FedEx delivers, but isn’t this the age of Amazon?

Fifty-two years ago, a certain Frederick Smith guaranteed overnight delivery on couriers. Today, business has grown but FedEx, the company Smith founded, still prides itself on deliveries.

When this story was published, FedEx was preparing the 14 million packages it would ship to 220 countries via its fleet of 664 planes and 170,000 trucks that will cover 500,000 and 2.5 million miles, respectively.

More than its delivery timings, what FedEx did was to calm the anxiety of those who used its service – their package wouldn’t fall by the wayside or get delayed. It all started when Smith, who studied Topology at Yale, submitted his term paper. His paper (although it didn’t give him a good grade) argued that by connecting various service points via a central hub, efficiencies were exponentially increased. He also saw that the emerging economy, driven by leaps in medical and computer technology, would soon demand guaranteed overnight shipping.

In 1971, after serving in Vietnam, Smith returned to put his ideas into practice. The rest is history. There is just one thing to contend with though. What about Amazon?

Source : http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/how-fedexs-founder-revolutionized-shipping-with-a-mediocre-college-term-paper/