| Apparently these 2 complementary departments | | | | From a marketing point-of-view, Mailboxes Etc. |
| should support one another to help the | | | | would have been the perfect second brand for |
| development of the company, but a sure thing | | | | UPS. But obviously, management won the battle in |
| that history taught us is that many times | | | | the boardroom on this one. |
| Management tripped on the Marketing's | | | | Another example of bad decisions when it comes |
| department tail and caused many problems for a | | | | to management, was the similar buy out of |
| lot of small companies and corporations as well. | | | | Kinko's chain stores by FedEX. FedEx bought |
| One good example of such a goof would be the | | | | Kinko's mainly as a reaction to UPS buying |
| US shipping company UPS. Back in 2003, the UPS | | | | Mailboxes Etc. FedEx feared losing drop locations |
| Store hopes to introduce customers to its | | | | and losing face against the competition. Because |
| expanded services which include a myriad of | | | | otherwise buying Kinko's makes little sense from |
| things from document & brochure printing to | | | | an operational standpoint for FedEx. The printing |
| office supplies, a $30 million campaign. All this | | | | business is quite different from the air cargo |
| happened as a result of the Mail Boxes Etx. buy | | | | business. |
| off. At first it seemed like a good move for the | | | | And changing the name from Kinko's to FedEx |
| UPS since Mail Boxes Etc. was a real hit those | | | | Office makes absolutely no sense at all. FedEx |
| days which had only one focus: mailing. hey | | | | stands for overnight packages what in the heck |
| offered post boxes, shipping services and supplies. | | | | does that have to do with printing? Most people |
| Of course, the most important part of that | | | | would never think to go to FedEx for help for |
| business was UPS packages and probably the | | | | signs, brochures, business cards, stationery or |
| reason the UPS company felt the need to buy | | | | printing needs. People think hey we need to go to |
| the Mailboxes chain. But while it makes sense for | | | | Kinko's, oh yeah you know that place that used |
| UPS to own Mailboxes Etc., it doesn't make sense | | | | to be Kinko's but they have the FedEx name on |
| to change the name to the UPS Store. The | | | | now. |
| problem, of course, is that consumers don't think | | | | Today, both UPS and FedEx stores are a mess |
| about going to a UPS Store to do anything | | | | with names that don't make sense. and driven by |
| except to ship something, but while it makes | | | | ego and the belief that having your brand name in |
| sense for UPS to own Mailboxes Etc., it doesn't | | | | more places is better. Having your brand name on |
| make sense to change the name to the UPS | | | | the same thing in more places is good. Having |
| Store. More importantly there was no need to | | | | your brand name on different things in more |
| change the name. Mailboxes Etc. was perceived as | | | | places is not good. |
| authentic, original and the pioneer in the category. | | | | |