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Kinko's Gripes Kinko's does Xeroxing

Print My Stuff 

April 11, 2005. Kinko's will print your documents and you can send them the files to be printed over the Internet. How much does this cost? Answering this, seemingly simple, question is what prompted this web page. 

The system that I heard about for doing this is called Print To Fedex Kinko's. It turns out this is their new system, they also have an older system for doing the same thing. I spent a long time poking around the Kinko's web site to see how much this service cost. Pricing was nowhere to be found. What's the secret?  

I emailed them and got a reply the next day which said: 

Because our pricing and services a, we ask that you please contact your local FedEx Kinko's for price quotes and additional information. To find the closest center to you, please visit our website at www.fedexkinkos.com and click on "Find a FedEx Kinko’s by City or Service” at the bottom of the page. You may also call our 24-hour Hotline at 1-800-2-KINKOS (800-254-6567) for location information.

"A"? Because their pricing and services, a? 

The scheme above is the new, improved one. 

The older Kinko's system for sending them documents over the Internet for them to print, doesn't seem to have a brand name. I think they call it "Print to a Fedex Kinko's" or "Kinko's Online Printing Services" or "Basic Orders". Then again, the first two terms could apply to both systems. Not clear. 

There seem to be two initial URLs for the old system,  weborder.kinkos.com and print2.kinkos.com/p2k/upload/UploadDocument.jsp. Then again, these may be different systems. Not clear. 

The Help for this older online printing system (see Prepare Your Files) says that they accept documents in Adobe Acrobat format. Fine. However, it also says that Adobe Acrobat software must be purchased to create PDF documents. This is not true. It's not even close to being true. Other companies sell software that creates Acrobat format documents. Some companies give away free software that creates Acrobat documents. Even Adobe has an online system that will create Acrobat documents without any software being installed on your computer.  

The differences between the two services escapes me. The cost of the older system is also not obviously displayed, but I didn't search for it as long as I did for the cost of the newer system.  

Off the FAQ. More gripes. 

There seem to be two sets of Frequently Asked Questions, one for each system. The Online Printing FAQ may be only for the older system. Again, however, it is not obvious. They also have a File, Print FedEx Kinko's FAQ which is definitely just for the new system. 

The Online Printing FAQ contains this question: "Why do you offer two print application online?" Someone should tell Kinko's that, in English, two is plural. There is either one application or two applications. I supposed you can't expect much of an answer to a question written in bad English. It wasn't clear to me which two things the answer to this question was talking about.  

April 14, 2005. I went to a Kinko's in New York City and asked how much this costs. Ten cents per page.