UPS is at a crucial point in its history. Here's how it got here - and where it might be going.

UPS CEO Carol Tomé presents on a stage before a UPS banner. — Carol Tomé is the first CEO of UPS to come from outside the company.
UPS

UPS is in the midst of a business overhaul at the hands of CEO Carol Tomé.
The company seeks to boost profitability by reining in spending and carefully choosing packages.
Demand for faster and faster delivery could put pressure on UPS to move into unfamiliar territory.
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Carol Tomé is heading into her second peak shipping season as CEO of UPS. The continuation of the pandemic and surge of the Delta variant have already ensured that this one, like Tomé's first, won't be anywhere near normal. What has changed is UPS itself.

After more than a year in the top spot, Tomé has seen her business strategies and management style start to take hold. Preaching "better, not bigger," she's carefully choosing customers whose business benefits UPS the most. She's embracing controversial labor strategies that fit closer to the rest of the gig-economy-obsessed delivery world rather than UPS's 114-year-old history. She's keeping a laser focus on UPS's spending.

More than 2020, the 2021 holiday shopping season will test whether Tomé's UPS can keep up its profitability push while maintaining it's place near the top of the e-commerce delivery pyramid. Catch up on the elements of that effort with these stories.