MINUTEMAN PRESS Franchise Complaints

26 thoughts on “MINUTEMAN PRESS Franchise Complaints”

• I have been a franchise owner for over 6 years. While the franchise may not be perfect I have enough experience to know that the people who are “unhappy” are most likely the franchise owners either 1) were terrible sales people or 2) had no idea how to run a business or BOTH. Yes it is hard work and no it is not a job where you sit at your desk and play FreeCell all day. You have to work at and keep working at it. I think the SBA failure rate might have more to do with the SBA approving loans than it has to do with the Franchise. Just my experience.

• Thanks for your pearls of wisdom! Obviously, franchisees are just mere individuals who have failed in their past experiences this is why they qualified for franchising RIGHT!

  I love it when someone who has been successful as a franchisee gets on here and tells others what made them fail. Successful franchisees know so much more about franchising than any of us.

  What successful franchisees need to understand is failed franchisees had to meet the same requirements as successful franchisees to become a franchisee. Put yourself in a failed franchisees shoes. They took a risk just like you.

  Now ask yourself why someone would search for a way to warn others about a bad experience in which they lost their life savings?

• Sometimes a franchisee does what they are “supposed to”, work hard, get involved, and trust that the franchise system — they pay for — will work, and it does not. Sometimes it is possible that a franchise owner takes the word of a franshisor, and maybe should not have. MMPI was rightfully prosecuted by the Federal Trade Commission for basically “over-stepping”. You should be aware of that. And Todd and Belinda…shame on you. Search FTC and Minuteman Press and see what you think. Sometimes is it not possible that a franchise sales person could not take more than they give back?

• My experience as a minuteman franchisee has been very good.Icame from a job makeing 45000$ ayear todayI take home over 2ooooo$ work 4-5 days a week.Due your homework talk to other franchise owners preferablely face to face. compare your self to them.Its work but the system they give you works.If you sit in your store waiting for buisness it will take you a long time.What Ive seen with unhappy owners is they sit in there stores and complain wating for someone todue the work.

• Stop the being a cry baby
  and go to work!

• I went to minuteman franchise corp website Wow what great insiteful owner discussion of what it’s like to own a minuteman shop. Wow quality people talking straight up about what a exceptionally great company minuteman is .its obvious mr Duffy should find a job and work with supervision and guidance .

• Would like to speak to someone about doing business in St. Louis with any other minuteman press than,
  Minuteman Press,
  3635 Forest Park Ave.
  St. Louis, Mo. 63108*USA.

  [redacted]

• Allen Bortz @ Minuteman Press (downtown) 3635 Forest Park Ave. St. Louis, Mo. 63108 has Lied, Cheated and Stolen from Cancer Survivors and People on Disability for over $100,000.00. This type of horrible business practices should not be tolerated by anyone in the Business & Community World. Note: I have done business with Minuteman Press my whole life. No other Minuteman Press is like this one person. It Is A Shame That One Person Can Spoil The Whole Bunch. Why this community, franchise and government does not step in and deport this person just atrocious me.

• What is wrong this company~?.. Minuteman Press Corp. Office gives the OK, that people from a another country can come in Steal & Lie to people that are Cancer Survivors and on Disability.. As long as they get their corp. greed money, anyone can do anything they please. This is truly a sad day when Minuteman Press Corp. Offices just care about their own well being. Truly the Corp. Offices of Minuteman Press and the people they are allowed to do this to happen to Americans is really shameful. The Corp. Minuteman Offices should and will pay dearly for their actions…

• The minuteman press business model is already dead. There is no place for such a business in this era. It will disappear sooner than what MMP corporate thinks.

  The large printing companies are taking over with their friend called TECHNOLOGY. Today, large printers like 4Over are starting to kill the minuteman press concept or business model, with offerings like NCR forms, short run digital envelopes, announcements printed digitally (A7, A2, etc. etc.) with very nice papers and quick turn around products, business cards, flyers, mailing, EDDM, etc. All at better costs than in-house production and printed with much better quality than a stupid Xerox or Konica glorified copier (called by that part of the industry “digital presses”)

  That was the only “advantage” or justification for that business model to exist. Customers would go to the local MMP and get items like those, printed quickly (but with huge margins, 60% to 70%). Well, today anyone with some expertise in printing or graphic design can have a “virtual printing company” outsource everything, forget about overhead, royalties, leases, employees, etc. and focus only on acquiring customers.

  That’s the business model of today. The only one that will survive in the next 5 years. minuteman press is a scam, paying peanut salaries and hiring monkeys. Field reps that are more like thieves who steal files and sell them to their competitors and leave their new “customers” (owners) eating shit while “learning” about the business.

  Their business is to rotate stores and resell them as many times per year as they can. So if you go broke, that feeds their business. Now, don’t forget, a true entrepreneur has to learn or know how to sell and how to acquire customers. And has to work hard and figure out the way to make money. No matter what business. And is not like these clowns didn’t tell you in their franchise agreement what they will do. You signed on the agreement, nobody forced you… Sorry to read the stories above.

• Ok.. it’s been 2 years now, you let your Alan Bortz @ Minuteman Press, 3635 Forest Park Ave. St, Louis ,Mo. to LIe & Steal from people that are Cancer Survivors & on Disability.. What is wrong with this Corp. Office~? I would guess, if he goes to jail the rest of his life, you will get the machinery that he stole & you will make $$ off of this.. if this is what you call living the American dream~!. Letting someone from across the world come & steal everything that a American Family has worked for since 1954.. There is so much that is wrong here & the Corp. Office will not do a damn thing.. what the fk’ is wrong with this Corp. Office~?..

• To all of you against MMP-I have co-owned a franchise for 12 years now. This has been one of the hardest things I have ever done. Life crapped on us throughout this time. But we are still going, still adjusting to industry changes and don’t blame a corporate office for anything that has affected us! The agreement is quite clear-we are INDEPENDENT owners. Minuteman Press International provides training, tools, a system to operate; NOT bailouts, not legal advise, Not ethics! Those are for individuals to take care of. So for the MMP owner in St. Louis that allegedly stole from Cancer Survivors-not corporate’s problem-that is a legal problem and hopefully is being prosecuted accordingly. MMIP has as little control over how an individual franchise owner conducts his ethical business as you do over the IRS demanding taxes! Not all of us owners are like that, quite frankly this guy is quite the exception.

  As for the system being a scam. It’s worked for quite a while (more than 30 years) and requires hard work. The system is for anyone who wants to own a business but not reinvent the wheel having no experience in the industry. Business ownership and franchise ownership is not for everyone.

  If you do not own a franchise type business you have no authority to say it is a scam or MMIP is a terrible company. Until you have owned a franchise/business-dealt with payroll, local, state, fed, sales and BWC taxes, cash flow, judging the correct capital needed, franchise fees or economic factors you should not pass judgment on those of us who have done these things.

  The American Dream to control one’s own success does not include a success guarantee. You get out what you put in and sometimes life throws curve-balls!

• Is it still worth buying one of their stores or is this already a dead business.
  I have lately been looking at buying one of their existing stores.
  Your honest answers will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

• Also interested in feedback. Has new print technology badly hurt the stores?

• A total scam. Talk to there sales agent ask about low performing stores they always have them lots.

• Former MMP owner for 26 years. Sold my store 2016.
  Everything Tata DeaHuevo says in her post above is accurate.
  MMP future is cloudy at best. What is remaining of the paper printing market (digital devices are taking over) is being gobbled up by giant printers.
  I do not recommend investing in a MMP franchise.

• I’m interested in purchasing a MMP. I’ve met with Bob the area manager. And apparently the owner is retiring. I would really like some insight on the business as I have no experience in the industry.

• Brandon be careful, their sales pitch is directed right at you – “You don’t need to have any experience”. Here are some things that we never thought to ask: What is this great technology that you talk about? Granted, they have decent quoting software, Flex and a very helpful IT department, but I would bet that the old geezers that have been with the company since the beginning (which is the whole management team) wouldn’t know how to turn on a computer. CRM (Customer Relationship Management), what’s that? Oh yeah, we have that – it is called a tickler system. Work flow management? Oh yeah, we have that – envelopes that get passed around the office – rather than utilize the wonderful software we sell. A software system is only as good as the training you receive and unfortunately their trainers know nothing about computers or accounting. Oh, and if you want to make money you need to pay your staff slave wages and work them to the bone. Tata is right, Minuteman is in the business of selling franchises, so the more times they turn over one franchise the more money they make. So, after all of this Brandon, if you are still thinking about buying a Minuteman franchise, definitely buy an existing one. We made the mistake of starting one from the ground up and it is very difficult with their sales model of going door to door dropping off a business card and bringing back any paper products that they have laying around to provide a quote just for the sake of providing lots of quotes. That is called old school cold calling. Oh yeah, and about that 8:00 – 5:00 BS, my partner and I both work 10 – 12 hours a day, oftentimes 7 days a week. And we aren’t dummies – just suckers for taking a giant leap into a large pit of dung.

• Hey Tommy Boy Titus,
  You must be sweating more than usual knowing a group of pissed off franchise owners from Australia and all over are planning on coming to your clam bake AKA your world expo at Ceasers Place 7/31-8/3 and cause disruption and confront you in front of the entire franchise family. Not to worry with your quick thinking and wit I’m sure you will prance around there grilling. Knowing
  your keen intellect just think of all the fun you will have being deposed for a week or so in the land down under not to mention trials going on for many, many weeks. You might need to take the new SS Minow down for your stay you will have lots of time to fish and visit the wine country.

• TaTa, I am extremely interested in the outcome of the Australia franchisees deliberations with “Tommy Boy”. Any chance you will share on this site?

• Just look at MMPs median franchisees sales $ 450K. Do the math 1/2 the stores are doing just getting by to not making much if any money. How long can that last? This is a hard business to make money. MMp churns thru underperforming owners at a high rate to keep the closures down. Tommy Boys initiative 1000 by 2000 is soon to be going on 25 years and still only has about 950 opened. Umm, something is fishy when he made that proclamation he had over 900
  opened now 25 years later has about 950 ???

• Minuteman Press changed from a print franchise to a seller of promotional items, supplemented with printing, approximately 5 years ago – read the first page of the FDD’s over that time. They are pouring all of their resources into promotional items, yet they require you to lease very expensive printing equipment. I strongly advise going into business for yourself as a seller of promotional items if that interests you, because it is a lot less expensive than leasing a brick and mortar store filled with very expensive equipment. Also consider the fact that as a printer (within the Minuteman system) you pay a 6% royalty on gross sales, with a supposed gross margin of 66% of gross sales. As a salesperson of promotional item you continue to pay a 6% royalty but the gross margin can be as low as 10%. Why pay royalties on something that you can very easily do from home?!?

• Lawsuits are stacking up. The Australian government is investigating. Stores are closing. Unhappy franchisees are being interviewed. Tommy Boy Titus wakes up every day with his hair on fire and a sour stomach dealing with all this. Hard to believe almost 25 years after the FTC beat MMP int a submissive compliant operation they thought they could bring their lawless practices to the land down under.
  Tommy Boy is spending his inheritance money fast on high priced attorneys and sending his stooge Gaylord to Oz to fix the problem. But hey he’s got an open door policy of hearing other peoples advice
  give him a call [redacted] I’m sure he would love to hear from you. Also, the royalty cap will be going up a lot to pay for this party.

• Hi TaTa Devhavo,

  There are a number of us the UK that have been stung by Minuteman Press Int. we are thinking of reporting MMP in UK.

  I read with interest some existing owners saying you have to work hard as you get out what you put in. That is so stupid. I bet most of us worked hard and did the selling and put everything we had into it. But when industry is moving online and you have been given unfair contract and tools to work only in the dark ages. It’s always going to be hard to survive. MMP don’t like you to talk to each other either. But I’ve had at least 10 other franchises who are struggling reach out to me for help.

• STORE CLOSURES: How many stores did MMP close / terminated?
  MMP closed and / or terminated 465 stores between 2005 and 2018.

  STORE SALES: How many existing stores did MMP sell to new owners?
  MMP sold 870 existing stores to new owners between 2005 and 2018.

  CHURN RATE: What is the MMP store churn rate?
  Number of stores closed between 2005 and 2018 465
  Number of stores sold to new owners between 2005 and 2018 870
  MMP store churn rate between 2005 and 2018 1,335

  POPULATION: How many stores are in the MMP Franchise system?
  January 2005 MMP had 916 franchise stores.
  December 2018 MMP had 965 franchise stores.

  MMP FEES: How much does MMP receive for Initial Franchise fees?
  MMP opened 517 new stores between 2005 and 2018.
  MMP’s Initial Fees for store openings increased from USD45,500 per store in 2008, to USD47,500 per store in 2018.
  MMP received an estimated USD23,626,900 for initial fees for the period 2005 to 2018.

  MMP FEES: How much does MMP receive for transfer fees when existing stores are sold to new owners?
  MMP sold and transferred 870 existing stores to new owners between 2005 and 2018.
  MMP’s Transfer Fees increased from USD19,500 per store in 2008, to USD23,000 per store in 2018. In 2019 MMP increased the transfer fee to USD32,500 per store.
  MMP received an estimated USD17,922,000 for store transfer fees for the period 2005 to 2018.

  FACT CHECK: Who pays the transfer fee? The seller, or the buyer, of the existing MMP store?

  During the sale of business negotiations, MMP advises the purchaser to reduce the price of the business by the transfer fee. Therefore, the seller (the existing franchisee) pays for the transfer fee.

  MMP FEES: How much is the total fees MMP received from churning its stores?
  Estimated Initial Fees received for period 2005 to 2018 USD23,626,900
  Estimated Transfer Fees received for period 2005 to 2018 USD17,922,000
  Total Fees received from churning stores USD41,548,900

  MMP PROFITS: How much profit did MMP make?
  MMP’s audited accumulated Profit Before Tax for the period 2005 to 2018 was USD31,747,595.

  FACT CHECK: Is it true that the profitability of the MMP Franchise System is totally reliant on the fees it receives from churning its stores?
  From the above information all the MMP profit is generated from the fees it receives from churning its stores. MMP made USD31,747,595 profit for the period 2005 to 2018; whilst MMP received USD41,548,900 fees during the same period, from opening new stores and from transferring existing stores to new owners.
  Without these fees MMP will be making losses and the franchise system will not be sustainable!

  FACT CHECK: Is the information reliable?
  The information was taken from the MMP Disclosure Documents – it is MMP’s own information, summarized for the period 2005 to 2018.

  FACT CHECK: Is there more detailed information available about which MMP stores were closed and transferred?
  Attached is an excel file – “MMP Churn Rate USA FDD’s – Individual Stores – 2007 to 2018”. The file contains a worksheet of:
  – Stores closed for the period 2007 to 2018 (info not available for 2005 & 2006).
  – Stores transferred to new owners for the period 2011 to 2018 (MMP did not disclose detailed info regarding store transfers prior to 2011).
  Attached is a pdf file – “MMP Franchisee failures in AUSTRALIA – 2005 to 2018 per FDD.pdf”. The file is a schedule of:
  – Australian stores closed for the period 2005 to 2018.
  – Australian stores transferred to new owners for the period 2005 to 2018.

  CONFIDENTIALITY: How does MMP maintain the confidentiality of its high churn rate?
  Every franchisee leaving the MMP Franchise System, MUST sign the MMP Deed of Surrender and Release. In the Deed, the departing franchisee undertakes to keep all information about the MMP system confidential. Once the departing franchisee signs the Deed, he / she cannot speak to prospective franchisees about his / her experience as a MMP Press franchisee.

  ACTION: What can you do with the info?
  Make a complaint to a regulatory authority, such as:
  – USA Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
  – Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC).
  – Regulatory authority or other appropriate authority in your state or in your country.

  MORE INFO: Is more information available about the conduct of MMP?
  More information is available on the following website (if link does not work, please copy and paste URL into browser):

• Let Me Tell You!
  “It Is A Poor Carpenter Who Blames His Tools!”