Things You Probably Didn't Know

[IceWizard]

About Federal Express







On April 17, 1973, FedEx, called Federal Express at that time,
began operations by delivering its first 186 packages, and soon
became the premier carrier for the express shipping industry.
Here are some things you didn't know about Federal Express.




FedEx Originally Transported Bonds

FedEx didn’t start out as the courier company as it is today. The business plan
crafted by founder Fred Smith in 1971, was that FedEx would be a company
which would pick up checks from the 12 Federal Reserve banks in the United States,
fly them to a central hub and then deliver the checks to the federal reserve
member banks the next day. Later, the federal reserve directors changed
their mind - and the company was left with no client, two jets and $3.6 million
in debt. Forced to re-consider his business plan, Smith decided to instead to
create a service providing USA-wide delivery for time-sensitive documents
for businesses and consumers.



The Founder Gambled His Last $5,000

In 1974, three years after the company’s birth, FedEx was teetering on the
verge of bankruptcy. The company was losing $1 million each month, and
was down to only $5,000 in their account. Smith decided to take drastic action.
He flew to Las Vegas and he spent the weekend playing blackjack with the
company funds. Smith returned to the company headquarters in Little Rock
on Monday and told astonished executives that he had managed to turn
the $5,000 into $27,000. Soon afterwards,
the company captured $11 million in funding.



The FedEx Logo Contains a Hidden Design

Look closely between the letters "E" and "X", and you will see an arrow in
the white space between the two letters.  The hidden arrow in the design
of the logo provides a subliminal message of getting from point A to point B..
The message was accidentally created in 1994 as the logo designer noticed
that putting a capital "E" and a lowercase "X" together created the suggestion
of an arrow. The clever use of the negative space between the last two
letters has won the logo several awards and makes it one of the most
effective logos ever created.



FedEx Invented Tracking Numbers

In the late 1970’s FedEx created the tracking number – a set of numbers designed
to the track the journey of a package. The system was originally intended for
internal quality control but was later released to the general public. Today,
tracking numbers are used throughout the courier industry and millions of
tracking numbers are entered everyday into fedex.com. 



It's a Really Busy Company

FedEx owns the most extensive fleet of air cargo planes in the world, with more
than 670 in use to deliver packages. The company handles more than 19 million
packages daily. It keeps up with the packages, too, with around 125 million
requests by clients who want to track their deliveries' progress.