But in a highly competitive industry, growth cannot be attributed to an increase in package volume alone. UPS is enabling commerce in the 21st century with innovation, reliability, and flexibility. It has a proven track record in each of these areas, owing its competitive advantage to an integrated network and the technology making it work. Through new services and partnerships, UPS is becoming more accessible to customers in both the real and virtual worlds. This combination of improved efficiencies and better access is the impetus driving the growth in UPS’s core business.

UPS’s ability to sustain its growth is due to its unparalleled network. Whether customers ship domestically or worldwide, via a ground service or air service, the packages flow through the same UPS network.

It’s all about efficiency
Every day there are over 65,000 UPS drivers on the road in the United States alone. Because the same network transports all packages shipped through its broad portfolio of services, UPS is able to improve its efficiencies and leverage its economies of scale. The result in 2000 was a record operating profit of $3.9 billion in the U.S. domestic package segment.