Wednesday, March 12, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
The future success of private postal retail stores will be in their ability to develop in unconventional locations with time-saving high-tech features for small-office and home-office customers.
That's the message being delivered today by the president and chief operating officer of Mail Boxes Etc., who is in Las Vegas this week for a meeting of more than 1,000 MBE franchisees representing about 3,300 outlets worldwide.
James Amos told company representatives that the San Diego-based company, which has 33 outlets in Southern Nevada, has signed a strategic alliance with Banc One to install automatic teller machines and provide some branch banking services in MBE outlets across the country.
The ATM rollout will begin in two or three months. The criteria for selecting sites hasn't yet been determined, but Amos said the Las Vegas market is one of the fastest growing in the country for MBE. The bank is bearing the cost of each ATM's installation.
"This drives a new customer through the door," Amos said of the Banc One alliance.
Banc One eventually plans to install 2,000 ATMs in MBE stores, 1,000 by the end of 1997.
Columbus, Ohio-based Banc One, which has assets of $101.8 billion, has no branches in Nevada.
L. Scott Walshaw, commissioner for the Financial Institutions Division of the Nevada Business and Industry Administration, said because Banc One would be distributing cash to the general public via established ATM networks there is no requirement for the bank to be chartered in Nevada.
While ATMs in neighborhood postal centers has been implemented by other companies in Southern Nevada, the MBE agreement is believed to be the first to offer machines from a major bank.
In addition to dispensing cash, Banc One ATMs will be capable of selling pre-paid long-distance telephone cards and postage stamps.
Banc One and MBE also have agreed to pilot other bank services in some Mail Boxes Etc. locations. Automated loan machines, interactive video and an area where business bankers can meet with clients are planned.
The placing of ATMs in MBE locations is the first stage in the agreement between the two companies.
Amos said eventually his company hopes to offer its mailbox and postal services in some Banc One branches.
The Banc One alliance is a first for MBE, Amos said, but other agreements could be announced as early as this week during the convention. The company is bidding to emerge as a leader in providing technological amenities to its customers. Amos said in addition to offering mail box space, MBE is developing e-mail boxes for customers as well as access to the World Wide Web.
"Technology is taking us into the millennium with e-mail access and everything related to our ability to serve our customers,." said Amos.
In an effort to double the number of MBE outlets domestically by 2000, Amos said the company is investigating some nontraditional locations, including major hotels frequented by business travelers.
Earlier this year, the company opened service centers in three major convention centers, including New York's Jacob Javits Center, the San Diego Convention Center and the convention area at the Sahara hotel-casino.
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