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Claude Ryan Bio, Founder of UPS

The United Parcel Service is a grandson of sorts of the old messenger services and postal services that depended on horse riders and railroads. 18 year old Claude Ryan and his friend Jim Casey founded the American Messenger Company in Seattle, Washington, in 1907, which they merged with a competitor's company in 1913 when they bought a Model T Ford to use for deliveries. Earlier deliveries had been made citywide on foot or by bicycle. Merchants Parcel Delivery, as their company was known, used one delivery vehicle to make the rounds in any given neighborhood, delivering the packages addressed there. The fleet of vehicles grew over time, and as they expanded their delivery range, they renamed their company United Parcel Service.

In 1930, service began in New York City, followed by other east coast and Midwest cities, and the headquarters shifted to New York as well. A mechanical system was introduced to sort packages, and throughout the 1940s and 50s, various common carrier rights were acquired in order to allow UPS to deliver packages from any address to any other address. As of 1975, they served all 48 contiguous states; it has since become international in scope.

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