Hey all, just doing a bit of research. I manage a FedEx Kinko's and was wondering what you folks like and dislike about Kinko's. Any constructive feedback is welcomed as I only want to try and improve my business if possible.

Thanks,

Stavs



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/18/2006 01:16PM by Stavs.

I think the name is provocative and that only harms the children.

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I hate gingers.

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papercup
I hate gingers.

What about Mary Ann? or the Professor?

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I reject your reality and substitute my own!

Before I discontinued running my Gun Club's business through Kinko's (monthly newsletter, and misc Club Secretary business... ) I'll tell you why MY local branch lost my business.

In the 4 years prior to the "last straw", Kinko's;

Kept changing how our business account discounts worked.. first we had to have 50 copies, then 100, no, wait, then it was 50 copies per visit, but 100 per month... I got a different answer almost EVERY time I went in for our newsletter.

They kept upping the amount of time the Newsletter would take (from a print-ready PDF or earlier on from a clean master copy on paper)... 200 copies.. First it was "we'll have it in a couple hours"... then it was "you'll have to leave it overnight".. then, they started telling me that it had to be TWENTY FOUR HOURS... not just from one day to the next, but at least EXACTLY twenty four hours. Even if it was sitting there in the out-box, READY to go... Sorry, has to be 24 hours, come back in 30 minutes..
That one ALMOST was the last straw.

Just before I gave up on them; the four issues of the newsletter prior were ALL screwed up in one way or another.
First a page was missing from all 200 copies. THis from a print-ready PDF... I have no idea how they screwed that up.
Then, they shorted me 40 copies.
The next month, they got the pages in the wrong order, AND shorted me 30 copies.
Lastly, they DOUBLE charged our account, AND put it on the wrong paper (bright fuschia was not on our list of acceptable papers) and they refused to fix this one.

THe VERY last straw was right at the time FedEx was buying them...


"Your newsletter will be ready in four days... you can pick it up Wednesday afternoon".


I've never gone back. I'll buy my own damn copier before the half-trained monkeys at my local Kinko's get another cent of my, or my gun club's, money.


None of this may apply to YOUR branch of the operation... so I'm not saying the WHOLE chain is like this.
I've talked to other people who still use that same local branch, and apparently it hasn't gotten better, it's gotten WORSE.

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Paul F.
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A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
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Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
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Eureka, CA

See: [forums.macresource.com]

What Paul F said, more or less. I don't have needs for their services these days (I'm an all e-document business nowadays) but I hear his complaints echoed from my clients -- mostly on the extended time it takes to do simpler jobs. It's solvable in three steps:

If you don't have enough people to run the equipment, hire more.

If you don't have enough equipment, buy more.

If you don't have enough room for said equipment, move to a bigger location.

The mom & pop type shops where my clients are get more of the business. In some cases they charge a bit more but my clients never have a bad thing to say about them. They even work with me on sending PDFs directly with simple instruction, and communication is always friendly.

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I'll tell you what I hate...insolent clerks who think they know more than the customer. I often go in to drop off pre-paid FedEx Ground packages. I always ask for a drop-off receipt so I have proof it's in FedEx's possession. Half the times I get a clerk that says they can't do that. When I tell them I always get one they just snap back that I must be confusing it with something else. If I have a drop-off rec't in my wallet I'll take it out and they look at in in disbelief. 5 min. later after a manager shows them how to issue a drop-off rec't I'm out. Why can't Kinkos train clerks? I never have any problems getting a drop-off rec't @ the UPS Store...and UPS doesn't even own those.

Agree with Zoidberg 100%...
The local "mom and pop" shop I deal with now has been GREAT.
Email them PDF's, they run the job, it's there for me to pick up when I asked for it... Sure, once in a while they can't get to it in time, but they call me or email me and let me know.. They don't wait for me to come in, THEN tell me it'll be another couple hours...

They actually charge me LESS to fold and staple the newsletter than Kinko's quoted.

I like 'em so much, I helped them with some computer problems with their Mac for free.

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Paul F.
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A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
----
Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
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Eureka, CA

I would add a fourth step in my recommendations:

* When you hire staff, train them in the proper use of equipment and services.

That's a huge complaint, one which Chupa reminded me of -- it's amazing that, during that buy-out, so few were trained as to how to properly handle the FedEx side of the business.

Still, I think this is a problem across every service industry; it always seems that people are hired and plopped down in the position with near-zero training.

Case in point; non-Apple salespeople at your local CompUSA. "Apple's going to be making only iPods soon, so don't waste your money on that computer -- it's got an Intel chip inside, so what does that tell you." (<-- actual quote overheard)

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same as others; a consistent march toward mediocrity, or worse, over the last few years. kinko's used to represent a solution, but the last two or three years, they have caused more problems than they have solved. I still give them an occasional shot, but if I don't get the desired response initially, it's off to a local mom & pop.

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Sometimes it is what it is...
and then there's times when it's really better.



==

Kinkos used to have free internet access (wired). It was a great inviting way to get people to come in. Sure, there were a few freeloaders, but they would usually leave if I asked them how much longer they would be.
I used to do what the commercials said: use Kinkos a my branch office. It was great to sit down with my Mac, plug in the ethernet cable, and have access to all printers and the internet. Many times I would create a file, ask if I could send it to the Fiery for a proof, being careful not to impose, and look at my proof without a long wait. Then I would write up the order and wait or come back later to pick it up.
Sometimes all I had to do was check my email; other times, I had to print out many things, like Powerpoints (example 4 color copies of a 25 page PPT), or 100 more copies of a trade show flier, etc.
Some branches had a great knowledgeable staff, and I would drive extra miles to get there, others were quite the opposite.
Many employees are full of body piercings, tattoos, weird hairstyles, seem drugged out..... not exactly the type to cater to business clients in suits and ties.

I still go to Kinkos but only if have really have to.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/18/2006 01:55PM by will2000.

Follow up: Our company now has a Canon color copier from a local dealer and we only pay 8 cents per copy or print. I now prefer to have our graphics guys print stuff and mail it to me.

The whole Kinkos as an office was a Kinkos thing, that was phased out under FedEx, but too bad they didn't TELL anyone!

Someone finally confessed to me, in Atlanta, but I would just bring in the laptop and sit at the Mac station (pay) and pull the ethernet cable.

There WERE people who would spend a lot of time there -- and even a few times I whipped out my own wired phone and got the phone number for that line, and took incoming calls! But that wasn't very often, but when they were equipped (in a large store) to do that, with the "study desk" type set-up, it was very convenient.

I used to go there to get out of the house, like one might at a book store, to get work done late at night, and I always ended up buying a business book and some pens or markers or other such stuff.

sorry, Stavs...

Kinko, Kinko, the kid-loving clown
if the kids just love me back I'll never wear a frown

Kinko, Kinko, the kid loving clown
if the kids just love me back I'll never wear a frown!!!

Kinko's in his Kinko car, pockets full of change
lots of dirty pictures and sticky candy canes.

All the kids love Kinko for the presents that they get
silly leather clothes to wear and happy cigarettes.

-Hi boys and girls, my name is Kinko the clown!!!
-Hi Kinko!!!
-And I really love you boys and girls!!!
Really, really....
-Awwww
-But my legs get tired standing out in the parking lot handing out stale tootsie rolls to you rugrats, so if anyone wants to come back to Kinko's trailer and massage his legs, he'd really really like it.
Really, really.....

Kinko, Kinko, the kid-loving clown
if the kids just love me back I'll never wear a frown

Kinko, Kinko, the kid loving clown
if the kids just love me back I'll never wear a frown!!!

We go to Kinkos clubhouse, sometimes after school
we play in Kinkos crawl space, there's never any room
We have to sit on Kinkos lap there's never any chairs
Kinko likes to tickle us and give us funny stares.

-Gee I haven't had this much fun since Christmas when I got to play Santa Clause and all the boys and girls got to sit on Kinko's lap-

-Mommy mommy! Kinko hurt me!-

-But that was in Indianapolis and thanks to the liberal reciprocity laws here Kinko can be with you boys and girls today or anytime.

Jimmy Johnson ran away and didn't say goodbuy
Kinko went to look for him to help the FBI
But Kinko has some handcuffs on his eyes were full of tears said I'll be back to play with you sometime in twenty years!

Kinko Kinko the kid loving clown
The parents want to beat me up and run me out of town

Kinko Kinko the kid loving clown
tar and feather Kinko and run me out of town

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Jimmypoo
Someone finally confessed to me, in Atlanta, but I would just bring in the laptop and sit at the Mac station (pay) and pull the ethernet cable.

There WERE people who would spend a lot of time there.

Yes, a few times I borrowed the ethernet cable from an unused workstation. That was because there weren't enough desks with ethernet access. Now however, even with a laptop you have to sign in with a credit card, and that kills it for me in many cases. Sometimes I need to kick back and think for a while, and I can't do that with the meter running.

1. I can never, ever get the online ordering system to work (with my work PC running WinXP. Haven't tried it with my Mac.) Either it says my file is bad (which it isn't because sometimes it goes through and sometimes it doesn't), a connection cannot be established, it hangs on the upload or a myriad of other problems. This happens when I am at home and when I am on the road so I am using different connections all the time. If the file does by some miracle of G-d go through, the stuff is never ready when I asked for it to be ready. If I were sending rush 1 and 2 hour jobs, that would be one thing but I am talking about files I send at 7-8pm and want to pick up at 10 or 11am.

2. The staff seems to run from indifferent to insolent. On the rare occasion I get a good one, it is like finding a pot of gold.

3. This isn't Kinko's fault but it drives me nuts just the same: my Garmin GPS will not locate any Kinko's- even if I am parked in front of one. I have tried having it look for Kinko's, FedEx, Fed Ex, FederalExpress, Federal Express, Fedex Kinko's, Fed Ex Kinko's and Federal Express Kinkos.

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dmann

3. This isn't Kinko's fault but it drives me nuts just the same: my Garmin GPS will not locate any Kinko's- even if I am parked in front of one. I have tried having it look for Kinko's, FedEx, Fed Ex, FederalExpress, Federal Express, Fedex Kinko's, Fed Ex Kinko's and Federal Express Kinkos.

I'm guessing that the FedEx Kinko's branch closest to Garmin's headquarters screwed up one too many jobs for them... and now they're paying for it

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Paul F.
-----
A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
----
Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
--

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Eureka, CA

Different Kinko's have different problems. But all of them have had significant problems since roughly 1998-2000 when everything started to go downhill fast.

Mostly, it seems that they don't care about cleanliness or maintaining the equipment and the workers are either not interested in helping customers or else not trained to do so. There's also a tendency for workers to blame problems on a centralized system that takes basic responsibilities out of their hands. Seemingly, this system was not in place 10 years ago when Kinko's was a decent place to get work done.

I travel a lot and I end up in Kinko's more often than I'd like. They used to be slick havens where I could easily get work done, but it's a rare Kinko's that I'd recommend today if there are other choices available.

My favorite Kinko's was a place on Long Island, for awhile, but in the space of a year they went from a clean efficient business with attentive staff and a useful after-midnight half price deal to a filthy place with an ignorant and abusive staff and extravagant pricing. They used to have all sorts of homey promotions there that made it fun to go back, like little scratch-off cards with prizes and raffles and discounts for repeat customers with over $100 dollars worth of business for them. They don't do that anymore. I don't go there anymore.

There was this place near LAX that had a great staff, state of the art computers and that captivating after-midnight half-price deal on prints and computer-time. Around 1999-2000, the more effective staff were all fired and replaced with mindless drones. Tech support was brought under a central office and it could easily be weeks or months between visits. The computers were left to remain in a perpetual state of blue-screens and accumulating grit and filth and of course the after midnight pricing was eliminated. 'Last time I was there, it was inhabited by college students and bums, both groups napping in their respective corners. The folks behind the counter freely volunteered that individual customers didn't matter so much because deals with local businesses gave them lots of work without having to attend to walk-ins.

The little place that I use in Northern Los Angeles wasn't bad until the FedEx office moved in. All of a sudden, it became a very basic copy shop. Again, it went from a fairly clean store to a filthy one. Not as filthy as some of the ones in New Jersey or Connecticut, but filthy enough that I always check my seat before sitting and wipe down the desk before putting my clean white stacks of paper down. And when a FedEx pickup is about to be made, the cars from last-minute dropoffs fill up the parking lot, making it difficult to get in or out. At least the copy-girls have typically been helpful, good-natured and attractive, but there's not a lot they can do -- I've actually had them refer me to the FedEx guy for help with a bum copier and he told me that as a FedEx employee he wasn't supposed to work on the Kinko's side, but he did it because nobody else there knew what to do when something broke.

The Kinko's that I used to go to just south of San Jose was always clean, but never had particularly good prices and the people behind the desk were obnoxious and bigoted, using lots of derogatory language about the customers the moment one moved way from the desk. It was a small, cramped store where the manager seemed to prefer hiring svelte bubble-gum-chewing teenage latinas who sat giggling with each other in the corner near the radio instead of helping customers. A Staples opened up just down the road from them that has much more attentive employees and offers more services. I use the Staples.

The computers at the Kinko's that I occasionally go to near DC are all broken. It hardly matters because they're also all so old that there's little that could be accomplished with them anyway. The copiers are also usually broken and they sit in front of a big window that makes it unbearably bright and hot while operating them in the morning (there's one good machine that keeps me coming back when I have big copy jobs). The people behind the counter take an average of more than 10 minutes to bother with any customer who dares ask for their attention. They act as if customers are a burden. And they make it a point to serve minorities last. Every time that I go in, their prices are higher, which they say is because they have to adhere to a price-scheme set at corporate HQ for all Kinko's stores. Oddly, other Kinko's shops in the area are much cheaper (but are inconvenient to drive to or I would never step foot in that store again).

The two Kinko's that I use in upstate NY are at least clean, and their staff is attentive, but not often helpful. The day workers can't answer any questions and anything more involved than a black and white copy order has to be left for their overnight staff. I have to say that the night guys are great, but often overwhelmed with work, so it can take hours to accomplish anything with them. High-end color prints can take two or three hours to get done -- not because of any problem with the RIP, but because it takes that long for someone to go and manually run the job after I send it to print. One of those Kinko's always has the best selection of tools at hand -- two sharp paper cutters, glue sticks, highlighters, white out, metal rulers, X-Acto's, sharp scissors and the lighting is excellent. It makes it a pleasure to do my work there, except when it requires the involvement of anyone behind the counter.

There's a place in New Jersey that I used to go to, but now I avoid it simply because they no longer have any services. They went from a full copy and sign shop with decent workstations to a basic copy shop with much of the floor space taken up promoting poster-printing that now has to be sent off-site and photo-printing, which can be done cheaper and better from any drug store. And they replaced their self-serve counter with a FedEx counter, which does nothing but take up space. Nobody works at the FedEx counter. There's a sign on the counter that tells customers to use the drop-off box outside.

I was recently in TN and found one Kinko's there clean and generally well maintained. But the computers were all down pending a visit from their computer guy, which I was told might be several days off because his visits were dictated by an arcane system from a central office. And their network was down pending a visit from their network guy, which I was told could also take several days to fix. But the manager was personally attending customers and both he and his workers were good natured and generally knowledgeable. Their copiers and their fax machines worked and worked well. And they offered me free coffee, which used to be available at all Kinko's, but has become quite rare. Beyond the computer problems, which seemed to be out of their control, it was not a bad experience.

Very simple, really: high prices and crap service. There are enough local copy and quick-print chains around here that do better on both scores, so why ever go to Kinko's? I've always received fair prices and good service from Copy Central, Speedway, and Krishna Copy.

Thanks papercup for linking to my previous thread. Stavs, I replied to your post. I left some stuff out of that thread as it was rather aggravating.

The short of it is, the online ordering system is badly broken, the Kinko's employees don't care, my project got messed up because of it and I still had to pay for it. They could look at the screen, see that what they printed was not what was on screen, but still charged me for it. Plus I spent a bunch of time trying to move the project along when I shouldn't have needed to.

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It is true not all Kinko's offer the same incompetent services. A case in point, our local branch is a joke: I went in to make a few copies of a legal docs. I asked the clerk what I would need to do to get my task done. He told me I could complete it on my own at one of those self-help copiers. I told him I had cash and I wanted to use it. He said I couldn't use cash; I had to use Kinko's debit card. I asked him I could get cash back for any unused amount. He said yes. Well, he lied! Because I couldn't get him to do it afterward. The manager refused to do it even after I had told her that her employee said I could. What floored me was her saying that I should have read the store policy before doing my business! I threw one back at her for having a lying employee. She angrily gave me the left-over amount in the end due to my persistence. On the other hand, the Kinko's in Pasadena (on Lake Avenue) customer service has always been excellent! It's 10 miles away from my town. So I have been going to a mom and pop's printing shop for good service, helpness, courtesy and better price.

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SoCal for now.

It seems automatic that Kinko's will decline to copy something for "copyright reasons." They don't have a clue as to the applicability of copyright laws and what constitutes fair use.

Wow, I've hated Kinko's since 2000, but I never have to go there. We have a local shop that provides for all our needs and they're open all week. I feel for the rest of you.

Quote
incognegro
sorry, Stavs...

Kinko, Kinko, the kid-loving clown
if the kids just love me back I'll never wear a frown

Kinko, Kinko, the kid loving clown
if the kids just love me back I'll never wear a frown!!!

Kinko's in his Kinko car, pockets full of change
lots of dirty pictures and sticky candy canes.

All the kids love Kinko for the presents that they get
silly leather clothes to wear and happy cigarettes.

-Hi boys and girls, my name is Kinko the clown!!!
-Hi Kinko!!!
-And I really love you boys and girls!!!
Really, really....
-Awwww
-But my legs get tired standing out in the parking lot handing out stale tootsie rolls to you rugrats, so if anyone wants to come back to Kinko's trailer and massage his legs, he'd really really like it.
Really, really.....

Kinko, Kinko, the kid-loving clown
if the kids just love me back I'll never wear a frown

Kinko, Kinko, the kid loving clown
if the kids just love me back I'll never wear a frown!!!

We go to Kinkos clubhouse, sometimes after school
we play in Kinkos crawl space, there's never any room
We have to sit on Kinkos lap there's never any chairs
Kinko likes to tickle us and give us funny stares.

-Gee I haven't had this much fun since Christmas when I got to play Santa Clause and all the boys and girls got to sit on Kinko's lap-

-Mommy mommy! Kinko hurt me!-

-But that was in Indianapolis and thanks to the liberal reciprocity laws here Kinko can be with you boys and girls today or anytime.

Jimmy Johnson ran away and didn't say goodbuy
Kinko went to look for him to help the FBI
But Kinko has some handcuffs on his eyes were full of tears said I'll be back to play with you sometime in twenty years!

Kinko Kinko the kid loving clown
The parents want to beat me up and run me out of town

Kinko Kinko the kid loving clown
tar and feather Kinko and run me out of town

damn, you, damn you to HELL!!!

I was just going to post that. I have the Dr Demento page up in a tab, you frickin' *@//.+@!

Well, I appreciate all the comments. I wish I could rectify every problem that everyone has faced, but unfortunately I cant. I will touch on a few things:

Quote
Zoidberg
If you don't have enough people to run the equipment, hire more.

If you don't have enough equipment, buy more.

If you don't have enough room for said equipment, move to a bigger location.

Easier said than done. As a public company now, we are betrothed to our stockholders and need to make our numbers. People, machines and larger facilities cost money. Unfortunately, this happens at the expense of customer service which ultimately will suffer.

I really found everyones comments helpful. This is the type of feedback I can use and bring back to my team.

Stavs

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Stavs

I really found everyones comments helpful. This is the type of feedback I can use and bring back to my team.

Stavs

... while you go to Monster.com ???

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Comedy Central: Best news channel that isn't a news channel.

Fox News: Best comedy channel that isn't a comedy channel.

Quote
Spock

Quote
Stavs

I really found everyones comments helpful. This is the type of feedback I can use and bring back to my team.

Stavs

... while you go to Monster.com ???

While I'm there I'm still going to give 100%...after all, I still want to earn my incentive pay