Our company IS a family. When someone joins our company and opens a Goin`Postal store, they become part of our family. We see their successes as ours and that is why we and our store owners will consistently continue to rise above the competition
Thank you for your interest in joining the Goin’ Postal family! As a nationwide network of proactive, positive, and enthusiastic entrepreneurs, we are on the path to making our financial goals a reality, and we hope that you will join us to share in our mutual success. At any point during reading this information you are welcome to contact us with any questions you may have. As part of our Goin’ Postal Shipping Store family, you will be given the knowledge that we have gained from owning and operating our own shipping business, and listening to our ever growing family of franchisees. In this information packet and in our FDD (Franchise Disclosure Document) which you can request by submitting the franchise inquiry form; we will give you an idea of what to expect. Those materials answer 99% of the questions that people ask us about Goin’ Postal. Obviously you may have additional questions, and we are always happy to answer those in person or by email or telephone. Please read as much of this information and the FDD as possible before calling or emailing with questions, so that we can focus on your specific situation.
There are two types of shipping stores. Those independently owned, and those that are part of a large franchise chain such as The UPS Store, Pak Mail, PostNet or Goin’ Postal. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. The advantage of being an independent shipping store is the opportunity to run your business exactly as you please. On the opposite end of the spectrum is the fact that you are doing it on your own and will have no one to turn to when problems arise, you won’t have the benefit of an easily recognizable and trusted name, and you won’t have any clout with a vendor when you have an issue to be resolved. While the big chains are very strict about how the business looks and runs, they benefit from the increased buying power of a large company for things like supplies and even health insurance. Being part of a large chain usually comes with a hefty price tag, sometimes in the hundreds of thousands of dollars just to get into business. Seeing the downsides that come with being a franchisee of some of our competitors led us to building our own with a goal of bringing the American Dream within the reach of everyday Americans. Using other models as a template on what not to do, we built Goin’ Postal to offer all the benefits of being part of the largest of chains, while still providing you the flexibility to be an entrepreneur, making the decisions as to how you will run your own business. As a smaller firm, with management that still understands what it is like to run a store, we adapt quickly to changes in the marketplace while using the growing number of stores to build awareness and name recognition for our brand. Those same competitors will often times have larger franchise fees and royalties (some as high as 5 times the cost of a Goin’ Postal franchise), proving that sometimes bigger isn't better.
We support our franchisees, offer free training (included in the price of the franchise fee), free continuing education, free telephone and email support, free networking assistance, free advertising and PR assistance, and much, much more. Unlike those at some of our larger competitors, most of our employees know our franchisees by name. That personal touch comes through in assuring the success of our individual franchisees, and in the building of a strong chain of very happy Goin’ Postal store owners and customers. By opening a Goin’ Postal store, for a relatively small investment, you can get the help needed to get started, and you can own and operate a nationally recognized retail shipping store as your own business. In a nutshell, you can have the best of both worlds with a Goin’ Postal store!
When working as intended a franchise should provide a mutually beneficial relationship between a franchisor and franchisee. The franchisor provides a system to be followed, training, on-going support, and authorization to use the franchisor's branding and trademarks in exchange for a franchise fee and on-going royalties.
When opening a Goin’ Postal retail shipping store, you will become a franchisee running an independently owned and operated location. You will establish and organize your company under a name of your choosing, and will be doing business as Goin’ Postal. This method is used throughout the franchising world and can be seen used by everyone from a McDonalds restaurant franchisee to 7-Eleven franchisees.
As a Goin' Postal franchisee you can expect the following benefits: When becoming a franchisee you are provided a license to use our trade name, Goin’ Postal, to operate a packing and shipping store in a specific, protected territory. You will also receive access to our registered trademarks for signage and marketing purposes, be provided with a custom store layout that adheres to our standards for store appearance, and receive our standardized training. Expect training to include the GP Brands tried-and-true methods & practices, use of proprietary manuals & software, assistance with applying for carrier accounts (UPS, FedEx, USPS, and DHL), training on best practices used in the retail shipping industry, carrier specific training, as well as training on our POS and Shipping Software.
Once your store is open you will benefit from the growing public awareness and goodwill of The Goin’ Postal name. In addition, our support team is always there for you when you have problems, whether carrier, technical, marketing, or customer service related. Also, as part of our retail shipping chain you will be able to take advantage of the increased buying power our scale, vendor, and carrier relationships provide. These negotiate for better pricing and terms for everything from shipping to office supplies.
Goin' Postal's franchise system let's us provide our years of experience, business acumen, and pre-tested standardized methodology to help you reduce your risk of failure (as opposed to figuring it out on your own and “winging it”).
The FDD is the Franchise Disclosure Document. This legal disclosure document tells you everything you need to know that is material to the business you are about to buy and about us as a company. It also includes the Franchise Agreement that franchisees sign and send in with their franchise fee in order to become a Goin’ Postal franchisee. The Federal Trade Commission mandates that all franchises provide this document in an approved format at least 14 days prior to entering into any contract with or receiving any payment from a franchisee. Some states have their own rules about how long you must have the FDD prior to signing any binding agreement with us but that is discussed in the FDD itself.
The Goin' Postal FDD is a lengthy omnibus document aimed at providing all the information a potential Goin' Postal franchisee might want. The FDD includes 23 required items of disclosure wherein you can acquire information on GP Brands' history, its officers, and it even includes independently audited financials. In addition you will learn of the core services offered by Goin' Postal franchises and pre-approved supplemental revenue streams to help serve your customers in a variety of ways. Estimates on total expenses of third party vendors are included to assist future franchisee's in planning out their financial success. Downloading our Franchise Disclosure Documents is free and requires no commitment or obligation.
You may want to print out the document to read through it, or provide it to others but it is not a requirement. Our FDD is provided on our site as a downloadable PDF document that can be read, saved, or forwarded to others.
After your due diligence is complete and you are ready to move forward, completing the FDD will be the next step on your journey to becoming a franchisee. When that time comes, contact us and we will provide you with a docusign version of the document.
Our Flexibility. You will be given a lot of flexibility in how you run your store. Being in business is meant to be fun, and it’s no fun to have a massive faceless corporation breathing down your neck every moment of every day. Goin’ Postal isn’t like that, and never will be, no matter how large we become. We provide the opportunity to offer a variety of shipping services and will do everything in our power to help you to offer all of the services that you wish to offer in your store. Our stores not only offer the standard large carriers but also have the opportunity to use local reginal carriers when available. These local carriers can provide one more tool to ensure you are never left without a solution for your customers if one carrier is unavailable for any reason.
The name. With its mixture of humor and direct description of what we do, it has become an invaluable asset to the expanding scope of our business. While 99% of people love the name…NO ONE EVER FORGETS IT! Add that to our management, drive, ambition and creative ability and we are a force to be reckoned with. We are a dynamic team dedicated to the success of EVERY MEMBER of our business family. Our drive is apparent just from looking at the growth of our chain compared to everyone else. Our approach to customer care, whether that be a franchisee or customer entrusting us to ship their packages. We strive to approach each customer as an opportunity to exceed their expectations. We are fully aware that a business that does not value its customers won't be a business for long. As a Goin' Postal franchisee you should too. At our stores we provide all of our customers with friendly service combined with professional skills and the lowest rates, all in a polished corporate atmosphere.
A multitude of other products and services. Our stores offer everything from shipping to ink & toner and document services to office supplies and more. We understand that not all areas and franchisees are created equally. Some areas with smaller population centers may require more diversification in your offerings than others. Luckily Goin' Postal's wide ranging list of pre-approved products and services allow you to tailor what your store provides to what your community needs. In doing so we allow you to be an entrepreneur, making decisions that will give your store a personality that can match that of you and your customers. We also test our products and services! We are the only major chain with a main company store where we test products and services before they are released to our franchisees. We don’t believe in letting our franchisees be guinea pigs for our ideas so we test everything before they ever see them.
We have a business model that is more successful than our competitors, yet we help our franchisees establish their stores for a small fraction of the cost. If you take the investment required to open one of the other franchises and compare it with ours, there is no competition (and that is what is scaring our competitors….). While there is no way to take a competitor like The UPS Store or PostNet to a small town because of the higher investment, our stores can open in much smaller markets and still be highly profitable due to the low overhead. With our business model (low upfront and ongoing expenses) we are able to open successful stores in many more markets than our competitors, and still leave our franchisees with more profit in their pocket at the end of the year. We also strive to make our franchisees happy and productive members of our chain. While other large chains have major morale problems, we try to turn around any issues very quickly to maintain a positive direction for the company. A testament to our success is how our franchisees get their families and friends involved in opening stores so they can share their success. Satisfied franchisees truly are the backbone of the franchise and are also very important to the growth of the chain. To maintain our low-cost model we don't splurge on high dollar marketing campaigns to sell franchises. Referrals from existing store owners are our primary source for new franchisees and growth. If we don't take care of franchisees, we can't expect for them to take care of us.
Also, unlike other chains, we don’t have an endless line of committees for you to go through to get something done. Every franchisee has our direct contact info and the cell phone of at least one of our management to have a direct line to a solution.
You will pay GP Brands $25,000 for the combination of Franchise Fee and equipment as broken down in the Franchise Agreement.
The remainder of your investment is not paid to GP Brands (except for some travel expenses for our rep to come and visit your store for opening) and can fluctuate. This portion of your investment will include rent/lease/purchase of a location and equipment such as: peanuts, hoppers, packing tables, shelving, product displays, merchandise to sell, boxes, copiers, fax machines, laminating machines, etc. This investment will vary from store to store depending upon your needs, your budget and if you decide to lease, already own, borrow, or purchase used or new equipment.
For example: One of our franchisees already owned his building and had nearly all of the required equipment except for a peanut hopper, peanuts and boxes, so he didn't need to spend much at all on his space/equipment. Other franchisees may start from scratch and will spend more on supplies, equipment, rent, etc. After we receive your franchise fee (again, the franchise fee just $15,000) we give you a list of recommended and required equipment and supplies. We do not fly to your location to buy you staples for your stapler, boxes for your shelves, etc. It is your responsibility to acquire the items on the list that we will provide for you PRIOR to the representative arriving at your store. When our representative is there they will spend as much time as possible reviewing all of your training so it is important that the store be as ready as possible when they arrive.
Source: Entrepreneur.com (figures provided by each franchisor directly to Entrepreneur Magazine). We will try to keep these numbers up to date but their prices may change without notice. If you see a figure that has changed please let us know and we will get it updated. Our own figures are updated regularly to reflect changing costs. Our figures are up to date and directly from our FDD.
| Low | High | |
|---|---|---|
| The UPS Store | $159,000 | $496,000 |
| Pak Mail | $211,000 | $303,000 |
| PostNet | $209,000 | $261,000 |
| Postal Connections | $101,300 | $236,000 |
| Goin’ Postal | $46,750* (standard low) | $109,500 (Turn-Key high) |
* Subsequent store franchise fees may be discounted by each individual company. Check their FDD for details. The amounts shown in the total Initial investment table above include the initial franchise fee.
| Royalty | Ad Fund | |
|---|---|---|
| The UPS Store | 5% | 3.5% |
| Pak Mail | 5% | 2% |
| PostNet | 5% | 2% |
| Postal Connections | 4% | 2% |
| Goin’ Postal | $525.00 per month* | 0% |
* Goin’ Postal royalties do increase every 3rd year by approximately 5% for the term of your franchise agreement but the retail price of the products you are selling will also be increasing.
Unfortunately, the money to pay for ongoing support has to come from somewhere. While the other large franchisors may take $4,000 a month out of your pocket using a percentage based royalty system, we decided to go another route. As time goes by you will become more successful and seasoned as business owners. At the same time this new found experience you will have will allow you to run your store more smoothly, while needing less support. To us it made no sense that as you needed less, you paid more. This caused our flat rate royalty system to be born. The low monthly royalty that a Goin’ Postal franchisee pays each month more than pays for itself when you look at the deep discounts our franchisees receive from vendors, constant stream of new profit centers we produce, the ongoing training, and the exceptional support we provide. Each month, our average franchisee sees a net positive of dollars, by taking advantage of exclusive opportunities and taking full advantage of our countless years of expertise. If you think that after 60% cost of goods sold, a franchisee only has to sell an additional $9,000 worth of product/services a year to cover their royalties, it’s easy to see why being part of Goin’ Postal is much better for your wallet!
While national and local ad funds are very important for certain types of businesses which need to create ‘impulse buys’, traditional advertising doesn’t work with this business. If McDonalds runs a commercial advertising a Big Mac, you have to eat three times today and there is a good chance they will convince you to go and buy a Big Mac, or Best Buy shows you what a great deal they have on DVD’s this weekend, you may go and take a look and buy one. You cannot make someone ‘impulse buy’ shipping. Someone has a package to ship or they don’t. People go to the shipping store they are comfortable with so what we do actually gets people into your store and gets them to learn your name. They might not be shipping a package today, but when they do have one they will be back in your store. Even when the ads are run only at Christmas, most franchisors take ad fund contributions and the actual franchisees never see much local benefit from them. If we collected $15,000 from each franchisee this year and ran campaigns in every market at Christmas with the money, most of our franchisees in rural areas would receive less benefit from those funds, and that’s just not fair. The reason for this is the difference in both station availability and differing costs among markets.
To run a TV ad on a large station in Los Angeles for instance
would cost far more than running the same ad in Oneonta, Alabama and the ad in Los Angeles will produce far more business for that franchisee, so why should the Oneonta franchisee pay the same as the Los Angeles franchisee? We say, he shouldn’t. Our goal is to leave the money in your pocket, and let you decide what to do with it. If you can promote yourself through community events and promotions that cost very little, why spend tens of thousands of dollars on an already saturated advertising medium such as a newspaper? If you do want to do traditional advertising we produce the ad templates and customized ads for you at our expense, and you decide where to run them at your expense.
Another little secret the franchisor community doesn’t want you to know is ad funds are very good for cash flow. If our competitors each collect $1,000,000 a year in ad funds, those ad funds find their way into general revenue available for the franchisor to use for whatever they like until they decide to spend it on advertising. Our competitors also use ad funds to sell franchises which we think is completely wrong. Franchisors are in the business of selling franchises and shouldn’t be paying for the growth of their business off the backs of their franchisees' marketing dollars.
Not at all. In the past our focus has been on providing artwork for print ads and ideas for many of our community based events. While we still actively suggest using these resources due to their effectiveness, we also understand that much has changed in the 20+ years we have been franchising. That is why we've partnered with the web based marketing gurus at Chatmeter to help us ensure our locations show up prominently within search engines. They have also been providing us with multi-platform social media tools to save hours of posting on the various sites. Couple that with our catalog of pre-sized and branded media and you will find promoting your store a minor task instead of a full time job.
First of all, you get a much better chance of succeeding, which is priceless. Approximately 90% of small businesses fail in the first couple of years for a variety of reasons. A small fraction of franchised small businesses suffer the same fate. The success rate is much better due to the training, support and the constant flow of new money-making and money-saving ideas shared by the franchisor and the franchisee.
We can save you from the years of fumbling and growing pains, and can teach you time-saving and sanity-saving techniques, give you apps to use and procedures to follow that we have developed by owning and operating our own shipping stores. We know what it takes to run a successful shipping business from first-hand experience. We hold your hand until you are comfortable with being a bit more independent. Don't worry though, even after you are a shipping veteran we will still be just a phone call or email away, should you need us! For the $15,000 franchise fee you get the knowledge to start business with the experience to make it a success. You also get the license to our great name and corporate identity which is rapidly gaining public recognition.
There is a lot to know! But you don’t have to learn the shipping business the hard way. We make it easy. We’ll teach you how to use our software, how to calculate shipping rates based on dimensions, weight, destination zip codes, speed of travel required, insurance coverage desired and carrier preference, common problems that may occur with customers or carriers
and how best to deal with them, how to get competitors to be your best source of customers, bookkeeping, setting up accounts for your customers, advertising tips, ways to cultivate business that will feed your shipping store, and much, much more. During your week of training in Florida, you will spend around 40 hours between taking various classes in a classroom setting, taking competency exams, and doing hands-on training (under our supervision and constant direction) to test your knowledge and to hone your skills in preparation for serving your customers.
As part of a chain like Goin’ Postal you also benefit from the constant flow of great ideas we receive from our franchisees. You will also be joining a community of franchisees to share your experiences with. Not surprisingly you will find that we are stronger while standing together than apart.
Also, a big reason for buying a franchise is not being a mom and pop store as they are often the targets of big businesses. When WalMart comes to town it doesn’t make more people buy clothes, it takes the market away from the local clothing retailer. The same goes for tax franchises, tire shops, pharmacies, shipping stores, and other ‘on-demand’ businesses. The small independent store owner cannot compete with the prices, appearance, standardized service, or organized system that the economy of scale brings to a big chain. Thankfully, Goin' Postal gives you the tools to compete while still allowing you to be an entrepreneur.
We know what works, and more importantly, what doesn’t work. If you follow our system and listen to us, you WILL save $15,000 in your first 12 months on advertising and other purchases that don’t work! We are smart business people, and even we had to figure certain things out the hard way, but you won’t have to. After the first year with us, you would have invested less money in your store than if you hadn’t purchased a franchise!
The primary reason for our low cost is that we spent years on end working hard for other people. We knew that we were smart and hard-working, and we knew we could find a better way to make a decent living and to enjoy our lives again. We created Goin’ Postal, and when we saw how well we were doing with our first store, we decided that we needed to start franchising so that we could teach “regular people” like us how to be financially independent. Everyone deserves a shot at the “American Dream” if they are willing to work for it so we knew we had to keep the initial investment low. We have also studied the market and any shipping and packaging store, whether it’s a major chain shipping store or an independent mom-and-pop store, has about the same resale price which is based on sales, not the name. Generally, resale prices for successful stores are around an average of $140k. Why would you spend upwards of $200,000 or more on business that will probably always be worth less than you invested? With a $200,000 franchise, you are just buying a very expensive job for the ultimate benefit of the franchisor and parent company. Our opinion is that our way is better. At GP Brands, we show you how to set up and operate your shipping store for the smallest investment possible, and after the first year you should be in the black with a business that is worth far more than you invested to set it up.
We save you the most money by having you go directly to the source for most of your materials and supplies. Instead of us selling you boxes that are marked up 100% before you get your hands on them, you go directly to our suppliers and order them at the same price we would pay. Instead of buying an overpriced copier or fax machine from us, you go directly to our supplier and guess what, pay the same price we do! In rare circumstances you will see us being the middle man in a transaction. This would only occur if we found that doing so provided a benefit for you.
Also, by keeping our initial investment low, we have ABSOLUTELY no competition and are expanding rapidly. We are continually signing up new franchisees that were already in negotiations with the other large shipping chains, and then they discovered Goin’ Postal.
We don’t use franchise brokers. We advertise our franchises online and through word of mouth. If a franchisor pays a broker $15,000 for pushing you into their franchise, that money has to come from somewhere, and that means it’s coming out of a franchisee's pocket. We let our franchisees success sell our franchises. Also, as we charge far less than other franchisors, those exact same brokers will never sell a Goin’ Postal franchise if they have the opportunity to sell a far more expensive franchise. If they can get a third of $30,000 or a third of $15,000 for the same amount of work, where will they direct your wallet? We actually received a call from a broker recently who said that he would like to introduce his friend as a potential franchisee as he wanted what was best for him, but that he would never have called us if it was a regular customer since he’d make far more money by selling him a franchise other than Goin’ Postal. At least he was honest! That franchisee is now one of our happiest, most successful store owners!
We also keep our own corporate overhead down. You don't get to be the low-cost leader in an industry without being thrifty. We know that our low-cost model is one key factor that put us on the map. As a team we have always recognized that every expense must be paid for from franchisee provided revenue. With that being said, you can see how wasteful spending could run the risk of increasing cost and allowing others to come in and under cut us. As you can imagine this is not something that we would ever allow.
True. If you want to get a store open for around $48,865 and you want it to look like a competitor’s $200,000 store, it’s going to take some effort on your part using our help and advice. Instead of sitting back and waiting for someone to hand you the keys to your new store, you’ll be setting up your store with our direction, guidance, and assistance. We figure that if it takes you 6 weeks to do this and you save yourself $150,000 dollars
in the process, then it’s as good as paying yourself $100,000 a month! Also, we encourage our store owners to be self-motivated go-getters, as folks who embrace new experiences with gusto and who expend some elbow grease to attain their goals are the ones who are far more likely to succeed.
We hear that all the time…and there is no catch! Really! It’s a simple equation: your hard work = money in your pocket. Make no mistake…Goin’ Postal is not a get-rich quick scheme, it’s a business. You will definitely have to expend some serious elbow grease, study the materials that we provide for you, participate in training, read our continuing education notices and utilize our refresher exams and the Operations Manual, follow our guidelines and rules, get involved in your community, advertise, sparkle as you serve your customers, and yes, you will surely work harder than you ever have before…but the income that you will earn for yourself and your family will be all the more meaningful because it will be generated by your hard work in YOUR business. Just call or visit
any of our existing franchisees and they’ll tell you straight-up that they too thought Goin’ Postal must be too good to be true…but then they visited us in Florida (just to make sure that we were real people with a real company!), they contacted our franchisees, they’ve been in business as Goin’ Postal store owners for some time now, and they are very happy with the way that we do business, the way that their stores are performing, and the support and encouragement that we provide for them. Seeing is believing, so we encourage you to come visit us at our headquarters in Zephyrhills, Florida or to visit any of our franchisees’ stores nationwide.
You are welcome to pay by credit card, cash or check, whichever is most convenient for you. You may pay for your point of sale system with a credit card or a check when you sign up as a franchisee.
Unlike most franchise license terms which typically expire after 10 years, our term is valid for 15 years. Should this policy change in the future, all current stores will remain under the policy in effect when they opened. There is no charge to renew your franchise for an additional 15 years.
Once we receive your initial franchise fee you are supplied with a large amount of proprietary information that we have taken several years to develop. For this reason once you have signed your franchise documents you are bound to the non-competition agreements until the end of the term. Should you decide that you would like to sell your franchise, we are always happy to help in finding a suitable buyer. This is also necessary due to the fact that we provide you with a protected territory as soon as we receive your franchise agreement, and as a result, we turn away any other parties who are interested in your location.
With our initial set up package we will hold your hand through every step of setting up your business, including:
License to use the Goin’ Postal name and corporate identity as a DBA.
You will be licensed to use the Goin’ Postal trademarks and the corporate identity.
Location assistance: We ask that you send photos and descriptions of several locations that you are interested in pursuing as potential sites for your store. Be sure to include information about square footage, parking, traffic patterns, and nearby businesses. We will help you to choose the best one, but the final decision will be up to you.
Equipment purchasing and training: We know what you need, and we’ll teach you how to use it!
Store Layout, design and construction consultation: We contract with a vendor to provide you with a 3D rendering of your location with a custom proposed layout.
Training, training, and more training. Part of the set-up package is our intensive training program at our Shipping Store University. You will visit our headquarters and main store in Florida, and will train in both a classroom environment and then by serving customers alongside us.
We will teach you EVERYTHING in one week from network set-up to customer service to processing packages, and more. When you are ready to open your Goin’ Postal store you will also have one of our representatives on-site to do refresher training, to assist you in serving your customers, and to help with your store set-up.
Computer system design and training: Shipping is all about computers and software. Our techs are superb and very helpful.
Store management training: Anyone can open a store, but staying in business is another thing. We’ll be here for you!
Phone support for your business. We will never leave you out on your own. We are here to help.
The Goin' Postal Store Set-Up Manual and New Franchisee Primer is our very own useful step-by-step guidebook that will help you to navigate the waters of setting up your store and learning the ropes. Our Operations Manual is an invaluable collection of guidelines and training information that covers the operation of your entire business. We will keep your manual up-to-date as we improve upon it by making it available on the owners’ section of the website.
Our training will cover both the business and practical sides of owning and operating your own shipping store. You will also get a priority toll free number to call when you have any questions. You will do a week of mandatory training at our headquarters in Zephyrhills. You will pay for your own lodging, transportation, and meals during that time. We then send a representative to your store to help you put the finishing touches on your shop, to do a little refresher training if you feel that you might like some, and to open your doors with you for the first few days. You will be responsible for the representative’s lodging, meal allowances and transportation, but our representatives travel in the least expensive manner possible and only utilize economy transport and economy lodging. We want you to get started for the least amount of money possible, so that you can see a return on your investment as quickly as possible! We are all about saving you money, and helping you to make money We have had many carrier representatives remark that we have the best-trained franchisees, and we’re very proud of that standard of excellence!
Computer Setup, configuration, and initial problem diagnosis
Customer Service
Point Of Sale Training
Proper Packaging as Outlined by Each of the Carriers
Calculation of Shipping Rates Based on Dimensions, Destination Zip codes and Weights
Freight Truck Booking
Packaging & Box Making
Business Expansion & Idea Building
We provide a wealth of continuing education materials on the Owners’ Section of the website. These c.e. materials are constantly updated to provide you with the latest the industry has to offer. Manual updates, video tutorials, as well as other carrier provided resources are available to all franchisees, 24 hours a day via the restricted Owners’ Section. Franchisees are encouraged to utilize these materials themselves, and to use them to train their employees. GP Brands also provides a standing
offer for any franchisee to return to training in Florida, at no cost (the franchisee pays his/her own travel expenses, lodging, meals, etc.) for the duration of the contract term. GP Brands also sends out all-franchisee email newsletters that contain valuable updates, notices and tidbits of information, and encourages the franchisees to stay informed by visiting the carriers’ websites on a regular basis to stay up-to-date with the latest rules, regulations, and developments in the shipping industry.
Instead of charging everyone a 2 – 3% co-op advertising fund like the majority of franchises and spending the money on massive national, regional and local campaigns that may not help the individual store owner directly, we will personally cover the cost of producing TV and radio ads which will be available to all store owners free of charge to run in their own markets at their own discretion. Generally when you take a look at most franchises and their their ad funds, they do very little to promote an individual store so we prefer to leave the money in your pocket and let you spend it the way you feel is right for your situation.
As part of our business history, we operated a full-service advertising agency which catered to a multitude of international clients. We have carried over this experience to be able to control our own advertising look and feel for Goin’ Postal, and have done so with a very small budget.
All advertising materials will be available to you free of charge via the website where you can download print ad templates, business card
templates, postcard layouts, flyer layouts, etc. (which you can then pay your local newspapers to run or you can Xerox copies of), and in the future, TV and radio commercials will also be available.
Starting a business is all about legwork to promote your business, not throwing money at advertising companies. While TV, print, and radio advertising is a great way to promote your business, a more cost-effective method is distributing flyers at events and parking lots (with permission, of course!), and even better than that…is making certain that you are an active member of your community, and doing creative and inexpensive celebrations and promotions at your store. We also teach our franchisees that the very best advertisement in the world is free…a happy customer. Treat all of your customers like gold, and you will be amazed at how many referrals you will receive. We are thrilled and proud to say that THIS is what built our business to the level it is at today.