Are 1 800 Packouts or its affiliates included as members in the regional advertising cooperative?
1_800_Packouts Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
You agree that we may designate a geographic area in which two or more Franchised Businesses are located as a region in order to establish a regional advertising cooperative (a "Cooperative"). We may form, modify, dissolve, or merge any Cooperative at any time. The Cooperative's members in any area will include all of the Franchised Businesses operating in that area (including us or our affiliates, if applicable). Each Cooperative will be organized and governed in a form and manner, and begin operating on a date, that we determine. Each Cooperative shall operate in accordance with our Manuals or a written governing document which we may amend at any time upon written notice to the Cooperative's members. Each Cooperative's purpose is, with our approval, to administer advertising programs and develop advertising, marketing and promotional materials for the area that the Cooperative covers. If, as of the time you sign this Agreement, we have established a Cooperative for the geographic area in which the Franchised Business is located, or if we establish a Cooperative in that area during the Term, you agree to sign the documents we require to become a member of the Cooperative and to participate in the Cooperative as those documents require. You agree to contribute to the Cooperative the amounts determined by the Cooperative. Such amounts will not be counted toward your local advertising obligation in Section A. (Advertising By Franchisee).
Source: Item 23 — RECEIPT (FDD pages 67–238)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to 1 800 Packouts's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, 1 800 Packouts has the option to establish regional advertising cooperatives. If 1 800 Packouts designates a geographic area with two or more Franchised Businesses as a region, it can establish a regional advertising cooperative.
If a cooperative is established in the area where a franchisee's 1 800 Packouts business is located, membership in the cooperative is mandatory. The cooperative's members will include all Franchised Businesses operating in that area, including 1 800 Packouts or its affiliates, if applicable. Franchisees are required to sign the necessary documents to become members and participate in the cooperative, contributing the amounts determined by the cooperative.
The purpose of each cooperative is to administer advertising programs and develop advertising, marketing, and promotional materials for the area it covers, subject to 1 800 Packouts's approval. The amounts contributed to the cooperative by the franchisee will not be counted toward the franchisee's local advertising obligations.