20:28, 13 February 2008 (UTC) (talk)

FedEx Ground is a shipping company headquartered in Moon Township, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh. Originally a small regional package shipping company called Roadway Package System (RPS), it was created to be a discount competitor to UPS. After taking the road for the first time on March 11, 1985, the company grew in size and popularity throughout the Mid-Atlantic states, so much so that it became the largest subsidiary of its parent company, Akron-based Roadway Services. By 1996, RPS had achieved 100% coverage of the United States and all of North America. In addition, RPS became part of a new holding company called Caliber System, Inc.

In 1997, Fred Smith, founder of FedEx, contacted Dan Sullivan, co-founder and president of RPS about merging the two companies. In 2000, Caliber System, Inc., which has since sold most of its assets to various corporations, allowed FedEx to purchase its discount package distribution system, which was subsequently renamed FedEx Ground.

FedEx Ground now provides 1-5 day delivery of small packages to all 50 states, plus Canada and Puerto Rico. The subsidiary also offers a specialty service known as FedEx Home Delivery. The only service of its kind dedicated to residential customers, FedEx Home Delivery serves virtually 100 percent of the U.S. population.

FedEx purchased the parcel consolidator Parcel Direct in September 2004 from Quad Graphics. This FedEx Ground subsidiary was re-branded as FedEx SmartPost in October 2004. FedEx SmartPost caters to the shipment of high volume, low-weight packages to residential addresses, by outsourcing the "last mile" to the US Postal Service. FedEx SmartPost collects all packages from the shipper, then sorts, ships and tracks the packages through their regular network and systems until the package reaches the US Post Office closest to the recipient. It is then delivered to the final destination by the USPS. FedEx's large volume of shipments allows them to utilize postal bulk discounts, and eliminate the costs of having their own trucks trek across less profitable residential routes. The resulting service is one that is less expensive than FedEx ground, but more expensive than regular mail, and ostensibly faster and more secure, since it allows the use of FedEx tracking.