I went to FedEx/Kinkos to get some business cards printed. You would think this is a simple process right? Here’s a video of me sharing my experience at FedEx/Kinkos
What sort of experiences have you had with FedEx or Kinkos? Where else have you had people tell you that “they don’t make the rules, they just work there?”
UPDATE, here is how Fedex responded
Have run into similar experiences myself. The willingness to NOT work hard for your company is unacceptable. How can you even hire someone who really doesn't give a care what happens? The reason this probably happens more often then not? Empowerment. I doubt that FedEx/Kinko's employee has had any sort of ability to help people outside of his basic training. He doesn't know how to make a difference and I think that's something that is fundamentally wrong with corporate structure. Let people out of the silos.
Very well said. Couldn't agree more.
Have to say that my experience is you get what you paid for and when it comes to places like that, they pay poorly, offer poor benefits and make very little effort to make working an enjoyable experience. When I heard you repeat what the guys said I actually thought how sad that this guys creative mind has been turned off by procedures and regulations that make it risky for him to care and respond outside the prescribed rules.
I blame the organisations not their employees. People want to have purpose, they want to have responsibility and they want (generally) to learn and engage with their environment, but organisations like Kinko's, McDonalds, Walmart don't facilitate that kind of experience.
My two cents.
somehow they contribute and influences those rules.
First, maybe you should have been prepared before you walked into the door of the Kinko's. Personal e-mail accounts cannot be accessed on the computers they work off of. Doing so can get the team member written up or fired. Second, the team member should not have made the comment about “I just work here”. That is not how FedEx Office does business or trains their employees. Not all people who work at Kinko's have the same mentality and lack of ambition. Third, when you do have a company, you do not offer services such as free computer usage. to think that FedEx Office should just allow someone to log onto a computer for nothing is ridiculous. How are the team members supposed to monitor the fact that all you are doing is forwarding an e-mail?! You could be going and surfing the web for all they know and they are not there to babysit you. When you get your business up and running, let me know so I can come use your computers for free!
there are many printers in the area that have no problem letting you use their computer. as a customer who is already willing to spend $100 to get something done, it's absurd to want to charge me another dollar for nothing. I've spoken to a few people who have had similar experiences and ended up leaving fedex to get their cards printed somewhere else. perhaps they can have “printer” station where people who need to access their email can quickly jump onto a computer and get it done. coffee shops give free wifi away for hours to customers that spend $2 on coffee, you're telling me that fedex can't let me use their computer for 2 mins when I'm spending $100? it's an inconvenience to the customer and a complete time waster. they don't have to fix it if they dont want to, i just wont be shopping there.
The many printers in your area are probably independents who can make up their own rules. As a corporation they have to protect not only the company but other customers as well. As a big corporation there is of course a handbook that details all the rules and regulations that employees have to follow. Part of this is Customer Confidentiality. Basically it states that we will not divulge any customers names, info, jobs that have been printed, when it was printed etc. The computers that you wanted to use has this info. They cannot allow you or any customer access on these pc's. While it is great you wanted to spend your $100 that would be a drop in the bucket if someone did what you wanted to do and stole another customers files or whatever and that customer sued us. So yes we are telling you that you can't use our computers for your personal use regardless if placing an order with us or not. It doesn't matter if you got your card in your hand or not.
AS far as the rental computers are concerned, here are a few things. You put in your card, agree to an agreement which basically states that you are not doing anything illegal and you are good to go. You don't have to put in any personal info beyond getting to your email. It is absurd that a company wants to charge for a service?
And now the employee. It is unfortunate that they were so blase about it and yes it could have been explained better. It could be as simple as he was just the bad apple of the group. Or it could be more involved resulting from the state of the company.The company has a hiring freeze and at least half the stores are short handed. So it could be that they are a good employee but have just been beaten down by the circumstances. And just because you think a policy is stupid does not make it so. They are there for a reason and most, not all but most, have merit.
Now finally, we will do everything we can to help the customer but if they are not prepared(like having a usb or emailing it in advance to the store) and they don't want to follow the COMPANIES policies and the solutions we suggest then there is little we can do for them.”Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.” And if you had you iphone why did you make such a big deal over it to begin with?
And as a side note Kinkos is dead. We are now Fedex Office.
First of all, The reason you can’t use the staff computers is because letting you access the Fedex Kinkos network makes their network more susceptible to being hacked. Also, it allows you to potentially put a virus in the system. Another important detail, is that Fedex Kinkos is legally obligated to protect confidential customer information, or they could be sued if any information would be leaked . Why didn’t you think about that? It’s kind of obvious. Second, its great you take such pride in your “work”, but most people are not paid enough to take such pride in their work. YES most people in working America are just working for a paycheck. Have you really never worked a job just for a paycheck? How did such a idiotically obvious point get missed by a seemingly smart man. Yes what the team member said was wrong, and I haven’t a clue how rude your criticism of every “roadblock” was, but if you were over the top, is it really fair to yell at the poor kid for just doing what almost every other customer before you has been perfectly ok with. I believe you did the right thing by making a publicity stunt out of it, after all that gets great speedy results, but in a time of such economical misfortunes did you really have to hurt the appearance of a company that has an outstanding record of treating its customers and staff with a great deal of care, compassion, and respect.
I work as a full-time employee at a Fedex Office location. I have to say first of all, I am stund and offended at the service you received from one of the our centers. I know that you've already been contacted, but on behalf the company and myself, I would just like to extend an apology. It is always My goal as well as those in my center to make a customer's experience as wonderful as it can be.
Jacob, get off your soapbox with your “thank God for my iphone!” If you had your phone with it's cool features then why did you make such a fuss over it anyway? Btw, I've used a kinkos computer and you dont have to enter any information. Stop lying.
Think of it this way..what if someone jumped onto one of those computers and stole important scanned documents or something that you had done at kinkos and obtained your social, drivers license, ect? Would you be happy about that or would you come down on Fedex Kinkos as a company? By the looks of it you would probably try to sue and sqeeze every penny out of the company.
Also, that employee probably makes 9/hr and has pompous jerks like you who think they deserve the world coming down on him all day about things he CAN'T control. Imagine if he got fired for letting you use that computer. Guess what? He's not going to have a job and you are going to be on your way and not even look back or care, but hey, you will have those $100.00 business cards right?
Out of being curious, what answer would you have wanted from the employee? I think anything he would have said would have made you unhappy. You obviously did not like the policy, so if the employee would have said, “Im sorry sir, that is our policy and we have to follow it”. You probably would have kept ranting on how dumb and stupid you think it is going around in circles accomplishing nothing. Where is that going to get you? You aren't worth the employee's job.
So I just watched this video, and I would like to say that I am sorry for that experience that you had. Sadly one person can ruin it for the whole Company. I am a FedEx Office Employee, and I know for our store at least and those around me actually want to help their customers. The reason why we cannot log on to your email throught the computers behind the counter is becuase of Privacy Reasons, you privacy and the other customers that have documents that are stored on our computers. I would like to make a comment to one person names Roger. Now I am not managment, but I can tell you I make more than minium wage. I have great benefits with this company, actually better than I ever have. I am going to school to become a dentist, and FedEx even offers tuition back to their employees who do well. FedEx does offer us to be creative. I do believe that as a customer and an employee that you shouldnt work some place you do not like. There are many people who would like that person's job. While I might not have the best mood sometimes, the moment that I walk through my work's door, the drama, the frustration, my personal life stays outside. I do hope that this one employee doesnt ruin it for the rest because FedEx has a lot of employees that care about their job, and care about their customers.
So I just watched this video, and I would like to say that I am sorry for that experience that you had. Sadly one person can ruin it for the whole Company. I am a FedEx Office Employee, and I know for our store at least and those around me actually want to help their customers. The reason why we cannot log on to your email throught the computers behind the counter is becuase of Privacy Reasons, you privacy and the other customers that have documents that are stored on our computers. I would like to make a comment to one person names Roger. Now I am not managment, but I can tell you I make more than minium wage. I have great benefits with this company, actually better than I ever have. I am going to school to become a dentist, and FedEx even offers tuition back to their employees who do well. FedEx does offer us to be creative. I do believe that as a customer and an employee that you shouldnt work some place you do not like. There are many people who would like that person's job. While I might not have the best mood sometimes, the moment that I walk through my work's door, the drama, the frustration, my personal life stays outside. I do hope that this one employee doesnt ruin it for the rest because FedEx has a lot of employees that care about their job, and care about their customers.