Downstroke

He go “boom!” Former county Emergency Services Director Mike Madden was officially let go last week, ostensibly as a result of his being criminally charged with a bungling attempt to dispose of a box of sodium cyanide by having the sheriff’s bomb squad blow it up. County CAO Paul McIntosh confirmed that the decision to fire Madden had rested with him but would not directly say Madden had been terminated. “All I can tell you is that he no longer works for Butte County,” McIntosh said.

Madden, who had previously been on paid administrative leave, still faces six misdemeanor counts for lying to cops, transporting hazardous material and withholding information.

What can Brown do to you? United Parcel Service, the giant shipping company that refers to itself in its latest advertising campaign simply as “Brown,” is being sued. Three years ago UPS purchased the Mail Boxes Etc. Corporation for $192 million. At the time, Mail Boxes was the largest shipping and packaging company in the world, with 3,400 independent franchises in the U.S. and another 1,000 overseas. Last year UPS launched its “Gold Shield Program” in an effort to convert the Mail Boxes franchised into UPS stores. About 400 of the franchise owners resisted. Now those owners are suing UPS, saying Brown used high pressure and questionable sales tactics to get those rebel franchise owners to sign the Gold Shield contract.

Howard Spanier, a Mail Boxes Etc. owner in Malibu, told us the UPS contract is disastrous for the shipping stores, setting maximum retail prices and making it virtually impossible to make money from ground shipping, the bulk of the stores’ business. Under the contract, the suit says, UPS stores must guide customers toward UPS shipping services over others such as FedEx and DHL. UPS enforces the rule with mystery shoppers, and three violations in a year means loss of the franchise, Spanier said.

The two local UPS stores are owned by Chico City Councilmember Larry Wahl, who said he was unaware of the lawsuit. He said there was no pressure to become a UPS store and said his decision to switch was in no small part due to the UPS name recognition. “Who wouldn’t jump on something like that?” he asked. The Mail Boxes Etc. owners, Blaire and Charles Herman, were unavailable for comment by press time.