A Look Back At The First 50 Years Of FedEx

Those Amazon delivery trucks and vans have become ubiquitous in communities across the country and around the world. But decades before anyone had ever heard of the online shopping giant, another company had already revolutionized speedy package delivery.

And now, FedEx is preparing to celebrate its golden anniversary.

How it all began

It all started with the vision of company founder Fred Smith, who came up with an idea for worldwide delivery as quickly as overnight. Back then, all of his proposals were new and unproven, but in the 50 years since then, he has been proven right again and again.

He was able to see the increasing opportunity of automation before almost anyone else in the business world and leveraged that knowledge to create a totally new way to deliver.

Not only did he believe computers would make his own business more effective, but he knew that other businesses would need rapid delivery in order to keep up with the increasing pace of technology.

Smith explained: “Your computer goes down, you have to have the part to fix it or you’re out of business. That’s the whole principle of FedEx.”

The first 50 years the company began with a small Dassault Falcon 20 plane (now an artifact you can see at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum) that got packages from the sender to the recipient with unprecedented speed.

Since then, of course, the company has grown exponentially. Here are some impressive stats as FedEx celebrates its 50th anniversary:

• The company has more than 530,000 employees.
• It ships 15 million packages to 220 countries every day.
• Many Boeing 777 jets are part of its massive fleet.

A combination of foresight, improved logistics, and taking care of employees has helped FedEx stay relevant over the past five decades.

Chris Agee June 5th, 2023

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