In-plants Furious About Adobe/Kinko’s Link
June 2007
In-plants everywhere have felt shocked (and a little betrayed) to learn that the new Adobe Reader 8.1 and Acrobat 8.1 will feature a connection to FedEx Kinko’s Print Online application, giving in-plant customers an easy way to overlook the in-plant and send work outside the organization.
The Association of College and University Printers is circulating a petition of protest to send to Adobe. It states, in part, “Your adding a commercial link complicates the process of serving our client base who may unintentionally send work outside the corporation or school believing that the link is authorized by our parent organizations. Please revisit your decision to include this link as an unnecessary and invasive interference in our organization’s business.”
Meanwhile, NAPL, a trade association for printers, has already fired off a letter to Adobe’s Chief Executive Officer Bruce Chizen expressing the disappointment of its members.
“The advantage gained by FedEx Kinko’s through this agreement with Adobe comes at the expense of the many other printers—including many of our members—who have played such a pivotal role in establishing Adobe as the defacto standard among many end users for reading documents and printing file submission,” stated the letter, cowritten by Joseph P. Truncale, president and chief executive officer of NAPL, and Steve Johnson, president and chief executive officer of the National Association of Quick Printers (NAQP).
A personal note sent to Chizen from an in-plant manager elicited a quick response:
“I have received numerous e-mails pointing out what a poor decision we made. Clearly a mistake and we are sorry for that. We are currently looking for a solution that works within the constraints of our contractual commitment with Kinko’s.”
The free Adobe Reader 8.1 has a “Send to FedEx Kinko’s” option within the File menu plus a FedEx Kinko’s beacon icon on the main toolbar acting as a button. Acrobat 8.1 will also let users route work to FedEx Kinko’s via the File menu.
The Association of College and University Printers is circulating a petition of protest to send to Adobe. It states, in part, “Your adding a commercial link complicates the process of serving our client base who may unintentionally send work outside the corporation or school believing that the link is authorized by our parent organizations. Please revisit your decision to include this link as an unnecessary and invasive interference in our organization’s business.”
Meanwhile, NAPL, a trade association for printers, has already fired off a letter to Adobe’s Chief Executive Officer Bruce Chizen expressing the disappointment of its members.
“The advantage gained by FedEx Kinko’s through this agreement with Adobe comes at the expense of the many other printers—including many of our members—who have played such a pivotal role in establishing Adobe as the defacto standard among many end users for reading documents and printing file submission,” stated the letter, cowritten by Joseph P. Truncale, president and chief executive officer of NAPL, and Steve Johnson, president and chief executive officer of the National Association of Quick Printers (NAQP).
A personal note sent to Chizen from an in-plant manager elicited a quick response:
“I have received numerous e-mails pointing out what a poor decision we made. Clearly a mistake and we are sorry for that. We are currently looking for a solution that works within the constraints of our contractual commitment with Kinko’s.”
The free Adobe Reader 8.1 has a “Send to FedEx Kinko’s” option within the File menu plus a FedEx Kinko’s beacon icon on the main toolbar acting as a button. Acrobat 8.1 will also let users route work to FedEx Kinko’s via the File menu.
Companies Mentioned:
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First of all, business is business and companies now days will partner with whomever and where ever they feel they can get an advantage.
Adobe has taken the same leap that FedEx did w/Kinko and probably based on the results of that partnership. Every In-Plant uses couriers and many will likely use FedEx but that hasn’t interfered with their business in-house. To suggest that this move will have a large impact on well run and managed In-Plant operations is absurd. The on-line order system will likely require the customer to set up an account which takes time and the customer will usually not have the time to do it. As well, if your in-plant already has an on-line requisitioning feature, where’s the advantage to go outside?
In every University/College, the criteria for any kind of copying for students, faculty and staff is timeliness, quality of the product and cost with a smattering of confidentiality thrown in. Any print business can provide two of those compo
I thought "monopolies" were supposed to be illegal in the USA.