Bridgette Waller is pictured in her Fullerton, Calif. Xpress Ship & Notary store, which she purchased in 1994. (PRNewsFoto/Platinum Shield Association) FULLERTON, CA UNITED STATES

  Former MBE Advertising Spokesperson Struggles to Fight Breast Cancer and
                           United Parcel Service

    FULLERTON, Calif., Feb. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- When Bridgette Waller opened
her Mail Boxes, Etc. (MBE) franchise here 14 years ago, she was so
successful that the company made her the star of a television commercial
complete with a tagline, "Can your mailbox do that?"

    (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080226/LATU081)

    Waller's first years as a Mail Boxes Etc. franchisee were so profitable
that she won numerous company awards and was even featured in an article in
Black Enterprise Magazine. But when UPS (NYSE: UPS) bought Mail Boxes Etc.
in 2001, the financial bubble burst for Waller. The sales and profits for
her once successful store were never to return, as UPS abandoned the
profitable MBE franchise brand.

    "At first UPS promised us that a new business model would realize
improved sales and profits for everyone," said Waller. "But it soon became
clear to all of us that the only ones in this new relationship to make
money would be UPS."

    The years following the acquisition by UPS continued to be difficult
financial ones for Waller.

    When her franchise agreement expired in 2006, UPS refused to allow her
to renew as an MBE despite such renewal being specifically allowed in her
franchise agreement. The only option UPS gave her was to convert to the
largely unprofitable UPS Store brand or go out of business. Therefore, she
made the painful decision to remain in business as the independent "Xpress
Ship & Notary." Then she received a phone call from her doctor that changed
her life forever. Waller was diagnosed with breast cancer!

    "I am an optimistic person by nature," said Waller. "But when I was
forced to go independent it was like starting all over again. I lost 14
years of branding as a Mail Boxes Etc. store and overnight my customers
were confused. They thought I had gone out of business as I had to create a
new business I named Xpress Ship & Notary, located at 215 East Orangethorpe
Blvd., Fullerton. With my breast cancer diagnosis coupled with the forced
business change -- I realized I was faced with two of the most serious
challenges of my life."

    Going independent and battling cancer together has made the last two
years difficult ones for Waller and her family. "We have cashed in our
savings, sold property and a car, and we have refinanced our home in an
effort to keep the business operating," she added.

    Waller is one of 130 former or current MBE franchisees who organized as
the Platinum Shield Association (PSA) in 2003 and filed suit against UPS
for alleged illegal actions and intentionally misleading statements by the
shipping giant. That lawsuit, now in Los Angeles Superior Court, gives
Waller and her fellow PSA members hope that they will soon have their day
in court to challenge UPS' action. Waller pointed out that UPS Store
franchisees won a major court decision last October, when a California
appellate court overturned a lower court and certified their law suit
against UPS as a class action.

    At present there are four lawsuits filed against UPS by various store
owner groups across the country based on the forced conversion of the
successful MBE business model to the failed UPS Store model. If successful,
the end result could be the undoing of this conversion of approximately
3,400 UPS Store franchise locations.

    "We know from speaking to other franchisees that are fighting UPS that
this company will pull every bullying tactic in the book to put us out of
business. They filed frivolous TRO's (temporary restraining orders) for
trademark violations in Federal Court. It is the kind of tactic often used
by big business to drain the small businessperson of all their financial
resources so they can't obtain justice in the courts. Unable to face us in
a fair court fight, they rely on dirty tricks. They are totally indifferent
to the pain and suffering that they have inflicted on their franchisees.
Our lives are no more than collateral damage in their drive for more
corporate profit," stated PSA President Howard Spanier.

    Waller remains hopeful, about her personal battle with cancer and about
the potential legal victory over UPS. In the meantime she works long hours
at her store and watches her two sons grow up; her older son is beginning
to think about college and recently she took him to California State
University - San Jose, to visit the campus and see where Waller attended
college in the late 1970s.

    "It was great seeing the school through his eyes," she said, "and my
greatest hope is to be able to afford to send my sons to college and see
them graduate."

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