Before heading off-Island for a week I needed to print 80 copies of something. I had a PDF of the something on my phone, and so I went out to Staples on the outskirts of Charlottetown hoping they’d be set up to let me email the PDF and then print it out.
The clerk at Staples gave me a business card with their email address on it, and asked me when I needed it. I said “right now.” She said “I’m taking bookings for next Tuesday.” I said “But I only need one copy and I can print the rest myself on the self-serve machines.” She said “I can’t put you in front of the other people with bookings.”
I can guarantee you that if I walked into a local independent print shop I would have walked out 10 minutes later with my 80 copies: simple human decency would have prevailed. By the “systems malaise” of Staples meant I left a disgruntled customer, frustrated enough to tell the world of my woe.
Solution to problem: next time plan better and go to a local independent print shop.
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I am Peter Rukavina and this is my blog. I am a writer, letterpress printer, and a curious person.
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Comments
Try Island Offset (printing
Try Island Offset (printing@islandoffset.com they don’t have a website) or Kwik Copy. I imagine both can give you much better service than Staples. Big box stores have cheap prices, but service is not a real priority…
Redux: went back this morning
Redux: went back this morning with my sheet printed and made my 80 copies (they have a nice self-serve credit-card-based service that requires no human intervention). Then I tried to use their guillotine to slice my copies up — I was making raffle tickets. Staples has the crappiest guillotine I have ever used, a cheap flimsy X-Acto model. And, ironically for a place named Staples, all of their for-customer-use staplers were out of staples.
I’ve never seen or heard a
I’ve never seen or heard a paper cutter referred to as a “guillotine” before, but the American Heritage Dictionary is with you. Must be a French Canadian effect.
The problem at Staples can be
The problem at Staples can be found precisely its mundane staffing policy. The copy centre is (almost always) staffed by just one person, which means taking business card orders, printing family photos, removing paper jams from the copiers, filling toner… all simultaneously.
I’ve spent many-a-summers working in print shops to know that the place garners enough work and revenue to justify 3 or 4 positions. But you know how these corporations are run.
Solution: Try to frequent the place as little as possible.
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