Over time there have been people who have impacted the world and changed the way we live. Many have created new technology that has made our lives easier, and others have advanced medical technology to make our lives last longer and make us healthier. One person who impacted society in a positive way is named Fred Smith. Though his idea was thought to be impractical by his professor at Yale, Fred Smith was determined to see his idea of overnight shipping a success and he never gave up on his idea.
Even though he would face hardships he continued on and changed the shipping industry as we know, and he also help lead to the birth of online shopping websites because of his idea for shipping products through planes and getting to the person as fast as possible. Fred Smith’s early life was not the best childhood a person can have even though his family was wealthy. Fred Smith was born in Marks, Mississippi on August 11, 1944 and he has two sisters. His Father who was also named Fred built the Greyhound bus system and he was co-owner of Toddle House a chain of restaurants.
But at the age of 4 Fred’s father died, but he made enough money to make sure his family had a good life. In his will he wrote that he was concerned that his kids would squander the money and waste their talents he set a trust fund that would not be released until the children turned 21. Sally Smith, Fred’s mother often talked about Fred’s father to the young boy. She said “I kept his father alive in his mind all those years, I told him how much big Fred loved him, and how much he wanted him to have the best education Birmingham: Page 2 possible.
And how much he was certain his son would surpass his achievements in business. ” So even at a young age his father and mother had high expectations for young Fred. But as a child Fred Smith suffered from Legg-Calve-Perthes disease, which is a disease that occurs when blood supply is temporarily interrupted to the ball part of the hip joint, and without sufficient blood flow, the bone begins to die so it breaks easier and heals poorly. So, Fred Smith was unable to walk normally he was often picked on by bullies, but he learned to defend himself by swinging his crutches at them.
By time he was 10 he had outgrown the disease, and went on to become a star athlete in high school playing basketball, football, baseball, and when he was 15 he learned how to fly a plane while working for a crop duster. Also, Smiths business career started while in high school when he and some of his friends founded the Ardent record company, which was a small recording studio that later went on to become a legitimate company. Fred Smith graduated from high school in 1962, and he went on to attend Yale university.
While he was there he was not a studious student, and he was more involved in the social life at the university. In his senior year, he joined the secret campus society Skull and Bones. But while he was an undergraduate he wrote a paper for his economics class writing about his idea of an overnight-delivery service that used air transport. During that time railroads and trucks were used to ship packages, but he believed that airlines would replace the trucks and railroads. But his teacher was not amused by his idea giving him a C.
The professor said “The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a ‘C’, the idea must be feasible. ” Soon After graduating from Yale Fred Smith served 2 tours of military duty as a marine company commander during the Vietnam War. During the 27 months in Vietnam Fred had earns Birmingham: Page 3 a lot of medals, and he had also decided to retire from military service saying “I got so sick of destruction and blowing things up on people I had nothing against that I came back determined to do something constructive. To start his business Smith started purchasing the controlling interest in Ark Aviation, which was an airline maintenance company.
During that time the owner of Ark Aviation was Smiths father in law, and by 1971 Smith expanded Ark’s venue, turning it into a company that used, sold, and bought corporate airplanes. It was so successful it was posting over 9 million in revenue and the company see profits for the first time was not enough to make Smith happy. Smith said that “‘My four years in the Marine Corps left me with an indelible understanding of the value of leadership skills. So, by that time Smith has worked out a plan for his idea while making the most of what he had at that time. At first Fred wanted to do contract work for the Federal Reserve System by transporting and sorting checks. Fred Smith’s plan needed a fleet of planes to deliver and pick up packages. The planes were flown at night so there would be less air traffic was minimal, and they were flown to a hub where they are sorted and shipped out again using both ground and air would be sent to the person within 24 hours.
But despite his proposal to the Federal Reserve system did not accept his idea, so he decided to do it himself with advertising to anyone who might be interested in his idea. On June 18, 1971 Fred Smith created the Federal Express Corporation. Using startup funds from capitalists and his own inheritance by 1973 he was ready to go with just a fleet of 14 jets and several vans, and he started by offering his services in 25 cities. But not everything was going as smooth as Fred had thought it might have gone.
In fact, the first two years were very hard for Federal Express. On its first night, it shipped 186 packages on its 14 falcon jets routed to 22 cities, and within the first 4 months of business the company had lost almost a third of its start up cash, they also lost money Birmingham: Page 4 because of the high advertising cost, and because of increase price of aircraft fuel and gasoline prices resulting from the Arab Oil Embargo.
All of these things plus some other causes made FedEx lose $29 million dollars in its first 2 years. But even through all that Fred Smith really cared about his employees saying during an interview “Even when we didn’t have the money, even when there weren’t couches in this office and electric typewriters, we had a good medical plan for our people. ” But by 1976 the company began showing profits as it had been delivering documents, computer parts, and even hearts and other organs.
Also, FedEx was doing deliveries for the federal government, and by 1978 the company had made enough to be able selling shares on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1984 FedEx made a milestone when it had made over $1 billion dollars in revenues and would continue to grow into the future. Even though there was high competition and many financial setbacks Smith continued to preserve FedEx, and his success came mostly in part of his ability to understand the needs of his business.
Smith had plans for the future and believes that with society the way it is now FedEx will only continue to grow, because more and more people are using sites like eBay, Amazon, and other online shopping sites to purchase what they want. Fred believes in taking care of his workers and that he should reward them for doing them good things. For example when UPS workers went on strike thousands of FedEx employees worked numerous hours to process the additional 800,000 packages that flooded into FedEx centers.
Smith rewarded his employees with special bonuses while taking out full-page newspaper ads to thank them for their hard work. Smith saw the future with the creation of Federal Express, and his risk-taking set the standard by Birmingham Page 5 which other companies had to change with the times as well. Unafraid of new technology and by having a never give up spirit FedEx continued to shape the very face of global communications.
So, in Conclusion Fred Smith had to deal with a lot through his life like losing his father, his leg disease, going to war in Vietnam, and the struggles with running FedEx. But even with all of that he still never gave up and that is what made him popular. He impacted the world by starting something new, and people all over the world have been affected by it because mostly everyone has used it before to get packages you order online. Through him we may never have forced other shipping industry to change with the times and we could still be stuck in an age where shipping packages is not popular.
