Franchisees Say UPS Special Policy Forces Them to Handle Alcoholic Beverages

    NEW YORK, March 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Franchisees of United Parcel
 Services ( UPS) today charged that UPS policies force them to take
 part in the distribution of alcoholic beverages, despite potential harm to
 underage customers or local restrictions against such shipments.
     "As small business owners, we are very concerned about UPS' special
 service for its selected customers, known as Corporate Retail Solution
 (CRS)," said Joseph Wightman, an official in the Platinum Shield
 Association (PSA), an organization of current and former Mailboxes, Etc.
 (MBE) franchisees across the country. "CRS requires that we handle alcohol
 -- specifically wine, despite the risk that an underage customer may be
 assigned to pick up the shipment. I am also concerned that many of our
 employees are under 21 years of age and may inadvertently be breaking the
 law," he added.
     "It troubles me and many of my associates that we have no say in
 providing the service," Wightman said, "no matter what we think or -- in
 some cases -- what local regulations might say about such a practice.
 Further, UPS is putting its franchisees at grave moral and financial
 liability in the event an underage recipient drinks the wine and causes a
 tragic auto accident."
     Wightman, whose MBE store is in Manhattan, said the CRS policy covering
 alcohol was discovered recently, at the same time one of his PSA colleagues
 found that UPS has a similar policy requiring franchisees to handle
 shipments from Zero Tolerance Entertainment, a producer of pornographic
 videos. "You have to wonder," Wightman added, "how UPS could do business
 with a company whose slogan is 'Zero Tolerance For Bad Pornography' and
 then claim that the company is in the apparel business."
     Wightman identified the alcoholic beverage shipper as Cakebread
 Cellars, a California-based winegrower and bottler. "We have no complaint
 with Cakebread Cellars itself," Wightman added; "our issue is with UPS,
 which seems to be developing a pattern of imposing possibly improper
 business relationships on franchisees who have moral objections or may
 operate in locations where these special services are illegal."
     In January, PSA revealed that UPS has instructed its franchisees to use
 their stores as alternate delivery locations for Zero Tolerance
 Entertainment. "It puts us as franchisees in a difficult position,"
 Wightman said, "and our message to UPS is that we pride ourselves on being
 productive members of our home communities and hope UPS will honor that
 attitude in future dealings."
     PSA, whose members operate UPS/MBE franchises from California to New
 York, is presently involved in a lawsuit with UPS over alleged violations
 of franchise agreements since UPS' acquisition of MBE in 2001. Last year,
 PSA members attended the UPS annual shareholder meeting in Wilmington, Del.
 to alert UPS shareholders of the lawsuit and the allegations.
 
 

SOURCE Platinum Shield Association