United Parcel Service (UPS) was founded in 1907.
The company began in Seattle, Washington, on August 28, 1907, when teenager James E. Casey started the American Messenger Company with a $100 loan. Claude Ryan joined him as a partner, and the young business initially handled messages and small deliveries using bicycles and on-foot couriers.
UPS did not use its familiar name immediately. In 1919, after expanding from Seattle to Oakland, California, the company adopted the name United Parcel Service and began using brown vehicles. That color became one of the most recognizable visual identities in delivery services.
UPS later expanded from local messenger work into parcel delivery, air transportation, logistics, and supply-chain services. The founding year is sometimes confused with 1919, but 1919 marks the introduction of the UPS name, not the creation of the original delivery business.