Mailboxes Etc. closing?

[Pogo]

Just heard a rumor that the Mailboxes Etc. store in San Antonio is closing. Anything to this?

[johanson]

I haven't heard anything about that. But it became so expensive that many of us who used to use it found other, more economical alternatives.

[Felicity]

Yes, it's true. I heard that today when I was in the Ishop mail center in Centro Laguna, confirmed by the guy behind the counter who used to work at Mailboxes. His name is Jaime, I think.

[phxfunguy]

Well, they've still been handing out renewal notices for rent as late as last Thursday when I paid mine in full for a year to get the 14 month deal. Will need to confirm at MBE itself today first and find out if the mail will be taken over by anyone else here. Isn't ISHOP part of the same system or owner? The owner of MBE collects the box rent in US funds by check in his own name. If this is true I'll be skeptical and assume the only way to get a "refund" would be to put a stop payment on the check.

[border crosser]

Well, I stopped in to check my mail yesterday and they have a big banner saying that they will be closing as of March 15! They have a English speaking fellow there who explained that the only effect it will have on us is that we will now pick up our mail at the IShop Mail Center at the Laguna Mall (opposite Walmart). He told me that we should continue to pick up our mail at the usual location until March 15. He also said that we would have a box at the new place. The good news is that they will continue to honor our contracts until they expire and we do not have to go through an address change.

[Fred Habacht]

When we switched to the ISHOP location our address remained the same...our box number never changed....what we got was the same people that used to be at the MBE location and a nicer location. We did lose some serious things though:

1. The "jerk" that kept trying to sell us new wipers for our new car!

2. Terrible parking on a narrow street .

3. Beggars

4. Car wash people.

[phxfunguy]

That's good to hear. It makes sense to consolidate the two operations. It was illogical that they'd just dump all those customers and leave us high and dry, so getting the full story with the rumor wins out.

Later on I spoke to the owner today who explained to me that numerous factors led to his negotiating a deal with IShop to move his MBE customers over there so he could close (the two operations are not related other than both are MBE franchises from different time frames)...competition/pricing, IShop's direct availability of the Laredo forwarding address (they own it,) the faster customs clearance in Nuevo Laredo, ability to reserve the same box numbers there for the existing MBE customers so no address changes would be needed, and that his experienced employees would be hired at IShop.

The main MBE structure had changed so their franchises would have to get mail through their Miami processing center (so a new address for all customers there,) the mail would have to be flown at a greater expense to San Luis Potosí for customs clearance, and trucked out from there. The Laredo address allows faster customs clearance and direct delivery to Nuevo Laredo where they have this previous experience and relationship with MBE/IShop and then it's trucked out from there. He had actually worked this transition out over several months starting with reserving all the active box numbers from his store at IShop so no one would have to do another address change. He had been frustrated with three different address changes over the past few years as well. They will honor all the current contracts and renewals to their completion.

The only thing we'll have to do is get a new key for the new box over at IShop as the box fixtures do not physically transfer. They'll be moving all the mail out on Sunday March 15 for the move, so clearing out your box on Saturday the 14th would help him out. I'm sure he'd also appreciate the keys back as well.