United Parcel Service (UPS): Recruiting Talent through Social Media

The history of UPS can be tracked from 1907 when two teenage entrepreneurs, Claude Ryan and Jim Casey (Casey), started a package delivery service. The duo opened the American Messenger Company in a Seattle basement with a US$100 loan. Initially, the company made home deliveries for drugstore customers, carrying notes on foot or on bicycles. The business of the American Messenger Company soon started facing the heat of competition from numerous players in the marketplace which were specialized in message and parcel delivery. In 1913, with the advances in the telephone sector, the American Messenger Company shifted its focus from grocery and drugstores to delivering packages at customers’ homes. In alignment with this shift, it was renamed as Merchants Parcel Delivery. Soon, the company started using Evert’s motorcycles and a Ford Model T to ensure quick deliveries. Casey and his colleagues made the company’s employees work onsite at the stores to ease distribution efforts. This soon made them experts in fulfilling the needs of the drug and grocery stores...