I remember hearing about a group of disgruntled franchisees from Mail Boxes Etc. getting together shortly after UPS bought the huge franchise chain out, and deciding that they would not spend the $25,000 needed to retrofit the stores into all things brown. {UPS colors}
I am often asked what happens to the franchisees of a franchise chain that is all of a sudden sold, and new management takes over. {It happened to me. I left and went out on my own.}
Keith Girard over at AllBusiness.com wrote a fine article describing the way things may have gone down. A great read.
From AllBusiness.com
“The franchisees charge that the company’s effort to convert them,
known as the Gold Shield campaign, after UPS’s ubiquitous logo, was
intentionally deceptive and materially changed the ground rules for
their operations. In effect, they claim, it broke their franchise
agreement and dismantled the existing franchise structure.”
They also charge that the company failed to disclose performance and
financial data in addition to other violations of franchisee laws in an
effort to persuade them to switch. “
Read more at AllBusiness.com
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So, what do you think will happen? A new form of Mail Boxes Etc.? Mark my words, if you will have a combination of Kinko’s (FedEx nowadays) services with a personal mail service together with a place to meet and greet other business owners over a cup of coffee a la Starbucks, I think that could attract new customers. I see historically how the coffee houses were meeting places for different groups of people and you see how today’s coffee houses are emerging into hang outs for “digital nomads”. The Third Place in action!
Martin, Martin, Martin,
When the heck are you moving here, so you can do this thing already??
Great visualization of a new business. SHHHH
The Franchise King
Joel Libava
This is so funny reading this because a friend of mine is going through the same thing with UPS right now but on a much bigger level. Her store changed from a mail box etc. and not only was the structure different but she was also told she needs to remodel the inside of the store within a year because the color scheme is red, white and blue. I am a current franchise owner of an illuminate gym and I hope that they never force me to remodel on my own dime… or at least in the near future. I know it was in the FDD I signed but my friend at UPS really scared me about this. They changed our logo once but they were kind enough to pay for the change. You can see the difference at http://www.illuminategym.com compared to http://www.sunshinegym.com. Thanks.