Mail Boxes Etc. (MBE) is an American-Italian third-party provider of shipping, fulfilment, printing, and marketing services through a network of franchised locations. MBE is an Italian family-owned holding company headquartered in Milan, Italy. It ranks among the world's largest networks of service centres, offering shipping, logistics, printing, marketing, and design services to both businesses and private customers.[1]
Mail Boxes Etc. was founded in the United States in 1980 by Gerald Aul, Pat Senn, and Robert Diais. By the year 2000, MBE had expanded to include 4,000 locations worldwide, including South Korea and Sweden.
MBE operates a network of retail centres providing packing and shipping services, logistics support, communications, and marketing services to both business and private customers.[2] The majority of the centres are owned by franchisees, both individual and master franchisees.
A branch of MBE in Reading, Berkshire.
Acquisition by UPS
In 2001, United Parcel Service (UPS) acquired Mail Boxes Etc., Inc.[3] locations in the United States and Canada. On April 7, 2003, UPS began converting the 3,000 Mail Boxes Etc. locations in the United States and Canada (at the time, nearly 90% of the domestic U.S. network) to The UPS Store and started offering lower UPS direct shipping rates, with an average reduction of around 20%.
These centres remain locally owned and operated, continuing to offer a wide range of services, including packing, shipping, freight, postal services, printing, and business services.[4]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
