The UPS Store and Mail Boxes Etc. Offer Students Fun Way to Learn Geography

Business Wire, Oct 4, 2004

SAN DIEGO -- As part of a celebration marking expansion to 5,000 worldwide locations, The UPS Store and Mail Boxes Etc. are offering teachers a free, easy-to-use online teaching kit designed to help students develop a greater understanding of the world around them.

The kit, which will be available throughout the school year, outlines a program that encourages students to track a soccer ball's virtual journey around the world over a 10-week period. Since Monday, Sept. 13, the soccer ball (nicknamed B.O.B.--"Ball on Board") has been posting a postcard from a different country on www.theupsstore.com and www.mbe.com.

An activity sheet for each week will challenge students to research facts about each country in order to answer questions about that particular part of the world. By conducting the research online, students also will expand their computer skills. The kit, including the weekly postings, will stay posted throughout the school year for teachers who wish to conduct the exercises at a later date.

The program follows a speech last week before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in which UPS Chairman and CEO Mike Eskew challenged American businesses to take a more active role in supporting global geography and trade literacy. The business community, he said, "owes it to our children to prepare them for a global future."

The UPS Store and Mail Boxes Etc. locations together comprise the world's largest franchise network of retail shipping, postal and business service centers with more than 5,000 locations around the world. In the United States, The UPS Store and Mail Boxes Etc. locations are independently owned and operated by licensed franchisees of Mail Boxes Etc., Inc. (MBE), a UPS subsidiary. Outside the United States, MBE locations are owned and operated by MBE master licensees or their franchisees. For additional information, please visit www.theupsstore.com or www.mbe.com.

UPS is the world's largest package delivery company and a global leader in supply chain services, offering an extensive range of options for synchronizing the movement of goods, information and funds. Headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., UPS serves more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. UPS's stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange (UPS) and the company can be found on the Web at UPS.com.