華爾街的賺錢經 第59期:隔夜快遞之父(1)

Every night several hundred planes bearing a purple, white , and orange design touch down at Memphis Airport, in Tennessee. Crews unload the planes' cargo of, on average, more than half a million parcels and letters, picked up from locations all over the United States earlier in the day. The pack ages and envelopes are rapidly sorted according to address, then loaded onto other aircraft and flown to their destinations, to be hand delivered-many within 24 hours of leaving their senders. This sequence of events is the culmination of a dream of Frederick W. Smith, the founder, president, chief executive officer, and chairman of the board of the FedEx Corp.-known originally as Federal Express-the largest and most successful overnight delivery service in the world. Conceived when he was in college and now in its 28th year of operation, Smith's brainchild has become the standard for door-to-door package delivery.

每天晚上，都有幾百架漆有紫、白、橙三色圖案的飛機在田納西州的孟菲斯機場降落。機組人員卸下清晨從美國各地收到的五十多萬份包裹和信件，根據地址迅速地將這些包裹和信件分類，然后裝上其他飛機送往目的地。大多數包裹和信件都會在寄出的24小時內交到收貨人的手上。這一連串的事情正是弗里德·史密斯一一聯邦快遞公司(原為聯邦快遞)的創(chuàng)立者、總裁、首席執(zhí)行官和董事長的最大的夢想。目前，該公司已是全球最大、最成功的隔夜快遞服務商。史密斯在大學期間的這個設想已經實行了28年，并成為送貨上門服務的標準。

Known for his geniality as well as his business acumen, Smith is reportedly held in high regard by his competitors as well as his employees. "I always said I thought one of the most brilliant parts of Fred Smith was his ability to deal with each person individually," Tuck morse, a former Federal Express lawyer, recalled. Indeed, 3.2 percent of the entire Memphis workforce is made up of FedEx employees, who are said to have been drawn by the company's high wages and family ethos. "The first thing people do when they move to Memphis is apply for a job at Federal Express," one FedEx worker said. "Then they go get another job until one opens up here."

據說史密斯以其親切的態(tài)度、靈活的經商頭腦著稱，并贏得競爭者和雇員的高度尊重。前聯邦快遞法律顧問塔克·莫爾斯回憶說，“我總是說，弗里德·史密斯最杰出的地方之一就是他能以不同的方式對待不同的人。”實際上，孟菲斯市的3.2%的勞動力是聯邦快遞的員工，他們被這家公司的高薪水和家庭般的企業(yè)文化所吸引。聯邦快遞的一名員工說，“人們搬到孟菲斯要做的第一件事就是申請一份聯邦快遞的工作，如果沒有職位空缺，他們會先暫時找份其他工作干著，同時等待為聯邦快遞工作的機會。”

注釋：

1.touch down 著陸

例句：We should touch down very soon now.

我們很快就要著陸了。

2.picke up v. 拾起;探出;重新開始

例句：Finished, he picked up a hand mirror to check out the back of his head.

完成了，他拿起了一個手鏡查抄一下他的后腦。

3.operation n.操作;運行;手術;運作

例句：At this point the system has entered a state of normal operation.

此時系統已進入正常運行狀態(tài)。

4.geniality n.溫和;舒適;親切;親切的言行

I like to hear her geniality voice.

例句：我喜歡她溫和的聲音