parcel business, the company has now spread its wings into logistics and financial products and services.
• Much of the rapid business success was a result of Casey’s strict principles that he applied from the outset: friendly to customers, reliability, 24-hour service and low rates. These principles are summed up by Casey’s motto: "Best service and lowest rates".  Even today, the company’s conduct of business is akin to military precision. For six weeks every driver learns the UPS basics, like always holding the parcel in the left hand while the key belongs on the right thumb. Even for office staff there is a strict code of conduct. Mountains of paper and coffee cups are banned from the workplace.
• Jim Casey was always seriously committed to his employees. He was firmly convinced that employees are the rock of a company that the driver of success. Among other things he introduced the principle of equal treatment for everybody and always stood for fair wages and good working conditions. In 1948, he set up the Annie E. Casey Foundation for disadvantaged children.
• Jim Casey died on June 6, 1983 aged 95. Lifelong he held the positions of President, CEO and Chairman.

Born March 29, 1888 in Nevada, USA

Founded American Messenger Company in 1907

Expanded the company in 1919 and changed its name to United Parcel Service (UPS)

1907 - 1983 President, CEO and Chairman of UPS

Established the Annie E. Casey Foundation in 1948

Died June 6, 1983