If you want to leverage your brand, you need to maintain the promise!

The other day I received a UPS envelope that was addressed to the previous occupant my house.  Thinking that the envelope must be important to the previous owner, I took it to the local UPS Store in the hopes that they could forward it to the correct address which I did not know.  When I talked to the clerk behind the counter he said that there was nothing that they could do since they did not have the new address.  I told him that he should call the sender and try and resolve the issue.  At this point the manager of the store came by and said that they had no affiliation with the main UPS company.  If I left the package at his store, he would just have it re-delivered to my address.  He then gave me an 800 number to call and said I should deal with UPS directly and they may send a truck out to pick up the package.

At this point I started to get frustrated.  A customer of UPS had sent an envelope to the wrong address and the recipient notified a division of UPS that there was a problem.  The division then told me the that I was responsible for making sure that the envelope got back to the intended recipient.

Here is where I have a problem.  I trust the UPS brand.  UPS is a worldwide company that has a history of delivering packages around the world and I have used their service many times in the past.  When they put their name to a store, I instantly apply the trust in the parent brand to the store.  However, when something goes wrong, I expect the same level of service from the local store carrying the UPS name as I do from the parent company.  I feel that the UPS store is trying to take advantage of the UPS brand without taking on the responsibility that comes with the brand.  This undermines both my confidence in the UPS store and the parent UPS company.  The worst part is that this problem does not concern me.  The sender made a mistake and now it is up to me to fix it.

A little background on the UPS store.  According to the website, "The UPS Store, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of United Parcel Service (“UPS”) of America, Inc., is the world’s largest franchisor of retail shipping, postal, printing and business service centers...In 2001, UPS acquired Mail Boxes Etc., Inc. In 2003, the two companies introduced The UPS Store brand. On April 7, 2003, approximately 3,000 Mail Boxes Etc. locations in the United States (at the time, nearly 90% of the domestic U.S. network) re-branded as The UPS Store and began offering lower (around 20% on average) UPS-direct shipping rates. In 2012, Mail Boxes Etc., Inc. became The UPS Store, Inc. The centers remain locally owned and operated..."

In my opinion, I don't see why a company should be able to take advantage of the strength of a brand and then hide under the excuse of being a franchise when there is a problem.  In my mind, you are all one company.  If that is not the case then let me know and I will no longer apply the same trust to the UPS Stores as I do to the parent UPS company.