It’s taken over an hour to unsuccessfully send and receive a few faxes at an absulutely silly premium per page! My mission is far from over… have to try Mailboxes later on. Argh
a multi-tasked stream of consciousness or perhaps just emails to myself
a multi-tasked stream of consciousness or perhaps just emails to myself
It’s taken over an hour to unsuccessfully send and receive a few faxes at an absulutely silly premium per page! My mission is far from over… have to try Mailboxes later on. Argh
I am a Production Op at a busy kinkos hub. I have a bs in graphic arts and I applied at kinkos because I wasn’t able to find a job in my field right away after college. I thought a print shop might at least get me going in the right direction. I can definately say that I have gotten a lot of experience there, however like you all have been saying – it has been hellish and I don’t get paid nearly what I am worth. And I am sick onto death of all the propaganda! I don’t know what the 2 week training was all about but it was complete bullshit. The company does not care about their employees oh I mean Team Members! People Service Profit! It is more like Profit Profit Profit. I keep hearing about how we are below quota on profit and above quota on payrole when we are so barebone staffed that we cannot handle all the customers and orders comming in. Many times we have no counter person so production and the assistant manager has to run the whole store. Many times there are only 2 or three ppl on at the busiest time of day when the phones are ringing off the hook and there are lines of customers. Plus there is alway a crisis in production – there are so many orders it is almost impossible to get them all done ontime especially with me also on counter and answering phones. Many times phones dont get answered when they ring and email doesnt get checked for 24 hours. Ecommerce orders flash almost untl theyre due. We do the work for three compact cars in addition to our own center. I am alone in my center from 6:30 in the morning until 9 and it actually gets pretty busy at about 8. There are orders due at 8 b/c its the BPP time and I cant even qc them cause it is so busy then I get in trouble when they go late. I usually dont get lunch until 12:30. Everyone at my center is really stressed out and it is always chaotic. We just dont have enough staff to get things done. I come in in ther morning and the place is a mess and there are parts of jobs all over the place. The tiger orders never get sent in at night and I get stuck sorting everythin gout as best I can in the morning.
So explain to me how we are supposed to increase our sales when we dont have the staff to handle all the orders that are trying to come into our store. Many customers leave angry b/c they dont get the time or service they deserve. Personally- I do my best to uphold the purple promise (as corny as it sounds )I try to treat all customers with respect and follow thru on every order, and try to get things done right on time (omg is I hear that phrase again Ill scream) but Im serious. Id be pissed off if I came in to pick up my order and it wasnt started yet or got lost in some pile somewhere. but there just isnt enough time to get organized and get things done on time. And then we get screamed at by the customers while the center managers sits in her nice little office on a conference call all day talkign about why our profits are so low.
Things just get disorganized b/c we are running and multitasking beyond what is resasoably possible and jobs dont always make it from the front counter to the production table and get lost in otp land. Ppl forget to send orders to tiger, things get put in the wrong bin, customer origionals get lost, and then we go crazy looking for these things when the customers come in to pick up their orders.
When I applied to this job they told me that eventually I would get promoted to LPC Then I would be making a whopping 12$ an hour. Right now I am acting as LPC. There is no other LPC on my shift. I monitor OPT production and organize production as best I can in the chaos and I also act as production op. I handle a lot of customer disputes, bids (oh yeah no css at my center either) and they are still dangling the promotion over my head but Im not getting it! I keep an eye on all the outsource orders and communicate with the vendors I monitor things sent to cpc and I basically work my ass off and have a lot of responsibilities. I get told often that if I left theyd be screwed. To make matters worse- a few months ago I got a bunch of calls from other center managers congradulating me on my promotion to lpc. Aparently it was anounced at some meeting. Anyways that must have been a mistake or something b/c I wasnt promoted. I dont care about the title, I just want my extra dollar an hour because I work my ass off but oh well- I guess its time for a career change.
Preaching to the Choir:
Anyone who complains about Kinko’s has justification on both sides.
I got my start at a Blueprint shop.
As many different services as we offered we had a primary niche of clientele (AEC, Architects, Engineers, Contractors, etc.)
This or a similar operation is the place to be.
Find someplace that has specialized.
You will be part of a team that knows their clients and what they need.
There will always be BS, politics, stupid coworkers and clients, and personal drama wherever you go, but working in an industry that deals with a specific type of client will dramatically cut down on it.
Kinko’s tries to be everything to everyone, and therefore becomes nothing to anyone.
If you’re stuck with them on your resume here’s what you do.
1. Tell the interviewer you know what kind of reputation Kinko’s has. Regardless of this you try to be professional at all times. You like the print/copy industry in general, but the retail (McDonalds) level is not where you want to be. You want to be part of a real team at the Reprographics/Print Shop (High End Restaurant).
2. Add a second page to your resume listing your Technical Skills. Here’s the layout to mine. Mark down every piece of equipment you’ve had to run, and I mean actually run. Not just that it was in the same room as you. Seriously. You’re moving up the ladder in this game.
***
Technical Skills:
Reprographic production machinery used and familiar with:
Large Format B&W:
Mfg: Model
Small Format B&W:
Mfg: Model
Large Format Color:
Mfg: Model
Small Format Color:
Mfg: Model
Reprographic production software used and familiar with:
Large Format:
Mfg: Model
Small Format:
Mfg: Model
Reprographic bindery equipment used and familiar with:
Various bindery equipment such as Comb, Coil, Tape, Wire-O, Velo, Shrink Wrap (Gun and Tunnel), Saddle-Stitchers, Hand Staplers (up to 1â€), Single and Multi Head Drills, Screw Posts (Chicago Screw), Guillotine Cutters (up to 42â€), Padders, Folders, Collators, and Perfect Binding, etc.
Other computer programs and software used and familiar with:
Standard PC programs:
Alphabetical list of Programs and Versions (if known)
Other PC programs:
Alphabetical list of Programs and Versions (if known)
Fax Software:
Alphabetical list of Programs and Versions (if known)
Shipping Systems:
Alphabetical list of Programs and Versions (if known)
***
I’ve been in the reprographics industry for 13+ years.
I’ve worked at several companies large and small.
I currently make $14.00/hr.
I’ve made more I’ve made less, but always with less stress, and real reward.
The place I’m at now I quickly (3 months) went from the production floor to the “vault.â€
I went from lifting and toting rolls and boxes of paper, standing all day, printing, binding and packaging jobs, to sitting behind a desk managing basic TIFF files from the production floor most of the day.
Depending on the workload on the production floor I easily took home a 40-50+ hour paycheck.
Now I’m taking the same time and more for easier (physical) work and getting to use my technical and especially organizational skills.
If you genuinely want to work, have some (just some!) computer skills, you can get a pretty solid job.
Get out. Get on with a reprographics, local copy shop, or some other type of printing company.
I recently quit a position at a FedEx Kinko’s. All I’ll say is that those places have too much going, and appear to try to make the job more sophisticated and complex than than they really are.
Several customers told me that I was “too nice” to be working there. It’s a mess. I’m glad that I”m gone!!!!
Glad to see this is still being updated, it’s worth it! FedEx sucks and Kinko’s too! BURN!
I can agree with everything here and testament to a lot more.
I’m going to keep it simple.
Do yourself a favor, and the people you care about a favor.
Don’t work at FedexKinkos.
It will kill you.
You removed all the discussions!!
Nevermind here they are =P
1 Furious J. Furious // Feb 28, 2005 at 3:14 pm
To those who’ve grown increasingly frustrated Kinko’s: If you want the ultimate in “screw you, you’re only the customer,†try a New York City Kinnko’s.
After wrestling with broken copiers, out-of-paper copiers, and sorry-we-can-t-give-you-back-the-money-you-put-on-your-Kinko’s-card-to-use-a-copier-that-doesn’t-work, I swore I’d never set foot in Kinnko’s again.
But today I needed a scanner, and went to the Kinko’s a Lexington Avenue and 78th Street in Manhattan. It was utter chaos in there. I literally hand to spend five minutes standing in line to ask a clerk which line I was supposed to be standing in, and of course it was the wrong line.
“You can scan it yourself,†said the clerk, when I finally stood on the correct line for a while. “I use Mac,†I said. “We have three Macs in the back,†she said.
She was right. Only one of the Macs was down, a second was working but the card reader that gets it started was down, and the third was at a work station occupied by a thuggish-looking guy who was working on what I assume was his own PC, while a turned-off Mac sat next to him.
So I returned to the (correct this time) line, and waited until a clerk deigned to pay attention to me. I explained the situation.
“Well, we can do it for you, but you’ll have to wait in the other line over there,†she said, pointing to a line with about 20 people waiting.
Kinko’s deserves to go bankrupt. Maybe it’ll take FedEx with it.
2 disgruntled kinkos employee // Sep 2, 2005 at 4:16 pm
you all are a bunch of assholes!!!!! all you fucking customers just need to get in your bmw’s and drive them off a cliff!! none of us at my branch like customers, the only value you have to us is your goddamn wallets, we work our hands to the bone while you sit back make a mess of our store and complain, just to let you know we hate you more than you hate us, mabey you all should get off your dumb lazy asses and learn to use some of the simplest copiers to opporate, you all are retard go to hell!!!!! o yeah and i think management sucks too, i hate the place!!!!!
3 surly employee // Sep 29, 2005 at 1:31 am
Yea..most of the customer at Kinko’s are right bleeding arseholes!! As well they’re absolute rude. I’d like to go to their cushy job and be a right bastard at them. How come these c**nts have degrees from uni and can’t even make a simple copy? Too lazy? Too inept? Too bloody arrogant!! Why do wait to the last minute to get your job done!! This is not McDonalds you arsehole…it’s take TIME…especially if there many jobs ahead of your job. The world does not revolve around you…you need me more than I need you!! I print you project and SAVE YOUR F**king Arse!! Do you think I get the profits from all the sales? No!!! So why should I give a care about your project over another customer project? And no I’m not going to smile and say “have a nice day†that’s such american yankee rhetoric!! spoiled brats…like children and in europe as a tourist you’re a whiny whinging yankee waste of space…cos you need to be pampered like a two year old.
4 New kinkos Employee // Oct 6, 2005 at 8:33 pm
I started Kinkos last week and I have to say they really suck. They do not give a shit about the customer and they are understaffed. Their machines are always broken. DO yourself a favor and find a local privatky owned copy shop, they might give a shit about you.
5 Former Kinkos Employee // Dec 1, 2005 at 5:19 pm
I spent 9 years of my life waiting on customers at Kinkos. After dealing with the same idiots everyday I couldn’t take it anymore and had to quit. I would have to say that 50% of the customers that walk in the door have NO COMMON SENSE. I now know how truly dumb the general public is. We could put up 100 blinking signs but you customers would never ready them, so why bother. Self service is the simpliest thing in the world. Just read the freaking instructions and make your own copies and quit complaining. If you make a mistake on the self service copier, don’t ask an employee to credit you back on your card! The employees would never charge you double for mistakes they made. GET REAL people and get some common sense already!!!!
6 fomer as well // Dec 17, 2005 at 12:08 am
i worked there as well, and bottom line, luckily for kinkos, there is no more local copy shops other than them, but …u can buy a freaking do everything fax/copier for cheap on your own.
7 Dave G // Jan 18, 2006 at 10:24 pm
you spent 9 years of your life waiting on customers at kinkos and you say that the CUSTOMERS are idiots?! Perhaps it’s time to evaluate your attitude, lazy jerk.
8 sc // Sep 25, 2006 at 3:29 am
I have found the people at Kinkos to be incompetent. At least 50% of the time the work must be done over. I wish there were competitors to Kinkos. Slowly but surely I’m accumulating the equipment to perform all the functions I once used Kinkos for. So much for service.
9 RP // Oct 11, 2006 at 11:43 am
I once worked at a Kinkos…(I’m not going to even get into that)…but my story is that one time I was working temporary for a courier service that delivered/handled prints, technical notes and schematics, etc for various large scale commercial building sites. On occasion I would have to stop at a Kinkos and have a few duplicates made via their self service print duplicating (Oce) machine. I went to one location, and this lazy c–t of a gum cracking red-eyed sales associate (who was doing absolutely nothing) told me the machine wasn’t working. Knowing how the machine worked, I told her, “I used to work at K’s…let me see it.†She said in an ugly tone of voice, “It’s broken, I said…you’re not able to use it!†I went over to the machine anyway. Turns out, the only thing wrong with it was that the scanning unit wasn’t plugged in. That done, everything went fine. I went to see the manager about the accociate’s ugly attitude, and all I got was, “She’s in training…she doesn’t know the proceedures yet..†Disgustingly, I paid for my purchase and walked out…Service? WHAT service?
10 Fodman // Oct 21, 2006 at 11:39 pm
Hey does anyone know how to shut of thie BLUECOAT bullshit filtering software at Kinkos ? Some times I come in here and it’s off. It’s nice. But it got turned back on in the middle of typing something.
I (stupidly) pay for the time on the computers, I should be able to look at what I want.
11 Jeff G // Nov 19, 2006 at 8:08 pm
All,
I’m the marketing director of Mimeo.com. If you need something printed, give us a try. Everything is online, 24/7 customer service. Get it to us by 10PM, you’ll have it back by 8:30AM. We specialize in business documents.
12 Current Kinko's Employee // Nov 25, 2006 at 11:52 am
Just so you know, the reason people at Kinko’s hate you is this: the situation here was bad before and FedEx has done nothing to make it better.
We’re alreay constantly slammed with customers yelling at us because they have to wait for things and then pay for our services (sorry, we don’t do that for free sir…). The company has consistantly lost or fired people and then not replaced them. (When my store opened it had 28 people working there. We have 7 now with many people working by themselves for hours.) Lines? What lines? We just don’t have enough people to help everyone at once. When FedEx implemented their shipping services, they crammed their stations into already packed stores. Their training for this service is only hands on at best and we don’t have enough people to shadow new employees all the time. We have no place to store the sometimes hundreds of packages we receive daily along with supplies and materials. They didn’t hire any extra hands or give us raises for these new responsibilities. In my district they gave us 1 box of cookies per store. Yes, you read that correctly. 1. Box of cookies. And not even good cookies, Mrs. Fields cookies.
To add insult, I get in the mail glossy every month, multiple page oversize advertisements from their internal services telling me to love my job and show customers the “purple promiseâ€. Obviously, I know how much it would cost to print these up. To think that they would make thousands of these to send out is wasteful in the least and insulting. They could’ve been spending that money on new employees or developing old ones.
Some of the older employees took paycuts of at least 1/2 their previous paycheck when the profit shares were taken away. They have no pension plan, no good health insurance and the top brass have told us specifically they have no intention of making these things better. Remember that old saying “going postal� It just may apply very soon at your local FedEx Kinko’s.
13 Current Employee(brea) // Dec 10, 2006 at 2:32 am
1. The average customer spends $13.02
2. Payroll is 25% and we make $8.50 an hour. So we aren’t getting raises or new people. If there is only 1 person on the floor, IT ISNT THAT EMPLOYEES FAULT.
3. Copiers break. No, we do not know how to fix it and dont get paid to.
4. I do not follow the order system. You want it right away, i make it right away. Order to pay is a horrible system. Only use it if you are not willing to chill for 15 minutes. I advise all other employees to do things right away as well.
5. Shipping is a very complicated thing at times. Not EVERYBODY knows how to do EVERYTHING.
6. I am not a graphic design major. I can not create anything for you. The one thing I do know how to create is oversize banners text ONLY. Last person I did that for spit in my face and made a corporate complaint about me because I couldnt get it to print. Yea, the employees are the a**holes. He spit on me because something was broken.
7.Our computers are shit because customers are uploading corrupt files and ruining them. Yea, all my fault…
8. It is difficult to pay in cash because we dont like getting robbed. Once again, that cash machine was NOT my idea. Stop blaming me.
9. If we are out of a certain supply, it is because the managers didnt order it. NOT ME. Think I order the supplies? The same guy who says hello when you walk in?
10. EMPLOYEES DIDNT WRITE THE COPYRIGHT LAWS. If it is copywritten and YOU get busted after I HELP you I get fired and possibly sued. It has happened before. I DIDNT WRITE THOSE LAWS AND IM NOT RISKING MY A** FOR YOUR GOD D*MN CHRISTMAS CARD.
Think really hard. Do you think kinkos looks for incompetent ***holes? Think that during my interview the manager thought “OOOooo he would be a complete d*ck to customersâ€. NO. He thought I was smart and well composed. They hire who they think will make a good employee. The store sets up employees to look dumb. We didnt just show up retarded. ITS THE SITUATION.
I’m 18 years old. I refuse to say happy holidays. I took the job for the benefits and bonuses. They have taken away both. Cut me from 37 hours a week to 28. You EVER get frustrated, complain to the managers. Dont blame the employee, it isnt their fault.
14 current employee // Dec 17, 2006 at 5:08 am
We don’t hate customers, we are just understaffed.
According to FedEx Kinko’s report 40% of employees leave the company within the first 1 year of being hired. Every time you walk into kinko’s you are speaking with a new hired employee. I have been keeping track of how many people are fired, in the last year 25% of employees were fired over psychological reasons. I mean 1 out of every 4 employees are fired for beeing crazy after working at kinkos for a year.
Where do I start?
There are 50 customers in the store and there are 3 staff, there is no way in hell that we will be able to help you for half an hour every time you come in. It is not like we went to copying and faxing school.
We are put on the floor without any training at all, we learn as we go. We are not trained, we are not staffed enough to shadow someone to be trained, we are always out of supplies.
How is it my fault that the machine is jaming every other copy on a Friday afternoone on a four day weekend, do not get mad at me, Shit happens.
If we help customers and take too long we are not helping the others and the rest of the line gets mad and if we say we can’t help you right now, because we have a line they get mad and say that we are rude.
What the f**k do you want us to do? Stop for a minute and think about how many customers we are trying to help at the same time. We are not techs. and even if we know how to fix the machines, we don’t have time to do so.
For the last month I have been telling my manager that 3 machines are down and the techs do not do shit when they come in to fix them, but what will the manger do when we are talking about machines that have been in the store for the last 3 years, the machines has had enough you can even hear them screaming when you are making your copies (you will know the sound I am talking about if you go to any Kinko’s).
CEO’s are just some people sitting in their offices thinking that by not buying new machines, we are minimizing expenses which means greater bonuses for themselves, why would they give a f**k about those machines and about their staff going crazy, I mean literaly crazy (one out of four are fired for psychological reasons).
Last week corporate took out one of our two main computers (DPW), because we don’t meet the volume to keep two DPW. We are 120% of plan for the last year, what does that mean.
If you don’t like the service at Kinko’s, just boycott it. There is staples, officemax, officedepot, copymat, and a lot more. when you hurt their pockets they will realize what is going on.
And please don’t complain about the staff just think and complain about the circumstances the staff are put in:
Do not complain that we are rude, but rather complain that we are understaffed.
Do not complain about how we can’t fix a machine that is down, complain that we need new machines.
Do not complain that we can’t help you copy a Disney picture, you can complain to the US government about that.
Do not complain about how we can help you on the computers, we don’t have credintials to teach you how to use a computer.
This list could go on forever, just remember we are not hired to make your life miserable, we just got crazy trying to help you.
15 looking for a local copy shop // Dec 18, 2006 at 9:02 pm
it is obvious to me that the employees are put in a terrible situation there… i used to love Kinko’s for the convenience and efficiency… now they are turning into some nightmare, both for the staff and the customers. equipment is outdated to say the least, half of it is broken, stores are packed with FedEx stations, non-working Sony photo stations, employees are nervous and customers are frustrated… i don’t know what is going on with the company, but it cannot go on like this forever.
16 Current Employee // Feb 26, 2007 at 10:13 am
Corporate is sucking the system dry! In order to make more money for the stockholders, FedexKinkos keeps their staff down to 2 people. When Fedex took over, they made their $18.00 hour trained shipping specialist’s re-apply for other positions and replaced them with $8.50 Kinkos employees. Adding more duties to an already overworked employee. Fedex advertises low shipping rates (Only Ground), but then increased the Kinkos services pricing. Doubled the price on some services. Kinkos refuses to post it’s pricing and makes most of it’s money on color copies $.89 each.
17 College Educated Graphic Designer // Mar 2, 2007 at 3:54 pm
Fed-Ex has a FREAKING CORPORATE problem. In fact, the government should break up the monopoly. I have NEVER in my ENTIRE working career spoken with someone competent (EVEN the general managers) at a Kinkos. WHy????? Apparently they don’t train their employees….HOW MUCH MONEY DO THEY HAVE TO WASTE and PEOPLE THEY HAVE TO PISS OFF b/4 they are trained!!!!! In fact, Kinkos is required to ALWAYS stay 1 version behind on current versions of ALL programs and operating systems (so the employees told me). WHAT do you expect?????? AND, I’ve had numerous employees tell me that they are suppose to IGNORE customers. They need people at the check-out and ONLY at the check out the WHOLE time. What the hell is wrong with this company???? They think b/c they have a monopoly that they can PISS off everyone and not care. So, ANYTIME, and I mean anytime, I go into the local kinkos, I have to go into the back (behind the counter) and print my own files b/c NO EMPLOYEE in the WHOLE freaking company, including the general manager, knows how to print something on a MAC. NOT ONLY THAT…but FED EX is the next worst company to KINKOS…and now they have merged—they have created a spawn of the DEVIL. So, I shipped a package…. Apparently you input ounces as a letter and not a decimal, so if you put in 12.1 pounds….the computer reads that as 121 pounds. You can IMAGINE when FED EX was after me to pay them over like 500 dollars for a package that only cost me at the time like 40 bucks. The, the customer service people on the phone acted like it was MY fault. YEAH!!! LETS let the employees LEARN from their mistakes when it comes to that and PISS off the community at that expense. What a great idea!!!! Even more recently, Kinkos screwed up an order of business cards. I uploaded the files with the instructions to do it as BLACK ink (It was in black in, some as 50% black, 75% black). Well, they ordered them as 3 inks (black and two different gray inks.) So, an order of 500 business cards that should have been 68 bucks ended up being $150–In fact, they even went as far as ordering the business card company (BCT) to change the file from what it had been originally in order to go against my instructions) AND when I complained and told it was THEIR fault the incompetent manager said that well since they ordered it like that they would lose money if they charged me for what I ACTUALLY ordered and THEY screwed up!!! What the HELL is that all about??? HELLO???? CORPORATE???? TRAIN your flippin employees and PUT people at the CASH REGISTERS. WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM?????
18 Josh // Mar 13, 2007 at 7:56 pm
Im working literally as we speak. Obviously something must be wrong. I hate this job, i used to love customer service when i worked at gamecazy. But i literally feel my soul being drained everyday I have to work here. Im on the clock, its not that i hate customers, its that i hate my job, i hate the fact people are being hired on for more then i make and we do the same job. I thank my self its only a part time job, and Ill be gone soon enough. Give kinkos employees a break, its not easy dealing with this crap.
19 Carol Sallom // Mar 21, 2007 at 4:05 pm
I went to Kinko’s on Germantown Pike around 6 pm 03/20/07 there was a FedEx driver there picking up packages “I guess to be delivering packages†‘
I paid 22 dollars was told and I have the slip in my hand that was filled out by a Kinko’s employee on the slip it is checked it would be delivered this morning 03/22/07 also the employee told me very clearly that the package would be there this morning 03/22/07 at no time did he tell me anything else he did not mention cut off times or the fact that the package wouldn’t get there till thursday morning I walked out of there thinking the “last nightâ€that the package would arrive this morning I even called the company that I sent it to to tell them the package would be there this morning well guess what the package IS NOT there it did not arrive this morning and when i checked online to track it around 3;45pm today it said the package was still sitting at Kinko’s on Germantown Pike in Pa. I called and spoke with the manager and asked her why in The person in the store failed to tell that there was a cut off time why did he lie to me and tell me it would be this morning ?she had no answers there should be a very LARGE SIGN IN ALL KINKOâ€S saying even though we check off in the box that it will be there tomorrow morning WE LIE it should Clearly state there is a CUT OFF TIME AND EVEN THOUGH YOU PAY 20.00 WE Are not sure when it will get there
i could have driven there over night my self and the package would have got there this morning
If there is a sign in KINKOâ€S saying are packages don’t get there over night because there is a cut off TIME i would not be so angry Carol Sallom wolf_sallom@msn.com
20 Blogs – Comment on Business at Kinkos sucks by College Educated Graphic … kinkos // Apr 2, 2007 at 9:40 pm
[…] WHAT do you expect?????? AND, I’ve had numerous employees tell me that they are suppose to …… Read more… […]
21 Doc Creation Specialist // Apr 16, 2007 at 10:54 pm
I currently work for Fedex Kinko’s. I can assure you that it’s not the fault on any of our employees that customers are upset. It’s clearly a corporate thing, and they seem oblivious to it. They’re opening new locations all over the place, and it’s an impressive operation. The problem is, they’re not hiring enough of us to run it, and they’re paying us for one job when we have to do five. I’m thankful for my job and paycheck, but I’ll admit, it’s frustrating sometimes.
My particular location is one of the best and highest-ranked stores in the nation, and we’re proud of it. We’ve got some great people working in our store, we just don’t have enough of them! It’s not our fault, it’s not our manager’s fault…in fact our managers are the best employers I’ve ever had, and if they can get something done for us, they do it. It’s a corporate thing. They give us a heavy workload and a paycheck that doesn’t reflect it. If somebody else is offering more money for less work, people are going to work there. Less money for more work? They don’t stay long!
I work from 10 to 6 every day, I set up every business card, logo and flier that comes into our store. I’m using my college degree in Graphic Design and it’s my pleasure to do it, mainly for the experience I need to even be considered elsewhere. But I am often distracted by having to go ring an order out at the counter, take an order, check an email, call a customer. I get paid $9.50 an hour, and the store makes three times that on a project that I do in less than an hour. We allow 24 hours for such creation jobs. Most stores outsource it to an online service. But I bust my ass to get stuff done the same day, because I’m better than some hack in New York or India, and I care. I have an immediate supervisor who is stretched thin and stressed to the max, and I take her abuse day in, day out to earn my check and help my customers.
Don’t fuss at folks like me. Don’t piss and moan about people who are there to help you. Fuss at the corporation who won’t hire enough of us to make things better. And there’s a ray of hope for you customers…why come in and wait and deal with us? Go to printonline.fedexkinkos.com. it takes you 5 minutes to order 1 page or 5,000. And it only takes us 5 hours to complete. I hate processing the orders, the system is retarded on our end. But for you? It’s easy as pie.
22 Worn Out // Apr 19, 2007 at 3:12 am
Where do I start…Where can I start. I have been workink for FEK for almost 7 years and in 6 differnt locations. I have seen it ALL!I am currently working somewhat high up in a CPC (Corporate Production Center) where all the magic happens. We are closed to the public. We run (whether the customer knows it or not) all jobs over 10,000 Bw copies, or 1000 color copies. I have a lot to thank Kinko’s for… My wife (My best friend), a Bridesmaid, a groomsman and a ton of GREAT FRIENDS! I have been a part of the Number 1 kinko’s in the company, where they sent us to Florida for a weekend (Supposed to be a week, turned into a weekend, which turned into 2 days traveling and 1 day of fun). When the store is announced all the corporate big wigs come and cover our store while we are gone. When we get back our breakroom is full (AND I SHIT YOU NOT) of Silver Platters left for us to clean. These fucks had a meal I couldn’t afford with a paycheck and left the mess for us. You wanna know what our lovely boss wrote on the communication board: †You can all be replaced, RAISE THE BARâ€. Okay I understand keeping the motivation flowing, but COME THE FUCK ON!!! We made our boss over $200,000 that year and he was quick to flaunt it. I made $20,000 that year, and was still living on Ramen Noodles in my apartment my friends called “the Kennelâ€. A year after that happened 4 (Out of 32 employees) still remained with the company (Either fired or wised up and quit). So FedEx buys us out, blue skies (That they have promised us forever) are on the way. We are nothing but Fred Smith’s Red headed step bitches. Another shit you not moment… ANYONE that enters our closed door facility has to sign in. FedEx corporate jerk dicks come to tour our facility. A lady wrings the doorbelll, I nicely greet her and ask her to sign in…â€Didn’t we buy you†she says in a cunty little voice. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!! Last I checked you bitch I am a human being that has to make that same bullshit Purple little fucking promise your bitch ass does!!! Needless to say I’m done. I’m done with these cloudy days. I dream about copies for Christ’s Sake! I have honestly done the right thing for the customer my whole career. Yeah I’ve had some shitty situations but you walk that off. I mean people come into a McDonald’s type envvironment and want a tailored suit while they wait. I know my shit. I can fix my machines (XEROX TRAINED), and I can understand the customers urgency. I respect my customers urgency. This company is very hard to work for and I’d love to give it excuses (Seeing as how I don’t want to look back and feel like I have wasted a 1/4 of my life here), but the bottom line is that it is a big ship to turn and we have no idea if we have hit a glacier or not. I am tired of being bitter. I’m tired of feeling unsuccessful. I’m tired of feeling like I’m wasting my time. I’m just worn the FUCK OUT!
23 JS // Apr 24, 2007 at 9:16 am
Kinko’s was once a halfway decent place to work way back in the day when Kinko (Paul Orflea) himself ran it…I walked in there recently and saw mostly a FedEx mailroom…If they’re going to emphasize on package handling…why don’t they just take out the full service printing and just leave the self-service copiers? After all, FedEx is in the shipping business…not the print/copy business…
24 LJ // Apr 25, 2007 at 1:36 pm
To the person who works at the CPC. I feel your pain. You must understand that you work for a backstabing , soulless company ran by good ole boy and girl bigots. Wise up!
There is life after Kinkos. What is your life worth? As the folks who won the racial discrimination suit at FedEX Express for 25 million. By the way, I use to work for FedEx Kinkos CDS.
25 LJ // Apr 25, 2007 at 5:32 pm
To the person who works at the CPC. I feel your pain. You must understand that you work for a backstabing , soulless company ran by good ole boy and girl bigots. Wise up!
There is life after Kinkos. What is your life worth? Ask the folks who won the racial discrimination suit at FedEX Express for 25 million. By the way, I use to work for FedEx Kinkos CDS.
26 Fedex Drinko's // May 29, 2007 at 10:42 pm
Like many of you, I currently work at Kinko’s, and am subject to the same abuse. The customers walking behind the counter, talking to you like you’re a child, and taking out their work-related frustrations on disinterested employees is something I am well-versed in. I consistently have to feign civility with these people, and it seems like there isn’t much of a point considering how little they care. I have a degree and am currently in grad school for nothing to do with copiers or graphic design – the job is just convenient considering how much I have to print out for assignments, etc. All I know is that the employees are being paid retail wages and are yet expected to perform specialist tasks. Our company is on the low end of the pay scale for this type of work, and despite Ken May’s promises to raise wages by September to be more competitive, it hardly seems worth it. What I especially don’t understand is why they’re rolling out direct mail and cil on top of the daily tasks that, according to customers, we can’t perfect. I know customers are a-holes, but look at most of your coworkers and I’m sure that a part of you can agree with them.
Before Ken May, our CEO was hired for one purpose; to prepare for the company to go public. That being the case, wages, employees, etc. were all cut so that the price of stock would be the highest possible. Now that May is in position, he seems as though he’s trying to rectify the situation, although I’m skeptical of anyone that disconnected from the field.
Don’t even get me started on the compact car stores and the incompetent center managers who are being hired to run them. The surest way to sink a company is to put inadequate employees at those kind of levels, albeit low levels, with that proximity to the public. I live and work in the Dallas area, near corporate, and they’re opening a ton of these centers in the area. I can tell you right now that everything’s about to go to s**t, but what can I do when I’m just an inferior? Quit? I tell you, it’s looking more atractive every day.
27 KB // May 31, 2007 at 3:05 pm
I too have worked at a FedEx Kinko’s. I was hired on to be a local sales rep (CSS). I must admit although the pay was low, it was not unreasonable. (Unlike floor workers) My first day on the job I was tossed, with no knowledge of how anything works or how to place orders, on the floor alone for 3 hours until the veterans arrived. I have never seen such a Shitty training set up. I needed to train for a full 8 hours/day for the first 2 weeks on some shitty computer training program-but I was told that I must always be on the floor with the customer, and was often alone. I as a result could not finish any 3-4 hour long training sessions. Talk about a customer service nightmare. How do you learn without someone to teach you. My manager was useless because she came from a local retailer and did not know any more of the machines than I did. She was afraid of the customer and hid in her office all day.
I had good knowledge of the coorperate Bull Shit that was handed down to the managers too. They could not exceed 25% for Payroll and their pay role was cut in half if we had a shitty week and did not make enough money. How does that make sense? Let’s punish a slow work week in a delayed fashion so that when we are extremely busy we do not have any staff to finish the jobs. Thus creating a vicious circle.
I also know they send you secert jobs that you must complete without error and must say fun little catch phrases like “Yes we can!†over the phone. If you get one hundred percent you are the bomb. But they also call 25 cutomers every month and give them a survey. On a 1-10 scale type crap. You will then fail if the person surveyed does not answer a 10 on every question. Then your store gets cut wages and every one on staff is in trouble again. Even if you do everything perfect and are friendly with the surveyed customer. Even if they are happy and satisfied with their job. A 9 on Friendlyness (maybe because you weren’t as hot as the guy or girl thinks you should be) will lose your store bonus for the month. It also does no good to call corperate HQ to complain about how overworked the Staff is or how understaffed the store is. (I had one well meaning customer do this, as well as compliment us). Corperate will fail you that month and dock your bonus again because it is not their fault that more poeple cannot be hired on. NO. It is your stores fault for appearing understaffed.
One month into my job there the powers that be decided that they were eliminating my position company wide. Gee Thanks. I was told to not worry. I would get my choice of positions at the same level of pay and for the same hours as before in the same area. No Go! The reality was I was told the only way I could stay on staff was to cut my hours in half, and work 2nd shift and weekends only in an area outside of my town. I could keep my hourly wage but (even with the hour cut) I would not recieve a raise again unless I was promoted to a higher level managment. I quit!
What a Fucked Up Shitty Dump!
28 MC // Jun 13, 2007 at 1:31 am
After 6 years at the same store yesterday was my last day, I now work for myself which is why I took the job in the first place. I will miss some of the people, well very few really, but I will not miss the job.
Corporate does nothing but to set the stores up to fail, and the ass-kissing district and store level managers don’t have the balls to say anything about it. How you ask? Here’s 3 but I have many, many more.
1. Cutting profit sharing in half, then in half again. My old manager actually argued with me that this was a good thing.
2. OTP (Order To Pay) our only system still sucks, and it sucks bad. It’s slow, tedious and doesn’t make things any easier, the orders are actually much harder to read. I guess the geniuses that designed it thought that a single 11×17 paper order form was way too practical, so it would be better to take 15 minutes to order some simple copies and a bind. Oh and that’s if it doesn’t crash on the co-worker while they’re taking the order. I was told by my hub (don’t ask) manager that OTP was “awesome†while I was being trained on the new software. I disagreed.
3. Fed-Ex. The best way I can describe the training the company gives is osmosis. But they did make us train on how to pack boxes for a few hours. There’s nothing cooler than being a key-op that has to put off doing his job to pack and ship something. Customers who planned ahead and placed an order love that. Couple that with the fact that the old FedEx workers and their families all hate the Kinkos workers for “stealing their jobs†you end up with a winning combination. So if you’re an old FedEx worker you can have your old job back if you want it but you’ll get paid the 8 something an hour that the Kinkos worker gets. So enjoy.
This situation has been coming to a head for YEARS, but because of the amount of turnover now they mean to make amends, it’s too little, too late for those who actually knew what they were doing. And Ken May is a moron for believing that people can’t see through him, when you hear someone with a Texas accent say “We need to stay the course†you know you’re getting fucked. The amount of money set aside for all these sweet raises wont make a dent overall. And honestly the people left now at the stores around mine deserve what they’re getting paid.
What the people who read this need to know is that the people who quit were the tenured people, the artists, the designers, the graduate students, but the garbage this company has been pulling forced almost all of them out. Who does that help? Well now they don’t have to pay these “overpaid†workers anymore, but they also get rid of the people who knew what it was like when it was a good company to work for. A good plan if you ask me, at least for corporate.
Oh, and if anyone figures out who I am by this post I don’t care. Do you really think I’m putting this job on my resume?
29 Thee Original // Jun 13, 2007 at 12:10 pm
Well I was surfing the web to find out how much Fedex Kinkos pays its employees and I came upon this site and read all of these posts. I have an interview this friday to work in Downtown Pittsburgh and Im not real thrilled with what Ive read. I have over 10 years of customer service experience and it sounds to me like working for them is a BAD idea. I am though looking for something just while Im in school and need something flexible with my schedule. 8.50 an hour really sucks too because my last 2 jobs I made no less than 13 an hour. Im glad I came upon this sit and by-the-way its the only site where I could find how much the wages are. Thanks!
30 Ash // Jun 22, 2007 at 9:35 am
I use a Kinkos in Boston and I have to say apart from the horrible waiting to pay, I didn’t find things run too badly. I think it’s terrible the way the employees are treated and customers have no right to be rude just because they’re the ones that procrastinated. I found the machine quite easy to use (perhaps because I have some graphic design experience), but a bit pricey. Tyring to run a simple errand such as copying some documents or scanning a picture isn’t life and death and therefore shouldn’t be treated as such. Why can’t people just be nicer, on both ends?
PS I’ve done retail and all I can say is yuck, I left that as soon as possible
31 Unknown // Jul 11, 2007 at 4:16 pm
I’ll give you all abit of updated info on the situation as it currently stands. As of right now FedEx Kinko’s merger is a complete and total disaster, maybe not for the company but for the employees. You see I have been working here for 3 years now, and while they seem to have a strong plan in reality they’re merely drifting along.
I wasn’t here before they merged but from what I know the previous employees were making alot, I make 11 dollars an hour right now, they would make 13 or more for the same position. Now I can grasp the idea of a merger and altering pay, but this isn’t where things end. You see now they have placed shipping computers termed FPOS (Federal Express Point Of Sale) into every Kinko’s that exists, and those employees who initially made trash wages like 8 dollars an hour didn’t recieve much more for the work. Infact I don’t think they got any pay increases but can’t say that for certain.
As time progressed the KPOS (Kinko’s Point Of Sale) and FPOS both maintained their seperate identities, unfortunately this means the employees must constantly move between both computers to do shipping / printing. They will never merge these systems because they lack imagination + ingenuity.
I’ll write more later.
32 Unknown // Jul 11, 2007 at 4:36 pm
So anyways let me continue onward.
I’ve suggested to FedEx they might merge the FPOS + KPOS systems into a single online version, they already have the needed framework setup on FedEx.com, at least for shipping. It would be a mere triffle for a good programmer with direction to integrate the sales of all merchandise + shipments into their online site. Then stores could login and process all their stuff through the internet, but noooo they think it’s a poor idea.
They’re crazy, they are insane. People are right, they spend alot of money for no real reason, listen to this lovely tidbit. They lock all the computers from playing DVD’s, but they wanted to send everyone DVD’s for training and stuff, what was their grand solution? They sent out brand new TV/DVD hybrids instead of simply removing the block on the PC’s that would let people run DVD’s! It was complete madness, totally insane. It would’ve taken a single network command to undo the block but they’d rather have it in place? That’s when I knew things were not going to turn out well.
Since that time I’ve seen countless junk DVD’s sent that nobody watches, and their production costs must be ridiculious too. I ignore the Purple Promise trash and concentrate on work, that’s all it really is you see WORK.
They are trying to change a job into a way of life, a social system, but this is so pathetic it’s not even funny. Instead of asking people to do their best the harrass you and belittle you, they make fun of you behind your back and treat you like garbage. I haven’t experienced this but I know it’s probably like that at the corporate level. I’ll write more later.
33 When To Quit? – SciForums.com // Jul 11, 2007 at 6:21 pm
[…] quit, but make them realistic too. Would you quit without having another job lined up? Read this http://web.archive.org/web/20080128172131/http:… I’m thinking, from reading the relatively recent entries near the bottom, that quitting may be a […]
34 Unknown // Jul 11, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Now as I was saying previously, FedEx Kinko’s is not a very fun position, nor does it offer you much in the way of payment. What you can acquire are benefits, and perhaps a nicely supplied environment filled with PC’s, etc. Beware though they won’t let you surf the internet and if you’re caught they’ll fire you then make you pay back the time you spent online! It happened to someone I know, they surfed the internet in the down time and got fired + were charged for it! Really pathetic wouldn’t you guys say, after-all the network is always god damn active so who the hell cares what you do!
That aside I would seriously think about this, about a job with this company. Ya see ppl, they make-up positions and then pay you less than you would normally make. For example there are Employees, Assistant Managers, then Managers, District Managers, etc. The issue is this, they’ll pay 1 pay-grade below what you’re work is really worth. So the Manager is really doing the work of operating multiple storefronts, the Assistant Manager is really doing the Managers work (any normal one) and the Employees are doing somewhere in the middle of these… for 9 an hour it’s not fair pay. They should make at least 12 an hour for this juggling act.
Let me tell ya the OTP (aka KPOS) is the worst system in history, they’ve gotta be using some sorta hellish Javascript or something because it’s the worst operating platform I’ve seen. The thing is slow, doesn’t respond well, seems to get stuck at certain places, even when any half-assed programmer could produce something far easier + better. Pathetic yet again…
I feel sorry for them, they lack vision to produce truly unique solutions instead opting for limited ones. Oh well…
Also I’m one of those driven crazy by them within 1 year so don’t fret, when you go mad like me you’ll understand it. The best thing I can say to you all is that all those writing here are right, they are totally accurate. The FedEx Kinko’s is widely known as Finko’s as a commonplace joke. Finko’s isn’t a good company to work for unless you’re higher management beyond the storefront level. Other than that they make-up policies, create their own problems, and mostly have no direction.
35 Anonnnn // Jul 11, 2007 at 7:55 pm
I hate to hear that the people are so miserable at Kinko’s and it explains so much. I have no idea how I stumbled onto this site, but once I was here I had to read. I am a FORMER Stinkos…oh I mean Kinko’s customer. I used them for years for the printing of my training manuals at work and then one day this woman named Yvette or Yvonne or something like that (no clue what her name really was and I am not sure why those names popped into my head, maybe that was her name or maybe that was my first grade teacher but, well I digress) Anyway Yvonne, Yvette or Yolanda called me to talk to me about my printing. I am sure I was rude in the beginning, after all I don’t like telemarketers, but she was so pleasant and seemed to know exactly what questions to ask me to remind me how much I dreaded heading to Kinko’s (sorry guys) so I listened to what she had to say. She told me about a company called Mimeo.com and offered to have someone print a document for me for free to test the site. i was skeptical because afterall printers are printers right? WRONG!!! Mimeo.com is great, in fact i can’t imagine why anyone would you Kinko’s ever again. Now if you are looking for a bargain Mimeo is not the place, but if you are willing to pay just a little bit more, but get SO much more in the terms of quality and reliabilty then you have to try mimeo. It took me a little while to figure out how to use it when I needed something done that was a little more complicated, but they have these awesome customer service people and they helped me so much. Can I say again that I will NEVER use kinko’s again. Ok I have been on my soap box long enough now. I need to get back to my search as I finally remember what the heck I was surfing the web for to begin with.
36 mindlessly surfing // Jul 11, 2007 at 8:10 pm
Mimeo.com huh? Has anyone else checked them out? I guess instead of askin here i culd check them out myself. I assume that the address is http://web.archive.org/web/20080128172131/http:… K that was stupid. I need to get off here and get some rest or something. I am babblin like an idiot, I bet I could work as a Finko’s manager now! ;o)
37 Unknown // Jul 12, 2007 at 10:02 am
Yes, well here’s how it works fellow humans.
District Manager
Senior Center Manager
Manager
Assistant Manager
Shipping Specialist
Production
As you see above there is 1 extra position which may be somewhat confusing, what you can be certain of is this, all the jobs are off 1 pay level, mostly because they’ve created a fake position no other company has (to my knowledge).
Production people do the brunt of the work, they produce, direct, and refine any orders that come in. The real problem is that Finko’s wants you to outsource the production work if you can’t do it all, so let’s say you’ve filled all the possible orders for the day, you can’t make anymore that day because it’s to much work. They want you to actually call other stores, ask if they can help, and spread the production accross like 3 different stores, then have it all brought to your center for pickup. It’s called BS and this is why they should be making more than 9 an hour. Do you want to be working, have a person come in with an order, call all over heaven and hell to locate another store that isn’t busy, then try working out a schedule to bring it all together later that night? And when they mess up on their end you can be yelled at about how it’s your fault? Umm no thank you Finko’s!
Then we have the Shipping Specialist. This term is used loosely as they are expected to basically take orders, ship items, help with customers, upsell (harass) and various other tasks. The make more however because in the spirit of FedEx (when they paid well) they believe shipping is still their primary goal. So thus you’ll want this job if available, but mostly they’re trying to eliminate it because they make 10 or more to start while production is at most 9 an hour. They like production people producing, then shipping, it saves them having to hire people with better wages.
Then you have the mix up of the century… Assistant Managers… they are mostly there to supervise but likely burned out because of ridiciulious demands or issues.
Managers, ummm they Manage things.
Senior Center Manager…. what’s this fake thing you ask? It’s made-up nonsense but works well… it means District Manager…. yes that’s right. They manage like 4 stores in what’s called a cluster. Unfortunately they only make the same wage as a regular Manager elsewhere, the actual Manager is paid what an Assistant Manager would get, and so on. Thus they throw the entire pay scale off and save money.
District Manager, not sure what to call this but they manage operations for a state, within a state, or some such thing. Thus it’s likely not a DM but somethinge else, yet they’re paid what a DM would make, fun ehh?
So mostly everyone gets less than they should for doing work that in another time paid well. This is why Finko’s people make retail wages, because Stinko’s decided to create fake jobs and lower everything 1 pay level. Go work for Costco and make 9 an hour, it’s easier
38 current kinko's employee // Aug 7, 2007 at 6:40 pm
90% of customers are fucking morons. I am more than willing to help you because I feel sorry that you were born an idiot, but DO NOT treat me as if I’m a fucking moron. I am going to school and I know the ins and outs of a majority of computer programs. Just because I don’t know how to work one little component does not mean I’m incompitent. I AM NOT TRAINED TO KNOW THIS SHIT! IT IS NOT A REQUIREMENT WHEN YOU GET HIRED! I just happened to take college courses that include these programs. If you treat me with respect and give me enough time to run your fucking job, I’ll show you the same respect back. Don’t expect wonderful service when you’re being a complete asshole. You act like a fucking asshole, I will screw you over and I WILL NOT get your fucking presentation done and you will lose your fucking job. If you want to keep your job, then treat me like a human being.
About the first post about the damn faxing. WHAT THE FUCK?! Do you think we control the damn fax machines. No, they either send or they don’t. It’s pretty fucking simple. Place your papers face down, dial the number as if you were dialing a phone number, press start, wait the the confirmation. IF it didn’t go though it’s caused by the person on the other line. Their fax machine is either busy or it’s turned off. If the confirmation page says it’s ok, then our machine is ok. Don’t ever fucking complain about the damn machines not working. I’m not a fucking technician, if I was I wouldn’t be working here and I would be making a lot more money! All I know is how to unjam a piece of paper or turn the machine on and off and hopefully that fixes it.
Again 90% of customers are fucking morons. I am educated, I know more than what is required to work at this company, and I do not control the machines. And don’t you DARE treat me as if I’m stupid because I will rip your fucking throat out. Maybe you should come into the damn store willing to learn because I am more than happy to pass on my knowledge, instead of coming in all frazzled for no goddamn reason and taking all of your agressions out on me.
39 kinko's spouse // Aug 19, 2007 at 10:55 pm
i am the wife of a kinko’s employee. he has been there for about 9 or 10 years. he started off as a production op and then moved up to asst manager over time, but being an asst manager wore him out. the constant phone calls from employees to our home in the middle of the night because someone didn’t know how to run a job or because someone didn’t show up for work; the stress of employee’s emotional crises; being the only one who knew how to do a job properly; the harassment from customers who were at fault for trying to get their crap done at the last minute; all of these things just wore him down. he went back to being a production op because he couldn’t deal. he would get physically sick before he went into work. he had frequent migraines and anxiety attacks. i know what he went through because i worked at kinko’s too for 2 years. during my final year, i became pregnant. i was a senior retail consultant/ office manager but everyone came to me or my hubby to fix their problems. (we worked at the same store.) it was one stressful thing after another. the stress finally caused me to develop high blood pressure in my sixth month of pregnancy. my doctors was going to put me on bedrest but my body beat them to it. i developed something called HELLP syndrome. i had a severe case. my high blood pressure put too much stress on my pregnancy which put too much stress on my liver. my pregnancy was attacking my body, and my liver was close to rupturing. i had to undergo an emergency c-section. my baby spent over two months in NICU hooked up to machines. when she finally came home, she was hooked up to a heart and breathing monitor day and night for months. so you see, kinko’s almost killed me and my daughter, and it’s trying to kill my husband. i just hope that he’s able to find a new job soon.
40 HH // Aug 22, 2007 at 12:35 am
I’m a Graphic Designer with 20+ years just biding my time at Finko’s…until something better comes along…(In my area right now, the graphics industry only wants to hire kids fresh out of college at ridiculously low wages – some even less than what one makes here…) Accepting a job here is the worst mistake I ever made, I find myself doing the job (key-op) of three brain-dead (and perpetually stoned) no-drive kids, not to mention putting up with incompitent customers whom rant and rave about everything that doesn’t go their way…especially when the documents or images they supply can barely be deciphered, or is of a format we don’t support, and have to convert via document creation, which they absolutely scream about being charged for… Since the most of the design work is outsourced to some company in India, I find myself utilizing my graphic skills to often fix work that should’ve been done right the first time at slave wages…They’re taking advantage of me for sure while I’m in here…Fortunately, I have a CDL licsence to fall back on, and I’m spending my off-time looking for a driver occupation just to get out of here…wish me luck!
41 VV // Aug 22, 2007 at 12:59 am
Tired of putting up with Kinko’s? Take it to http://web.archive.org/web/20080128172131/http:… might be able to help you…Also if you live in an area that has any Kwik Kopy centers (mind you, they’re not very numerous to begin with)…they do excellent work the FIRST time around! Only drawback with KK, is the sooner you need it, the more they charge, but that’s what you’d put up with at a professional print house anyway…Try those…and take FedUp/Kinkos out of the loop!
42 Faceless and Anonymous // Sep 25, 2007 at 4:21 pm
My 24 hour 25 brochure-digital-printing job took 48. Crap image quality until I insisted improvement, Poor scoring and folding and they said it was my sample they followed (right!). No folder in house for heavy stock brochure, so they borrow from another Kinko, Poorly calibrated fiery and xerox. Employees tried but don’t know who is doing what. I can have the job done over but I am already 2 days behind!
43 I understand // Jan 1, 2008 at 8:48 pm
I understand the frustration of both the employees and the customers. I am an observant guy who respects the thoughts of others and Must say, Kinko’s needs help.
I have worked for FedEx Kinko’s for two years and two months. I am a shipping specialist, but keyed in the system as a consultant (which means counter person). I am not paid well enough for what I do.
I take the time to read company reports, and understand how things function in order to give the customer a clear explanation as to why it may cost a lot to ship, or what the delay will be. I use a low deep baratone voice of mine to effectively communicate information to each customer, and smile with a happy attitude (though i am raging inside), and it works. But I will say this, the company is robbing it’s employees of money, time, and energy. It says it cares about the workers who are students, yet does not like the workers to put anything above the job (as according to 2005-2006 guidbook). When I signed up for school, my boss asked me to change my school schedule in order to work the hours she wanted me, when I conveyed I could not, she was upset and told me I was not a team player. Then after spending time in school, what hours I am not in school I am working. I have asked for time to be able to study and rest, and have yet to receive it. The days off of work are the days I spend at school……there are people who work there who could work the hours needed without me for a while, but I have to work the hours which interfere with my school.
When customers come in, they are rude indeed, but also for good reason. Though it is true for a lot to say they want the impossible. Our machines, such as our oce, and our 7105’s, are old and after pushing them past their limits for a few years…they can not and will not produce a good quality copy most of the time. When customers want documents printed from their flashdrives or usb’s or whatever, it is hard to find a computer to do that from being our dpw’s were taken away, now we have two left, one a basic with no software almost, and the other filled with corrupted files that it crashes all the time.
I feel for a lot of the customers who think we are idots, and don’t seem to understand we are put in situations where we look bad, but really are not…….we are victims of circumstance. Not all of us are getting degress in graphics or anything like that…….and you don’t need one to work for FedEx Kink’os. So when customers get angry for us not knowing how to work with computers becuase they dont know either in the self serve area……I have to break down sometimes and just tell them the truth behind it all. Most of them understand and are still angry or upset, but hold back from completely taking it out on me, which is good…..it means they are angry at the moment and I am there firsthand to yell at, but nothing personal.
There is so much more to list, too much stuff to mention. I only hope Kinko’s is taken out by alphagraphics. that business is so much better.
And one more note, reading these posts, all of them, I will agree with something else out loud OTP SUCKS!!! haha, that is so very true. It is slow, it takes too long, the customer is left to wonder why it takes so long to place an order for a few copies and bindery jobs…….and of course about one out of four times, it crashes on us and we have to reload which takes it up to ten or fifteen minutes.
To everyone, I am so sorry you either have a bad experience working for Fedex Kinko’s, or a bad experience as a customer with the company.
If there is a customer, or previous customer who is reading this and would like to ask a few questions regarding shipping or anything at all, please email me at researcher845@yahoo.com
I will try to answer your questions the best I can, but if I can’t, please don’t be surprised or upset, it would be becuase the information is kept from me by the powers that be.
I can’t wait to escape my prison at FedEx Kinko’s!!!!
44 Shawn // Jan 10, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Wow…I have to say that Im surprised at hearing all these negative stories. I work at a Fedex Kinkos in Columbus, Ohio and I have to say that the stores in your city operate nothing like the ones you all have described. When hired we are all taught to handle customers with respect so that respect is returned. We rarely have major issues…yes our machines go down from time to time because of the extreme load that is put on them, but that is to be expected. When customers become upset we deal with the problem as if it is happening to us. It is a waiste of time to get upset and take the matter to heart. It sound to me that too many of you are taking your jobs too seriously and forgetting that you yourselves are also customers and probably would react much the same way if something didnt go your way, or your as$ was on the line. Customers will be customers. Retail sales is always this way and if you dont like it you should fallow another path. Good luck to you all!
45 Shawn // Jan 10, 2008 at 4:56 pm
just a slight correction what I meant to type was that the stores in columbus operate nothing like the stories that you all have described.
46 Mike // Jan 26, 2008 at 10:55 pm
I agree with everything that everyone has said. I as a Senior Production Coordinator,or Center Specialist as they have it now. I am constantly dealing with customer BS, people who want it now, or people who think that the world has to stop and revolve around them because they needed a banner printed 2 days ago, and it would take at least that to get it back to them. I cant stand the whiny customers who dont seem to understand the concept of self serve, and look at you funny when you tell them they can make the one sided b/w copy themselves because we are up to our asses in huge jobs that keep the machines tied up. I just cant wait until I graduate from school in a few weeks and get a real decent paying graphic design job and leave this nightmare to rest.
I have worked at FedEx Office, formally known as Kinko's for 10 years now. All the complaints I am reading here are very black and white… and nothing in life is so clear-cut, now is it?
We are all people, whatever side of the counter you are on. I can see both sides of the coin. Yes, customers want it done for them, now and for next to nothing. No, it's not set up that way.
We are not trained technicians that know everything about your computer, how to fix it or even necessarily how to use all programs. If we were, we wouldn't be working here. There are things, in my opinion the company should have set up differently, both in our capabilities as well as our communication.
And yes, the machinery is lacking… often cutting crooked… or jamming… or running slow… which frustrates us as much as it does the customer. We just want to do our work, feel some pride in accomplishment, get it done, and go home. Do you know how many times I have brought the stress of work home with me?? Because Suzy at Tellacommunicatins needs her job done in the morning, and my outsource has messed it up… again??? Who gets yelled at? who gets threatened? Yes… I want your job done right and on time too. Really, I do.
When you go to a restaurant, do you expect the waiter to cook your meal, bring it to you, as well as ring you out, clean up after you… and anything else involved with running an eating establishment? Certainly not… but that is what is thrown into our laps… and we are to smile and say, “please sir, may I have another?”.
High expectations from our corporate on high… irritated ill informed customers… all this and lousy pay too. I can barely pay my rent. Yes… I am looking else where.
Instead of everyone complaining and placing blame… why not… call corporate and tell them how you would do it differently? so Kinko's kids, refund the mistakes on the card, show them how to use the copiers,say thank you…and… customers pick up after yourselves… and be a little more understanding.
Corporate doesn't care. All the people at corporate who truly wanted to change things and truly cared about the issues with the people in the field were recently laid off. At FedEx you just have to drink the kool-aid. If you bring up any issues, they will use it against you. This company is evil as it gets.
There are a lot of long diatribes on here, so I will be short and blunt…
As a former Senior Center Manager of Kinko's -> FedEx Kinko's -> FedEx Office the problem is simple… This company has tried to be everything to everyone for the past 13 years and it's obviously failing. They offer everything: photo printing, signs and banners, computer rental, pack and ship, office supplies, mailing services, faxing and notarizing, customer photo gifts, oh yeah and they still try to make copies.
The point is their services are a mile wide and an inch deep. There is no way that any team member can succeed in that environment. Kinko's was successful when they were the industry leader for copy and print services. FedEx Office needs to decide who they want to be and then dedicate the necessary assets to make that a reality (whether it's more people, more training, less services, etc.).
I was recruited to another company and have been very happy since. Good luck.
I'm sorry to hear that.. 🙁
I got hired on at $13.10, and was told after 90 days i would get a 6% raise and a bonus if we met our sales goal. After 90 days of upselling we met goal. i was excited to get my bonus i was told would be 400 dollars. They said sorry you have only worked here 87 days. pretty mysterious. i have been working my tail off for almost a year. Then last week i look at my paycheck and I am now getting paid 10.90. They must have forgot to tell me my pay was getting cut by almost over 2 dollars an hour. I complain to my manager and she says i got a list of employees and had to choose 3 to cut their pay. I work third shift and i am the only one in the store at night. I have to do everything and then some.
now i saw that someone said the benifits sucked, well considering the alternative is to not have any, well blue cross is not a bad company to have in my opinion, which is one of the reasons I worked ther for 10 long years. If it weren't for them terminating me, I would have been ther longer. yes customers were stupid, yes our staff was all of 7 people including the managers, yes our self serve consultant was a complete and utter moron, but those of us who knew what we were doing, did our job well. We got many customers who actually called in to corporate to thank us. Yeah, that was unusual. Even still, we had a lot of ups and downs, more downs than ups, but that was mostly management. Customers are what they are, they are going to be rude, stupid, etc… deal with it. The Kinko's I worked for originally was for the employees, then there was a buyout things started to slide south, then FedEx bought Kinko's and all hell broke loose. I mean come on, I agree with what was said earlier, they are a mile wide and only an inch deep. I only stayed as long as I did because I needed insurance. I could regail you with stories of how i've been screwed over the years but I will just tel the last one. It's November, it's dead in the store, all work is done, all cleaning is done, so there is down time, so it has been a long standing policy/bonus that we could work on our own projects. Now being production whatever the fucking title is now, I don't usually get down time, also one of the people who do everything in the store because stupid is trying to take orders and I have to redo everything she does. But I digress. So it's sunday in november I have some down time so I start to work on a project, we get a customer ,I put my project away in the back to try to complete some other day. Now December comes along and I haven't had down time to complete said project and I get set up in the office and told I was stealing from the company because I hadn't paid for what I done back in november. Now as with my manager and other coworkers, we had always paid when we finished our projects, even if that project took months to finish, so I am, I admit it, feeling betrayed by this company that I have given 10 years of my life to. So nothing like getting terminated a week before Christmas and oh yeah, since they decided that even when you did pay for what copies you made they still put on your paperwork that it was theft and make it impossible to collect unemployment.. How is it theft if the project you were working on is still in the store? If that's the case, every manager and employee I know should be fired for the same thing.
Of course I found out they are closing 20 more stores so I guess they are trying to weed people out so they dont have to pay unemployment so there's places for the outed workers of the other store to go to. I hope FedEx loses money.I should have left years ago but I needed the insurance. Stupid. At least I learned come computer programs.
Ive worked here for 11 years, I help all day and yes some customers suck but some employess suck as well. We work the store the correct way and yes we are short staffed and the company wants to cut payroll more and expets more but Fuck it. It has great Insuriance and MY STORE kicks ass. We get bonuses 4 times a year and I can take care of my kids. Kicks ass for me..
You all think kinkos sucks? I agree, and I'm an employee. I've only worked for them for three months now, and I already plan to quit. Half of the people on staff with me are fucking morons and that leaves the other half to pick up their slack. The machines are constantly broken because corporate is too cheap to buy new ones so in the end we pay more for repairs. As with any service, most of the customers are assholes too, so they grind us down to the point where we no longer look forward to seeing new customers walk in the door. Add in the meager pay of 9 an hour, and all I have to say is screw this shit, I got a B.A. and I'm going somewhere else to work.
I hate how they automatically assume you want the more expensive option. I took in a PDF file to get 'Perfect Bind' and turn into a comic. The Kinkos in Tulsa OK, was much more agreeable and cooperative. They allowed me to select black and white as an option for my comic, they said 24 hours for pickup and I was able to come in later that night and it was ready for me.
At the Kinkos in Austin, down 4th and Congress, the lady I was working with, let's say her name was ANA, was actually arguing with me on how I was going to get my comic. She said it would look like crap if I printed my work off in Black and White, but it's a b&w comic. She continued to tell me she was going to put my order to be printed off in color which would have raised the price at 30 more than I was able to afford. Only when I continued to tell her I wanted it in Black and White did she agree, but my parking meter went over in the time it took me to convince her.
I call the next day to see if everything is ready and they're just straight up cold to me.
“The order will be available to you at 6:00 p.m.”
“That's great but I was just wondering if you have it there.”
“Sir. The order will be ready for you to pick up at 6:00 p.m.”
A yes or a no is all I was asking for. I just wanted to make sure my order was at the store and ready for me to get when it is time for me to show up.
And what's with the cost of everything? I get two magazines printed off, on non-gloss paper, black and white, only 65 pages inside and I have to pay $73.00 for it all, not to mention the $1.25 per hour to use their computers to get something printed off. It's highway robbery! Because they have the ability to use a printer, when some of us can't afford the toner for our own, they are able to charge outrageous prices for them and treat us like crap in the mean time.
I don't blame all of Kinkos, I blame the one in Austin down 4th and Congress, and the lady who works there, Ana.
I think the Owner and President of Kinkos should walk into any of these horrible places and try to get their own projects done. I'm sure they shit a brick on their own heads when they see how they're being treated in their own place of business.
Seriously.
Fred Smith, Brian Phillips, Ken May and Paul Orfalea, get your asses out into you own shops and see how your own employees treat you. 4th and Congress in Austin.
Hey, just happened to run across this page, because I work for CopyMat, too bad for you guys we're on the west coast. We originated out of Berkeley, CA. Stinko's is from Santa Barbara? I was just trying to find out who came first, I beleive it was Copymat in '74 or '78? does anyone know, or care for that matter. Anyway Stinko's got nothin' on us, or so I have been told, although yes, some customers are just straight up bizarro……and I have seen some of Stinko's graphic design jobs, and I can personally say, I would never attempt to put any of that BS over, not even on a blind man…..
Hey, just happened to run across this page, because I work for CopyMat, too bad for you guys we're on the west coast. We originated out of Berkeley, CA. Stinko's is from Santa Barbara? I was just trying to find out who came first, I beleive it was Copymat in '74 or '78? does anyone know, or care for that matter. Anyway Stinko's got nothin' on us, or so I have been told, although yes, some customers are just straight up bizarro……and I have seen some of Stinko's graphic design jobs, and I can personally say, I would never attempt to put any of that BS over, not even on a blind man…..
When a customer pisses me off, I send them to Kinkos.
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I just found out Fedex Kinko’s got rid of all Mac computers nationwide. Another reason for me not to go there.
You can tell Kinko’s and Fed Ex are owned by the same just by observing the type of people they employ. They both must have the same training people as to training their employees to act stupid and ignorant. Only had a couple experiences with Kinko’s and that was enough for me. They sure know how to show their ass. I am a business person who has purchased several defunct manufacturing companies during the years which I have brought out of the ashes and turned them into successful profitable businesses. Along with that goes me working 16 to 20 hours a day, day in and day out. For the first 10 to 12 hours a day, I am right with my workers getting my hands dirty and working along with them making sure our parts are of supreme quality. The other 2 to 4 hours of the day, I am doing what you can call the engineering work figuring new ideas and ways to get things done. Keep in mind, when I buy these defunct businesses, I also acquire more than machines and some left over inventory. I also buy any and all existing plans, diagrams, formulas, manuals, etc. which also includes any
and all copyrights. Acquiring a need to have some specialty printing done, I heard about Kinko’s and thought I would give them a try. Living in northern Indiana, the closest Kinko store is in South Bend, Indiana which I found would be ideal since it is (or was) open 24 hours a day and it would work into my schedule fine.
Having a quick need for some special printing, I went there one night to give them a try. Wow, it was great and I was sold on them but not for long. About 2 weeks later, I took some old parts and repair manuals over to the same Kinko’s to see if they could reproduce them for me. The same store gal took care of me and had a clear understanding what I wanted but informed me that she wouldn’t have the prototype of what I wanted until the next day. Well, that was the breaking point between doing good business and bad business. The jerk store manager called me the next morning telling me to come over and pick my stuff up and he needed to talk to me. Figuring he had what I wanted done and wanted to talk over some quantity business, wow did I get a surprise. When I got to t he store, this pissy manager whose initials are JF told me to take all my printed material with me and get the hell out of his store and then lit into me about trying to have them do some copyright printing violations. All I kept telling myself was “What a dumb ass, if he only knew”
All more I could think about this manager was what a stupid MFer he was. Then for a topper, when I was going out the door, he told me to never come back to his store at night when this one gal was working. He made it sound like he was insinuating I was banging or trying to bang on this gal. Well, if they only knew that too, I’m a little more sophisticated than that. So, away I went. As for these manuals I wanted reproduced, one contained a little over 400 pages, the other a little over 200 pages. It’s not where I was planning on having only one or two of these printed, I was planning a large volume to furnish to the parts supplier’s that we supply the parts to for their dealers and customers. After leaving that rinky dink store, all I could think of was, the good deal that stupid store manager blew in the ass. It reminded me about the story of Samson killing a thousand men with a jaw bone of an ass. This clown manager killed probably one of the best deals his store could have had with the same weapon. Didn’t use his head one bit by underestimating me. In stead of him asking me if I had a right to copy this stuff and do things in a business like way, he thought he knew all the answers and was going to show everyone in the store he had authority. Well during the last 7-8 years, here’s what his authority did for me and other print shops that wanted to do some good business. Going to Mail Boxes Etc. and a few other independent printers, of the one manual, we have had printed a little over 25,000 of the manuals. The other manual, we have had just about 32,000 of
those manuals printed. That’s just of those 2 manuals. Right now, we have about 9 more manuals out there being printed, but definitely not by Kinko’s. What bothers me the most is when I think about how a company can employ someone so stupid. This jerk is so stupid, I would just like to catch him out somewhere by himself. He’s the type I would like to put my hands around his neck and squeeze them until his eyeballs jumped out. He is nothing but a stupid dumb ass MFer jerk punk. On the otherhand, when I look at who owns Kinko’s (Fed EX), it figures. It’s about their caliber of person to have working for them.
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