UPS/MBE problems?

[trickpony1]

Turd,

Love - hate - indifference.
If you will work through this sequence it will not consume you and your mental health will improve.
When you hate, or love, something you have energies, emotions, and thoughts towards it. When you are indifferent you have none of these and there is less "wear and tear" on your psyche.
Try it.

[sendagain]

What has been a factor in the UPS Stores is just the quick changes in the way we do business. When we started to take packages from people on the street, that must have had an impact on some of these stores. I know I print a label at home off my own printer and find a driver to hand it to. Maybe these stores should also sell coffee and danish; you know, "think outside the box".

[upsdawg]

Senditagain.......and again..... good point about thinking out of the box---coffee---donuts..........are the UPS Stores going to be a drop off point---or acceptance point for Menlo/Air Freight-----or can the UPS Stores accept larger stuff for UPS Freight-----I know some of the locations have limited space---but they could at least set up the pu's and deliveries for larger shipments---as in something a "Freight Forwarder" would do.

I was talking to my A/E yesterday and he was telling me that UPS is not going to set up any more commercial counters or ASO's unless it is a national chain and that they now have to be set up by their cororate office-----this should eliminate a lot of future shipping locations that would be in competition with the UPS stores.

[mlsilo]

To think "outside the box" is easier said than done when the name on the door says, "The UPS Store". Most people think the stores are owned by UPS and simply think they only do shipping.

UPS/MBE is telling store owners not to expect any increase in shipping and to focus on document services, mailbox rentals, etc. This is not the business model that they sold us. Bait and switch.

For example say, hypothetically of course, your UPS route was bout out by XXX Corp and they said you can expect to have 100 stops per day and we will pay you per stop. (Say that you currently do 20 stops per day but make more per stop) With the new business model you would be making less money per stop but the actual $$$ would be made up with volume and you would be making more money so you think it's a win-win situation. You agree to the change. 3 Years later, you are only making 30 stops per day, and XXX Corp says don't expect any increase in shipping. Would you be upset?

Also US Office Products was the former parent company of MBE and they owned a variety of businesses and MBE was the only profitable peice of their portfolio. So, it's not like UPS was a knight in shining armour and came by and picked up the peices....

[mlsilo]

I was talking to my A/E yesterday and he was telling me that UPS is not going to set up any more commercial counters or ASO's unless it is a national chain and that they now have to be set up by their cororate office-----this should eliminate a lot of future shipping locations that would be in competition with the UPS stores.[/quote]

You don't seem to get it. UPS is our main competition, not the Mom and Pop's ASO down the street.

[upsdawg]

So you are not competing with the Post Office----you sell stamps--they sell stamps------you have p.o .boxes, they have p.o boxes-----they sell packaging supplies and so do you?What about places that charge less to make copies---sell packaging supplies-----it all comes down to service separating you from all of your competitors??

So MBE was the only profitable piece of US Stationary-----so if US Stationary went bankrupt the MBE Stores would have been ok on their own---or would some bankruptcy court be involved with all of US Stationary assets?

Maybe UPS should have continued opening up locations in the Office Depots and Longs and........eventually maybe even Kinko's----what would this have done to the MBE Locations? Maybe UPS needs to sell off the UPS Stores/MBE's to DHL and see if they make you learn how to speak German.

So we have heard all of the negative things that UPS is doing to the UPSS owners--is there anything positive going on at all?

[Copycat]

We don't compete with the post office. It is a service we provide. I do not sell stamps at all. I do meter first class and priority mail. I pay the post office to pick my mail up. I do not receive a better rate than anyone else that uses the post office. I markup the postal rates. My customers know that. On the other hand UPS competes with me for the same client.

UPS mandates what my rates are. I can not change them. UPS then charges different rates on the internet. The post office still charges the same rate whether it is on the website or their counter. UPS counters are different than the internet rates.

Here is the difference between what I am mandated to charge for shipping and how UPS undercuts me for shipping via the interent.

Next Day Air is 11% difference
2 Day Air is 24% difference
Ground is 27% difference.

UPS in the article in the Wall Street Journal this week says that there is only a 5% difference in the rates. If you go to UPS's website you can do the math for yourself. So who is lying here? The UPS Stores or UPS?

Now this does not take into consideration that UPS has access to our customer databases and took from them the names and addresses of our customers. These customers were approached by UPS account representatives and enticed into their own shipping account. Thus cutting me out of selling UPS services to servicing UPS customers with out fair and equitable compensation. You see I get a whole dollar for servicing UPS account holders.

UPS has been caught doing the things I have written about. We received a letter from a Jerry Drisdaldi about how this was never suppose to happen and how sorry they were. Did they compensate the stores for this loss? No. Did they offer better shipping rates to us? No. You know what they told us? They said we need to start focusing on Document Services because shipping will not support our business. :confused1

Hey I bought a pack and ship business. I did not buy a Pip Printing franchise I bought a UPS Store franchise. Do you think people go to Pip Printing to ship their items or do they go there to print their documents?

So do you go to The UPS Store to print your documents or do you go there to ship your items?

Do you see where the rub is? This is called bait and switch.

Now to add insult to injury UPS after they get these folks to switch from retail customers to UPS account holders they offer them a 15% discount in my store. You know the store that I own. The store that I paid cold hard cash for. UPS uses our money and investments to better their bottom line with out any consideration for the franchisees and their bottom line. You see when it is all said and done to keep the doors open and the lights on you have got to make a profit. Vendors want their money including the checks I send to UPS and none of those checks that pay to keep the lights on and the doors open say UPS on them. They have my name.

I pay UPS a royalty fee which is a percentage of my Adjusted Gross to them for having a sign that says The UPS Store. They did not pay for the sign I did. They do not pay for the computers, mailboxes, carpet, counters, the trash cans, utilities, insurance or the employees. I do.

Do I think I would do better without UPS? I know I would be a lot happier and I would be in control of my business.

[scratch]

I have a friend of mine who used to have a MBE that converted to a UPS Store. She just about lived there six days a week. Despite a good location and being the first store of its kind in town, she never turned a decent profit so she sold it.

[upsdawg]

CopyCat---thanks for the feedback--it is appreciated, especially when you appear to be sincere and share the facts without all of the retoric.I do have a question for you.

If you had the freedom to charge whatever UPS rates you wanted---would you go back to the old rate structure that MBE had (was it 40% higher than UPS published rates?) or would you price it lower than what UPS is charging on the Internet---so if UPS is 11% lower tha your current rates---would you lower the rate to 12% so you could be the least expensive alternative??

[Copycat]

Actually I would like to see the internet rate and the retail rate to be the same. The UPS hub counter uses the same rates we do so why not the internet too. That would be the first step.

We were sold a bill of goods that UPS was going to drive traffic into the store and because our shipping profit is low that volume would offset that. The only increase in volume we have received has been drop offs. UPS mined our customer databases and gave drivers incentives to assist the UPS account executives in giving everyone with a pulse an account. This cuts the market that we were suppose to go after. Now UPS is after the small business cutting us out once again. This was also the area that we were to develop. Basically what this boils down to is UPS competes directly with us for the same customers.

UPS has not even acknowledged that we exist in any of their advertising. We advertise them in ours but it is not reciprocal. There are 4000 UPS Stores and to UPS we are nothing more than air conditioned or heated drop boxes that pay them to ship packages and a royalty fee for the name. A huge profit for them with no overhead.

Most of these stores are in dire financial difficulty. The owners have plunked down $250K and told that we would be the premier shipping outlet for UPS. That never happened. A break even month at most stores is $25K per month. Some stores make it a lot don't. I own two of these stores and I haven't broken even yet this year. Last year I lost about $50K and that doesn't include a salary for me as I have never drawn one since I opened 3 years ago.

If my stores don't start showing a profit this year, January 1 2007 the year UPS projected that most stores would be million dollar stores, I will shut them down. I can not keep supporting UPS and their greed. A franchise agreement is a two way street. To bad ours has been a one way street to the poor house for most of us.

[wily_old_vet]

Copy-I'm sorry for the problems you are having but you made one false statement. I have seen quite a few ads for the UPS Stores, so they do advertise for you.

The UPS Store ads are paid for out of funds taken like a royalty from the store's gross income. In other words, the stores collectively pay for their own ads, and not UPS the package delivery company.

[Copycat]

Any and all advertising for The UPS Store is paid for by either the regional cooperative of The UPS Stores or by a national media fund all stores pay into as part of our royalties. UPS does not spend one of their precious pennies towards promoting our stores.

In 2003 when UPS and MBE rolled out The UPS Store, UPS paid most of the advertising for that year. Since December 2003 UPS has not promoted the stores or paid for any advertising for The UPS Store.

Some of the best advertising I have had was done by my old UPS driver. When ever he was asked about shipping he would direct these people to my store. He was also one of my clients I serviced. He would drop off his items in the morning. When he came by in the evening to pick up we would settle up. I gave him very deep discounts on the packing of his items and shipping. The two of us felt that if we took care of each other that we both reaped benefits. This was long before UPS said that they would have the drivers direct people to our stores. Though when I was talking to the many new drivers that now come in to pick up at my store none of them have ever heard of this grand plan that UPS said they were going to implement.

Any more misconceptions that need to be addressed or any questions? I am more than happy to answer them truthfully and without making false statements.

Wiley did Maverick and I correct your misconception on The UPS Store advertising?

[funwithups]

Read only if you're concerned with the facts. Here's the Reader's digest version. Copycat's a lot nicer than I am:

BrainFuel » The UPS Store vs FedEx Kinko’s

[moreluck]

funwithups....I think in that article, they are trying to compare apples to oranges.

My understanding is that FDX bought a "copy center" and UPS bought a place for you to send packages in your neighborhood. Those are 2 different animals.

[funwithups]

Excellent response and thank you. What I'd like you all to gain from that blog is that is exactly what the owners thought. We thought with a name like TUPSS, people would associate us with shipping and packing. UPS has decided to undercut and circumvent the stores via the internet, turning us into expensive, staffed drop boxes, without any expense to UPS. Let me put it this way: MY rent is $3000/month. My drop-off count has trippled in the last year. I receive $1.10 for a drop-off. There are 4,100 stores accepting over 2,000,000 drop-offs per month, and we are responsible if a drop-off is haz-mat. Do you really want to criticize the ma & pa's at this point? We're just trying to get by.
BB-FWUPS

Originally Posted by moreluck

funwithups....I think in that article, they are trying to compare apples to oranges.

My understanding is that FDX bought a "copy center" and UPS bought a place for you to send packages in your neighborhood. Those are 2 different animals.