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What are the criteria for The UPS Store® rural franchise program?

We use characteristics such as population size and population density of a geographic area to determine if a market will be considered rural under our franchise offering. Read on to learn more about our commitment to providing exceptional business and printing services to rural markets.

Thank you for your interest in exploring rural franchise opportunities with The UPS Store®!

Rural areas are known for their small-town feel and everyone-knows-everyone culture, making them an excellent market for a The UPS Store® center. At The UPS Store®, our franchise owners pride themselves on building genuine connections with the local communities they serve – regardless of population size. So, if you’re looking to pursue a rural area business opportunity, The UPS Store® might be a great choice for you.

Here are just a few of the benefits of opening a rural franchise with The UPS Store®:

Rural markets are often underserved

Consumers and small business owners in rural markets typically have fewer services available to them than their counterparts living in larger, more urban markets. This is especially true for the kind of business services offered at The UPS Store centers. For business owners in rural markets, simple tasks like shipping packages and printing marketing collateral might require a trip “into town.” When you open a rural franchise location, you set yourself up to act as a one-stop shop for consumers’ and small business owners’ needs in the market.

Less competition

In larger urban markets, consumers typically have a lot more options on which businesses to frequent. Sometimes, even being the best option in an urban market doesn’t guarantee business. Consumers might go with a competitor simply because it’s closer to their home or place of work. In rural markets, every business located in the market is nearby, and there are a lot less of them, which likely means less competition to you.

Deeper connections in the community.

Whether it's their friendly nature or lack of other options, rural customers tend to be very supportive of businesses in their community and of the people who own them. Customers are happy to have the business conveniently in their community, and local governments can be very accommodating and supportive in order to attract and retain businesses located in and serving their small community.

Our criteria for rural franchises

The UPS Store® looks at a variety of market characteristics, such as population size and population density, to determine whether a location will be considered a rural franchise. To find out if your desired market meets our rural franchise criteria, fill out a franchise application and set up an appointment to meet with one of our representatives. During that appointment, our representative will go over more of the details of our rural franchise program. Once a proposed site has been identified, our representative will then work with our real estate department to determine if that site meets our rural franchise program criteria.

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Request more information about franchise rural area business opportunities

Please complete the Information Request form above, and one of our business development managers will reach out to schedule a time to speak with you about our rural franchise program.

Want to learn more?

Find out more about franchising with The UPS Store, Inc. by checking out our available franchise locations; or by learning more about the different types of franchise opportunities and programs we have available.

 
The information on this web page should not be construed as an offer to sell any The UPS Store® franchises. The offer of a franchise can only be made through the delivery of a franchise disclosure document.
 
All information on this web page is qualified by and subject to the disclosures set forth in our franchise disclosure document. None of the information included not this page is meant to contradict or modify any of the disclosures set forth in our franchise disclosure document.
 
To learn more about franchising with The UPS Store® and participate in a live question and answer session, attend one of our weekly webinars.
2023 Entrepreneur's Franchise 500 Top Rated for Veterans badge

We Proudly Support Our Veterans

Participating partners with the VetFran program, The UPS Store offers qualifying veterans $15,000 off their franchise fee to start their new business. To learn more, contact The UPS Store Franchise Development Team.

Entrepreneur's Franchise 500 Ranked #4 in 2023 badge

Ranked for over 30 Consecutive Years

The UPS Store has been ranked #1 in the postal and business services category for over 30 years and remains in the top 5 overall for the seventh consecutive year according to the Franchise 500 list.

Kristin Howard

Franchisee, Michigan

The reason my husband and I decided to go into franchising and specifically with The UPS Store, is the different opportunities we're given with the business. The UPS Store has name recognition as well as opportunities to expand.

Debbie Adams

Franchisee, Kentucky

What I enjoy most about being a The UPS Store owner is working with my customers. We are the solution specialists for our customers.

Jim George

Franchisee, Illinios

My favorite part about The UPS Store network is the camaraderie with other franchisees. Everybody loves to help everybody else. You’re really part of a family.

Greg Murray

Franchisee, Florida

The interesting thing about The UPS Store is that when a customer walks through the door there's an extremely high probability that they're coming there to do something that is important to them. So at the end of the day, what we do for customers is very important and they are trusting that we are going to do it well.

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Mariana Huberman

Franchisee, Washington, D.C.

One of the things that I love about The UPS Store franchise system is that you're not ever in this by yourself. The franchisees of The UPS Store network are great.

Heidi Morris

Franchisee, Colorado

The thing I enjoy most about being a The UPS Store franchisee is I get to get up, go to work and know that I'm helping other business owners succeed in what they're doing.

Bob Brown

Franchisee, Tennessee

Owning a The UPS Store franchise has changed my life because it's finally given me the opportunity to engage my customers and my staff and be able to take real pride in what I do. As a franchisee, we get faced with solving peoples' problems every day and we do everything we possibly can to try to help.

Marie Jensen

Franchisee, Oregon

My favorite thing about The UPS Store is the variety. I love the variety of customers, I love the variety of services; getting to know the customers, meeting their needs, finding out how we can help them accomplish what they need to accomplish and seeing how happy they are. That makes me ecstatic.

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Tad Mollnhauer

Franchisee, Florida

With the products and services that The UPS Store provides we can make a difference in people's lives and that is the best reason for being a The UPS Store owner.

Joy Batchelor

Franchisee, Idaho

What makes being a The UPS Store franchisee worthwhile at the end of the day is the customers. The customers treat us like we're family.

Paul Erchinger

Franchisee, Texas

One nice benefit of owning a The UPS Store franchise for me has been that it gives me the opportunity to be more involved in the community. As I make relationships with others it seems like no matter what the environment is, in one way or another business comes out of that and that's not my objective—it's been a secondary benefit to being involved in the community.

Chris Reminder

Franchisee, Ohio

There are several things that I really enjoy about being a The UPS Store franchisee. First and foremost it allows me to get to know the people in the local community and that is a lot of fun. We get to see people on a regular basis. We get to know their life stories. That's a lot of fun.

Bruce Jones

Franchisee, Kentucky

Since we have joined The UPS Store, our life has changed by just having more time to spend together as a family. We've been very fortunate with the stores that we have and we have a great staff that looks out for our best interest and we look out for theirs.

Lonnie Williams

Franchisee, Oklahoma

What makes The UPS Store so successful is it gives each individual an opportunity to grow with the network and just meet the challenges that are brought to them on a daily basis. Every day gives us a new opportunity to help another person, to help another small business, to answer a question and to solve a problem.

Jeff Graham

Franchisee, Alabama

I love my customers. I love my employees. I love every person, every face that comes into my store. I enjoy every day going into work and I can't see doing anything else for the rest of my life.

Stacie Stigar

Franchisee, Alaska

I think that this franchise is so successful because of all of the resources that are available to us as center owners—we have marketing materials, we have so many different opportunities for help from the home office, and it just really makes for a great franchise.

Don Pollard

Franchisee, New Jersey

I think the thing that makes this franchise successful is a number of things. First of all we have an outstanding system, we have a great product, a great brand, and we're able to attract dynamic people to run these centers and run the business. So I think when you put all that together it really provides for a winning combination.

Mary Ellen Nichols

Franchisee, Tennessee

The thing I love about the franchise is that you have the UPS name backing you but yet you also have the autonomy to make your own decisions to promote.

Laura Griffin

Franchisee, Florida

In the eight short months I've owned my The UPS Store it has really changed my life. I've gone from being an employee of someone else to being an employer of my associates. It's a big responsibility but it's exciting every day.

Sandy Scandrett

Franchisee, Wisconsin

Being a The UPS Store franchisee has improved every aspect of my life. It's very rewarding financially, professionally, and emotionally. I have a large number of regular customers who are really, really appreciative of everything we do.

Kristie Robison

Franchisee, Alabama

I would say owning a The UPS Store location has changed my life to where I have more time and flexibility. In owning your own business you get your store up and running and you get employees that you can trust that are going to help keep your store running. This allows me to attend my two boys' ball games and also travel and do things with them so it has really changed my life for the better.