Both UPS and FedEx were operating companies in the 1970s. UPS was much older. At the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s there were changes to both postal regulations and airline regulations that allowed both companies to explosively expand their services.
By the mid-1980s all fast delivery by businesses was in the hands of either of these two companies. The US Postal Service was completely left in the dust.
The consequence was the complete change in the way business was done in America and around the world. Legal and financial documents travelled overnight to their destination. This made location of offices significantly less important and business much more efficient.
The impact on production, manufacturing and related services was even greater as small efficient parts moved around the world at nearly sonic rates.
I, as well is everyone else in business, was aware of the geometric increase in the speed in which everything in the business world was happening. A small part of it was the fax machine the large part of it was the overnight air service of UPS and FedEx.