FRANCHISE·WATCH·DESK

Verified — real FDD extraction

SBA-eligible · directory code S1788 since 2017

THE UPS STORE NON-TRADITIONAL

Retail & Products · independent · est. —

The UPS Store (non-traditional) places UPS Store services inside host locations such as universities, airports, hotels, or large stores rather than in a standalone retail center. It offers shipping, packing, printing, and mailbox services to that location's traffic. A franchisee runs the service counter within the host site.

THE UPS STORE NON-TRADITIONAL net unit count grew +9.3% from 20212025 per its FDD Item 20.

New to franchising? Start here

A franchise is a business where you (the franchisee) pay a company (the franchisor) for the right to open and run a location using their brand and system — think a local Anytime Fitness or Taco John's owned by a small-business owner, not the corporation.

Before you can buy in, U.S. law requires the franchisor to give you a Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) — a long legal filing covering its fees, finances, and history. The numbers on this page come straight from that document:

  • Franchise fee — the one-time cost to buy in.
  • Royalty — the ongoing cut of your sales you pay the franchisor.
  • Item 20 — how many locations opened and closed, the basis for our verdict (from Proven & strong down to Distressed — or Too new to judge).

The verdict

Proven & steady

Distress

0
STABLE

A real track record with an unremarkable region of the ledger: neither the growth nor the exits stand out, for better or worse. The standout in the record: owners who leave mostly sell rather than fail.

Exit rate · latest year

0.9%

vs 1.9% across 15 retail & products systems

Cost to open

$114K–$413K

Item 7 total investment range

SBA loan defaults

7.2%

vs 14.8% avg across rated brands

Behind the verdict

the record, factor by factor · Item 20

hi-1.0.0
Net unit growth35%

3-yr trend · Item 20 Table 1

Fair
Exit quality25%

terminations + ceased-ops vs. all exits · Table 3

Strong
Transfer / churn15%

transfers vs. base · Table 3

Fair
Promise-keeping10%

actual vs. projected openings · Table 5

Strong
Transparency15%

Item 19 disclosure + completeness

Weak

Systemwide units

2021–2025

+9.3%
5,03720215,14020225,23420235,36520245,5032025

Survival record

FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year

In fiscal 2025, 49 of 5,350 franchised outlets left the system — a 0.9% annualized exit rate, vs 1.9% across 15 retail & products systems. Not every exit is a failure — but this is the measurable floor.

Show the outlet tables
Status (FTC)20212022202320242025
Outlets at start4,9585,0375,1405,2345,365
Opened112144141192187
Transfers356404340268237
Terminations9811115
Non-renewals23430
Reacquired by franchisor020131
Ceased — other reasons2230324744
Outlets at end5,0375,1405,2345,3655,503
Net change+79+103+94+131+138

The lender's view

SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present

Banks have made 2,287 SBA-backed loans to THE UPS STORE NON-TRADITIONAL franchisees since 2003. Of the 1,146 that have resolved, 7.2% were charged off (defaulted) rather than paid in full, versus 14.8% across 576 rated brands.

Charge-off rate

7.2%

83 of 1146 resolved defaulted

Loss given default

68.0%

avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $

Expected loss

4.9%

default rate × loss severity

Avg. loan · FY2020+

$375,628

what recent franchisees borrowed

Median time to default

58 mo

approval → charge-off, defaulted loans

Lenders · FY21+ vs FY16–20

198 vs 111

distinct banks still lending

Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%)

10'031114152222305000'142002000800'24

SOURCE: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA LOAN DATA (DATA.SBA.GOV), FY1991–PRESENT · MATCHED TO THE UPS STORE NON-TRADITIONAL BY FRANCHISE NAME · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL

The owner's side of the deal

FDD × federal loan record

Who finances it

the Huntington National Bank

10.3% of this brand's loans

That lender charges off 10.2% of its loans to other franchise brands, vs 14.8% nationally.

Who buys it

66.3%

first-time franchise owners

The rest already owned at least one other franchise. Across the corpus, brands bought mostly by repeat operators charge off at roughly 10% versus 17% for brands sold mostly to newcomers.

Does experience help here?

+0.6pp

multi-unit vs single-unit owners

Owners of multiple units default at 7.5%; single-unit owners at 6.9%.

Computed from 2,287 SBA 7(a)/504 loans to THE UPS STORE NON-TRADITIONAL franchisees joined to the brand's own FDD. Debt service assumes level amortization at the average disclosed term and rate. A lender's rate excludes its loans to this brand, so it reads the lender, not the brand.

What it costs — and what it drags

FDD Items 5–7 · fees, investment, royalty

Buying in means a $40K franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $114K–$413K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes no earnings claim (Item 19) — ask current and former franchisees for real numbers.

To open (Item 7)

$114K–$413K

all-in investment range

Franchise fee (Item 5)

$40K

upfront, one-time

Royalty (Item 6)

5%

of sales, ongoing

If a unit does this in annual sales…$1M/yr

Your figure — this brand discloses no Item 19 earnings; validate with current & former owners.

Royalty you'd pay / yr

$50K

5% of sales, before profit

Over a 10-yr term

$500K

royalties alone, excl. ad fund

This is not profit. It's the only money the FDD actually pins down — what you put in, and the royalty you owe on every dollar of sales. Your real take-home depends on labor, rent, food cost, and ramp-to-breakeven, none of which any FDD discloses.

Build a real pro-forma for THE UPS STORE NON-TRADITIONAL with an independent CPA

Modeled risk

FDD Risk Score · modeled from the public record

Lower risk

Modeled from the public record, this brand looks safer than 91% of systems we score.

Risk percentile

9 / 100

Measured

Modeled SBA charge-off

7.1%

Observed SBA charge-off

7.2%

Top drivers: System size (log units) (lowers) · Single-lender dependence (raises) · Item 3 litigation (log) (lowers) · Item 20 exit rate (lowers). 50+ resolved loans and complete disclosure data — the score is checkable against the brand's observed rate. A linear scorecard built from this brand's own disclosure figures plus the federal loan record behind its franchisees; full spec and cross-validated accuracy on the methodology page. A score is context, not a verdict.

Distress signals

news-sourced · bankruptcies, closures, lawsuits

No recent closures, bankruptcies, or major lawsuits found in the news for THE UPS STORE NON-TRADITIONAL. That's a good sign — but it reflects news coverage, not a guarantee.

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THE UPS STORE NON-TRADITIONAL franchise questions, answered from the filings

What percentage of THE UPS STORE NON-TRADITIONAL franchises closed last year?

In THE UPS STORE NON-TRADITIONAL's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2025), 49 of 5,350 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 0.9% — compared with 1.9% across 15 retail & products systems tracked here. That counts terminations, non-renewals, and "ceased operations — other reasons." There is no official failure rate, and not every exit is a failure, but this is the measurable floor.

How much does a THE UPS STORE NON-TRADITIONAL franchise cost?

Per THE UPS STORE NON-TRADITIONAL's 2026 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $40K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $114K–$413K (Item 7).

What royalty does THE UPS STORE NON-TRADITIONAL charge?

THE UPS STORE NON-TRADITIONAL charges an ongoing royalty of 5.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2026 FDD.

Does THE UPS STORE NON-TRADITIONAL disclose earnings (Item 19)?

No — THE UPS STORE NON-TRADITIONAL's 2026 FDD makes no financial performance representation in Item 19. That is legal and common, but it means the franchisor publishes no earnings claim; ask current franchisees for real numbers.

How often do SBA loans for THE UPS STORE NON-TRADITIONAL franchises default?

Across 2,287 SBA-backed loans to THE UPS STORE NON-TRADITIONAL franchisees since 2003, 83 of the 1,146 that have resolved were charged off — a 7.2% default rate, versus about 14.8% across all rated franchise brands. This is the lender's-eye view of franchisee failure, drawn from public SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA data and independent of the franchisor's own disclosures.

Is THE UPS STORE NON-TRADITIONAL a good franchise to buy? Health score, exit rate & costs (2026) · Franchise Watch Desk