FedEx Office (Fedex Kinko’s) Online Print Service

At home, I occasionally need to print color posters and black and white flyers. I’ve found FedEx Office Online Printing Service to be very convenient for this (if you know exactly what you want… more on that later). After you upload your file in one of the supported formats (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, RTF, Post Script, PDF, Text, JPG), select a paper size, and set print options (color/black and white, copies, collation, paper stock, etc.), the web site gives you a preview of the final print output.

For my last print job, the file I wanted to print was in CorelDRAW format, so all I had to do is go into CorelDRAW and export it to Post Script format. The final print output looked perfect to me.

There is a "minor" problem with the service however: there are no prices to be found on the site anywhere. No, the printing is not free, sorry. You do eventually see the total price when you check out. The only reason I can think of for this strange "price hiding" practice is so that people can’t easily compare online prices vs walk-in prices. They obviously have complete pricing data in the system, because the site does give you a total at checkout. This lack of up-front pricing is a major hassle, especially if you are not sure which options you want (type of paper, etc). You can’t easily/quickly compare the different printing options (and there are tons of them). Changing your order and going through the checkout process just to see the price is too cumbersome.

One has to ask, what were they thinking??? I certainly hope this is not a trend among online stores. And don’t you hate it when you google something (such as "FeDex Kinko’s prices") and the first thing you find is other people also looking for the same info and not finding any :-).

Here are some actual prices I got recently (December 2008) for my local FedEx Kinko’s (Richmond, VA):

– 8×11, B&W, 30% Recycled Paper: 10c/page.
– 8×11, B&W, Standard Laser Paper: 12c/page.
– 8×11, Color, Standard Laser Paper: 59c/page.
– 17×11, Color, Standard Paper, 1.78/page

There is a volume discount when you order more than x copies. It seems that the discount starts at 100 copies.