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location to establish an operational system/entity to facilitate
pickup and delivery of documents and small packages to and from
the United States and other locations. During 1972, Robinson
traveled to Sydney, Australia, and met David Allen (Allen), and
they began a pickup and delivery service there. Early on,
employees who established the service in some locations accepted
equity interests because of insufficient funds to pay them.
Setting up an international station generally involved the
obtaining of space at the local airport, making arrangements with
the local government customs officials, setting up an office
location, acquiring vehicles, and hiring and training local
managers. Within a relatively short time, operations were
established in Auckland, New Zealand; Fiji; Jakarta, Indonesia;
Singapore; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Caracas, Venezuela;
Johannesburg, South Africa; and Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The growth of the DHL network, especially in the earlier
years, was attributed to a free-form approach to expansion.
Although a regimen eventually developed, the business expanded
and grew because of the flexibility and freedom of the management
and employees to provide service to customers that comported with
their customs and locality. After some problems involving the
Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), operations were divided between
U.S. and international locations. Even though there was common
shareholder ownership of the U.S. and international corporate
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Last modified: May 25, 2011