FedEx founder Fred Smith, a Marine Corps veteran who revolutionized package delivery, dies at 80

[Zorro]

Fred Smith, the FedEx Corp. founder who revolutionized the express delivery industry, has died, the company said. He was 80.

FedEx started operating in 1973, delivering small parcels and documents more quickly than the postal service. Over the next half-century, Smith, a Marine Corps veteran, oversaw the growth of a company that became something of an economic bellwether because so many other companies rely on it.

Memphis, Tennessee-based FedEx became a global transportation and logistics company that averages 17 million shipments per business day. Smith stepped down as CEO in 2022 but remained executive chairman.

Smith, a 1966 graduate of Yale University, used a business theory he came up with in college to create a delivery system based on coordinated air cargo flights centered on a main hub, a “hub and spokes” system, as it became known.

https://apnews.com/article/fred-smith-fedex-founder-died-645c93a192744e1ab8817ffb894ead01

[ms liberty]

1. Nothing to say except to hope that karma happens. Wife of a retired FedEx employee.

[drmeow]

2. "became something of an economic bellwether because so many other companies rely on it"

A manufactured reliance. So many modern "conveniences" don't make our lives better, they just increase the level of demands on us:

Instead of saving time:
Washing machine and dryer - increase the expectation on how frequently clothes should be cleaned
Vacuum cleaners - increase the expectation of how clean our floors need to be
Overnight delivery - allow leaders to push right up to the last minute and then stress rank and file workers to rush, rush, rush under pressure to get it into the next day delivery pick up
Cell phones - the people we work for expect us to be available anywhere at any time
Smart phones - respond to written communication immediately

Part of the reason humans are so stressed, angry, and unhealthy is because the rich, ambitious, and those who demand instant gratification have created a world where we always have to get something done for them immediately, at the last minute, and on their terms.

[Kid Berwyn]

3. Skull & Bones -- tapped with John Kerry

War Stories: Bush and Kerry and Vietnam

https://www.hnn.us/article/war-stories-bush-and-kerry-and-vietnam