Mailbox store ready to move on

One of Southern Nevada 's most successful non-gaming companies is headed out of town. The PostNet International Franchise Corporation, which has had its headquarters in the Las Vegas/Henderson area since its 1993 founding, is scheduled to move its main offices to Colorado this summer.

"We are planning to relocate our headquarters to Denver ," says PostNet co-founder Brian Spindel. "We are planning the relocation for the late part of May, or the early part of June."

PostNet has 950 franchises worldwide, and has just announced a franchise deal in Canada to open up 10-15 PostNet stores in that country by 2006. The company's 36 local franchise stores will be unaffected by the move, according to Spindel. The privately-held PostNet had more than $10 million in revenue for 2004 and projects a 10 percent company growth rate this year, he adds.

"There were a number of reasons," he says. 'We wanted to move to a central location [in the United States ]. I've been here since 1969. Steve (Greenbaum's) family moved here in the 1970s. We wanted a change."

Besides what might be wanderlust on the part of PostNet's founders, Spindel says Denver offered a very comparable alternative to the Las Vegas Valley -- including economic incentives offered by the State of Colorado and by the seller of the building PostNet will own and occupy.

"If was just a great opportunity to purchase a building there [in Denver ]," Spindel explains. "I think it is more of a place where people would expect to find a headquarters for a franchise organization. It's a top ten city."

The new payroll tax of 0.65 percent passed by the 2003 Nevada Legislature wasn't a motivating factor in the move, he contends, but adds that the rapidly rising cost of living in the Las Vegas Valley didn't make Denver an unattractive option to his employees after the decision was made.

"Certainly, Nevada offers one of the most beneficial tax structures in the United States, but with the cost of living, it was pretty much a wash," the co-founder says.

The company headquarters has 26 employees, many of which Spindel says "are not sure yet" about relocating. Those employees range from advertising executives to receptionists and administrative personnel.

"We'll do everything we can to move them up there," he promises, adding that relocation costs were weighed as part of the economic pros and cons of the move for his employees.

PostNet, besides relocating its corporate headquarters, has plenty of other things to keep it hopping. The company's first Canadian "pilot' franchise is set to open in Toronto , Ontario in the next 90 days. PostNet used the "master franchisee" arrangement that has become very popular in international expansion.

In this case, the master franchisee is one entity that licenses the rights to use and operate a PostNet franchise in a foreign country. Those interested in owning franchises in that country buy franchises from the master franchisee, rather than the corporate headquarters. The master franchisee, in turn, works directly with the company headquarters.

Rob Anderson was named PostNet's master franchisee in Canada . He met Spindel and Greenbaum a year and a half ago at a convention held in Canada , and on November 15, 2004 , Anderson officially became PostNet's master franchisee.

Having the right master franchisee can make all the difference when expanding into another country, says Spindel.

"The master licensee allows us to leverage his knowledge of the local market,' he says. "If we had to go in and learn the market ourselves, it could take ten or twenty years."

Canada is an underserved market in terms of postal services, such as digital copy and document services and shipping, according to survey research done by Anderson .

A former vice president of Toronto-based EnTrac Technologies, Anderson himself is from Ontario . PostNet hopes to open 100 stores in Canada over the next 10 years.

"We decided to expand into Canada because we have such momentum in the U.S. right now," says Spindel, who adds that competitor Mail Boxes Etc. has not yet converted its Canadian stores to the UPS brand.

PostNet also operates stores in Angola , Botswana , Brazil , Columbia , Ireland , Japan , the Middle East , Portugal , Puerto Rico , South Africa and Venezuela .