When I posted this letter of disatisfaction I wrote to Kinkos over two years ago, I had no idea the discussion it would spawn.

As of today, the discussion was so much that it overloaded my comment management system. In response, I have created a seperate page to archive all the old comments. This page has been wiped clean.

Also, if you were previously subscribed to this page, you will need to resubscribe.

Perhaps, this conversation should be moved to the kinkosworkersunite.info website. We have plenty of bandwidth to spare. Plus, if you are a coworker, it's your space to use however you wish. It is for coworkers and by coworkers of FedEx Kinkos. (Sorry, managers and corporate henchmen will have to get their own website)

-KinkosWorkersUnite!

I just discovered this thread a few days ago. I read for hours the night before I had to go in for my Sat. shift. It was so validating! I went into the store feeling good that there is dialogue about the problems at FedExKinko's. I have enjoyed some of the funny rants, ached for those of you who are being severely taken advantage of, been happy for those of you who enjoy your jobs, and have benefitted from those of you who had insights into the bigger picture of the co. It is hard to get a bigger picture of what is really going on in this company, but this site is helping with that. Thank you Scott Manning!!!

I have this job to make some extra income for my family, and have had a pretty good time until recently. I am older than the avg. coworker, our store is in a nice area, the customers are by and large pretty honest and intelligent (although demanding.) I am not a mgr. (obviously, being PT), but was asked about being one early on. I basically said - NEVER! You couldn't pay me enough to put up with all the crap that mgrs. must put up with! I have my rigid schedule (I have 0 flexibility b/c of raising kids during the day), a weird, self-created shift. I don't make great money, but more than if I were to try to do something from home, w/all my responsibilities there. I have enjoyed learning almost everything except mgr. paperwork-type stuff and key-opping.

However, in recent months, things have gotten really bad at my store (although not as bad as some of you above!) Often I come in and JetLite is all reds and yellows, people have called out left and right, AM's are pulling 12+ hr. daily shifts, 3rd shift is working 14, 15 hours, and our BM is whirling dervishly around on the floor, trying to do seventeen things at once. (She is very hands-on, mostly out on the floor - good and bad to that.) Morale is at an all-time low. Stress is at an all-time high. Experienced people have quit. Customers' jobs are many times late or not done at all - I spend a lot of my shift apologizing. Everything was due yesterday or at least this morning - what to do first? Also, for me, an added bonus - almost everyone complains to me about how bad things are, because I listen and care. (Not that I can do much!)

I decided to post, though, to say one thing in particular: please, whether you are a BM, AM, or regular coworker, please try not to let the customers trample over you! This is one strength I feel I can offer at work (besides being very details-oriented - the jobs I work on are usually right - I do a lot of QCing and usu. catch the mistakes, call the customers, etc.) Example: The customer knows that he/she is pushing things by bringing you this 200 page ds document, bw w/ color inserts and tabs, coil bound, 100 copies at 10 p.m. to be done by 7 a.m. You already have enough work to keep the one possibly two overnight key-ops busy for the whole shift and then some. What do you say? "Sir/Ma'am, this is a complex job. We have a lot of work to do by morning, so the earliest we could get it done is 1 p.m. (or later). "But I have to have it by 7 a.m.!" "I would be happy to call another store for you. Or, you may run this in Express. We could run the tabs for you. Depending on when you get it all run, we might be able to do the coils for you, or if not, we could call another store..." You get the picture. You are giving them many options without actually saying no. (I usu. say no at some point, although I know we aren't supposed to. They know deep down that they are being ridiculous and that it's their fault this project is here at 10 p.m. for a 7 a.m. turnaround.)

A former mgr. told me that we train our customers. How true! DON'T make the mistake of doing that special favor for that one customer that one time - he'll most likely be back again for the same favor! Then your coworker will hear, if you aren't there, "Well, Murgatroyd always does this for me while I wait..." Then you are in a position where you must re-train customers. Yes, we are Kinko's, and yes, last-minute things are one of our specialties, but we can only do what we can do. It has been my experience that the customer prefers having the job done properly and later than their initial time-frame than on time and wrong.

Also, customers lie. "I was told I could have this by 7 a.m. when I called earlier this evening." Oh, really? And who told you that? "I don't remember her name..."

In summary - hold firm. You are just as important as that customer - you will make reasonable efforts, even more than reasonable if the customer behaves nicely - but don't promise them the moon. It is part of fair treatment. Everyone deserves to be treated fairly. If your mgment doesn't support you in this, go to HR. If HR is cliquey w/your unsupportive mgmt. (as I was reading above), then go over their heads. You can only do what you can do. Even if your managers try to squeeze blood out of the turnip that you have become b/c of the overwork thing, stand up for reasonableness for your own sanity and dignity, and that of your coworkers. You are not a slave!

Thank you to all who have posted. This is great. What do you all think of the union thing? I love the part about starting your own company! I love our Xerox techs. Seems to me that they'd be very helpful...

Wow, I had no idea that while I was composing my post, I'd be the third one on the new page!

So, what do y'all think? Should we move over to the kinkosworkersunite page? If not, why not? And how DO you feel about unionizing?

Scott has been incredibly generous to support this thread for OVER TWO YEARS!!! THANKS, SCOTT!!!

My pleasure, PTimer.

I have been able to transfer the old subscription list to the new system I have set-up. There were 20+ emails watching this page.

For those of you just tuning in, please check the first comment of this page.

I personally think the tradition should continue. I haven't worked for Kinko's in over a year, but my fiancee still does, get this- she often has to work 2nd shift by herself in her store, so I still stop by and make sure she's okay and STILL get talked into helping out hand collating tabs into books and such, because the company is STILL understaffed, the new people they hire are always poorly trained and push stuff off on her, even though she's by herself on her shift, because she has enough experience to actually know what she's doing. I worked for this company and I'm still amazed at how much it sucks.

Thanks Scott,
Not subscribed but still reading.
Also love your articles and reviews on books, movies and just everyday stuff. Favorites are the cell phones working in Target, and Patton.
Keep up the great work.
But really, I asked before. Did you ever get a response from kinkos or just a coupon for your next purchase?

Scott
General Patton's Principles
BTW, after reading your review, I bought the book.

Hey all
I've just had another horrible day working here at kinko's.
I swear that my boss is flippin evil.
I'm trying to get another job. I applied at this other job, and my boss told them I don't work here when they called to verify my employment.
He's hired his best friend's two sons. One of them he made into major account service rep.
This guy is a complete retard. He saw my netflix queue and said, "I bet I have more movies in my quay." I told him he said it wrong, and he tells me it's not his fault because he didn't finish high school. The other son he hired as office manager. This one sent all of our supplies to the other side of the U.S. THREE TIMES!!!
The boss made me responsible for all of our flippin MSM scores, DROT, and Q.C.ing everything, however, when I asked him for a change in title he said that it was all a part of being a retail consultant. However he told me he didn't want me to be in express or at the counter anymore, and he admitted that's what he said, in front of a lot of people. So, now I'm screwed. This manager is screwing us all out of our paychecks so he can pay his friend's kids more money. Oh yeah, the MASR, he's 21, and with his new raise, he was able to buy a brand new lexus. And, all the while, he's giving other people pay cuts, and cutting our hours while we're having to decide if we should pay for rent or food.
I really wish there was some legal action I could take NOW!
It's gotten so bad I don't think I can wait for a union to form.

RE: Did you ever get a response from kinkos or just a coupon for your next purchase?

I never got anything from them. Not a coupon. Not even an acknowledgement that I contacted them.

RE: General Patton's Principles - BTW, after reading your review, I bought the book.

That's great! If you've had a chance to read it, I'd love to hear what you tought about it. Wanna start up a discussion on that page?

Gigi,

Wow! And I thought it was bad at my store...

I have a couple of suggestions.

1) Re the company where you applied: Talk to them. Tell them the situation. Show them your pay stubs. Have them call the district manager or HR to verify your employment. Saying that you don't work there is assanine and probably illegal!

2) Speaking of HR, you need to contact them. You should have an HR employee representative; if you don't know who that is, call and find out (even if you have to call 1-800- GOFEDEX.) If you call HR and find no relief, then go the next level up. Be as specific as you can when you speak to them (dates, times, specific jobs, how you handled them, etc.) FedEx Kinko's has a Zero Tolerance policy regarding any retribution that a manager might try to pull against you.

I pray that you will find the strength and courage to take these steps. Do you have any friends in the store? If not, then talk it over with one of your personal friends and just do it. You don't need to be putting up with all this crap!!

Personally, I hope you get this other job (I hope it's better.) I don't see FedEx Kinko's getting much better in the immediate future.

Take care!

RE:That's great! If you've had a chance to read it, I'd love to hear what you tought about it. Wanna start up a discussion on that page?

Havent' read much yet, but will chat with you soon on Pattons' page.

An Open Letter to Ken May:

Ken:

Maybe, perhaps, you and Gary should actually work in an visit some of the stores in the SF Bay Area and see what kind of traffic we have to deal with on such a penny pinching labor budget. Customers who wish to place orders are not wanting to wait and taking their business elsewhere. Especially since we've FedEx customers to deal with as well as the traditional copy/print customers

Customers are baffled that that we've added all these FedEx services yet there we hired no dedicated bodies to run the FedEx counters. It makes the FedEx Kinko's brass look like idiots.

Talk about wanting to have your cake and eat it, too?

And the word is out that the new bay area VP is wanting to cut labor further, supposedly in response to the fact that sales and profits are down!

HULLO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Is this guy and idiot or what?

The reason sales and profits are down is because of LACK of labor! Customers are leaving in droves because our competitors are doing it faster and better AND because the competition has people to take care of the them...they don't have to wait at our competitors for someone to properly greet them and answer their questions! They don't have to wait for someone to wrap their FedEx boxes.

Add more payroll funds for more, quality people, add more funds to properly train our team members.

And for crying out loud, each store should have their own dedicated FedEx people! A team member should NOT have to be interrupted working on a $2000 job to processes someone's $10 Ebay package! Constant interruptions are how mistakes are made...I hope they taught Gary that at Harvard.

Hiring consultants and sending operations directors for PR huddles with store managers is NOT the way to handle this problem. ACTION ACTION ACTION! I predict FedEx Kinko's business will even take a further dump if you Dallas office people with the power don't fix it.

Perhaps FedEx should change the name to FedEx Kusinko's to symbolize the poor service customers are getting. (But hey, we're doing really well on filing all the reports we have to! We're good report makers!) Paul Orfalea's legacy is dead and it's a very sad moment that his nickname is sill attached to such a declining entity as FedEx Kinko's.

Yeah, Kenny, Jonny and Gary...I still care. So do lot's of long time co-workers in the Bay Area who've seen this company go from such a proud, customer service, employee friendly, common sense driven company to a tired firm of stressed out, underpaid, packaging report making fools. I urge you all to take action to help this situation, or again, you guys will start taking it in the shorts.

And by the way, I hope Kusin will have no influence on Radio Shack. I used to be a big customer of RS, but I'm scared to go in there now that he's on their board

Orfie,

I agree with what you've said! Between the people who bought controlling interest in Kinko's several years ago, before it went public, and now FedEx, Kinko's is being run into the ground!

The knowledgable people have been leaving and new people are barely being trained. Also, as you have pointed out, we are chronically short-staffed. I'm not sure how long people will entrust their copying jobs to us - esp. the more complex ones. Due to the above problems, we keep screwing them up!

It seems, from what I've gathered from previous posts and hearing about what is planned for the future, that they are trying to centralize the bulk of the copying in production-only facilities, leaving the stores to be just for self-serve copies and FedExing. (I believe they are called CPC's - we don't have them in my area yet.) And guess what will keep happening? DCC anyone? Or maybe they'll get Office Tiger to run our copies from India? (Maybe they'll do it by remote control, like the military operates some of our aircraft - the pilot is in New Mexico and the plane is in Iraq!)

FedExKinko's will become the FedEx Store yet! I know that I went to work at Kinko's to do Kinko's work (I was hired before FedEx took over.) I like making copies, binding, etc. I don't really like processing packages. I esp. don't like packing packages! I thought that they ought to have given us all a raise just for learning all that stuff! As you said, they are getting a "2-fer" with us!

In my opinion, one of the only reasons people still keep coming to our store for copy jobs is because we are 24 hrs. (Another is that we still have a few talented people left - but very few -they are dropping like flies!) If some other people in our area set up a shop that is like Kinko's used to be, and is 24 hrs., I think people would go there. People are always going to have last-minute stuff. I hope that someone has the vision to pull that off. Maybe I'm naive - I think someone on the previous page said that he opened up a shop? If so, I hope it's going very well!

OK everyone - think of all those successful competitors - Burger King, Pepsi, Toyota (wrt GM, etc.) Staples and Office Depot are about office products with copying on the side - so it seems to me that they are not in the running that much. (At least they aren't in my area - people are always telling us how they screw up more than we do!) The customers want to be able to bring their projects in and have them done right by people who are knowledgable and who care, esp. with all the changing technology. They want to talk to people who know how to get the right colors on their brochure, who know how best to do their jobs! And yes, they want to bring them in at 8 p.m. and pick them up at 7 a.m.!

I would love to hear from any former Kinkoids who have opened up their own place. On the previous page I remember reading that Xerox is hungry for business and easy to work with!

GiGi,

The first thing I would do is to contact Human Resources and let them know what happened. You are protected by federal and state labor laws. If the HR Generalist does not do anything then contact the Regional Hr person for your area and if that does not seem to go anywhere then contact Charlie Fisher (HR Head and VP of Operations for HR) in Dallas. He will step in for help! You may also contact your local or state labor board as well. When you speak with HR let them know that the (dumb-ass) new manager did with hiring same family members (in key positions) in the same store (which is not allowed by fedex). They will make him get rid of one of the two boys!

So in all seriousness. Where should a guy with 13 yrs of awesome service at Kinko's go to work?? Any suggestions. Please not Copymax Staples or Office Depot.

Xerox has accounts at businesses, hospitals, etc. in which they are looking for experienced operators especially with the Doc's and Digipath. Call temp agencies first since Xerox is on a hiring freeze. But would look at your experience and abilities for future hiring. They also put you through their training courses. Also go to Yahoo Hot Jobs or Print workers.com for other positions.

Does anyone work at the sunnyvale, ca stores, or know anyone that works there? Encourage your manager not to take any transfers from SF. There's an AMP that want to transfer, but he's totally sneaky and snakey. He got his current transfer recommedation by writing up 5 workers. He steals from the store, racks up on un-needed OT, and blaims regualr TM's for it, saying that it's because we're incompetant. This AMP has pitted TM's against each other, and given raise reccomendations to TM's that just don't show up to work. If you work at a store in the sunnyvale, ca area, please advice your BM not to take any transfers from SF, at least not AMPs. Thanks.

Sounds like a branch manager in the making to me.

Sounds more like a DM to me!!

I just want to say The HR people suck!! This company is a Tampex Sandwich!

Well, it was partly thanks to me that the snowball turned into a healthy avalanche. :) It's good that all of these folks are letting the cat out of the bag about the injustices going inside of the companies of Corporate America.

Some of us are just brave enough to stand up in the face of the humility, deception, manipulation, etc., to let it be known that those of us who are willing to make a difference, deserve to be treated in a respectful manner.

No Company, no Corporation, no Group, no Faculty, no Establishment, nor Organization can exist, constructively, without the help, cooperation and dedication of individuals who EXPECT and SHOULD be recognized as HUMAN BEINGS........nothing less!!

To ALL of you who have exposed yourselves and expressed your DEEPEST concerns, I say to you to keep your head up, move foward and be PROUD to be the man or woman that others fail to see, simply for the lust of greed, as the result of a having gluttonous heart.

Keep up the good work!!!! :)

(P.S.) And to you Scott, my hat goes off for paving an avenue that many have and are traveling towards a positive destination. Thank You Sir. All the best to you. :)

Yes....Thank you Scott Manning!! Here is my advice to all co-workers. Just do your job. Be nice and take your time with all the customers. You cant help it if you are the only one on the counter and there are six people in line giving you shitty look and the phone is ringing off the hook. At some point they will get pissed off and either leave or call the 800 number.Hey....Hey... we get paid the same if we help two people or two hundred. Fuck "Insentive Pay" Should I get all worked up about an extra $40...fuck no. And dont ever stay late or work on your days off..unless you need the money.Not that its a lot anyway!!

OTP

Order to Pray

Copy Whore. Post #24. You got that right. Call it the blue flu or self-preservation, or whatever you want. But you're right!!! Do your job but don't kill yourself with super-human stress levels.

For these wages you should do the basics and even more. But to go above and beyond to make corporate money when they don't pass it down is BS. Just do the basics and move on with life.

BTW ... I'm a little tired of hearing about performance and profits when we have policies in place which I don't have any input on which sells millions of copies at 2.X cents. Put in a little labor, paper and you've already lost money. So if we work on this crap all night every night why do I hear about performance. The only performance problem is the idiot that decided we should be giving away product and services for virtually nothing. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to see that most of these jobs lose a fortune and keep everyone so busy we can't work on profitable jobs. Duh. Hey, move me into management cause I just had a great idea: Let's drop the price to ZERO and we'll make it up in volume. That'll work.

Yea..Fuck em.. Any OTP nighmares.?..its a piece of shit. Lets hear the stories..Ours crashed twice in one day. Whats up with this 10-1-50 in 5 shit? Who evermakes this shit up gets paid too much I am sure and never has worked in a store...Try that shit On Saturday when two fucking people are working.

WELL OTP SUXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

What exactly is OTP?

Scott
OTP (Order To Pay)
It is a new (another) software tool from corporate that helps track customer information and pricing. It is like a giant data base with a user freindly form for filling in at the front counter taking an order.

Once the order (job, paper color etc) is entered into the form along with the company name, phone numbers etc. it then prints a report on the job information and pricing to use in production. (placed into color coded plastic folders)

Most don't like it because it takes so long to take an order, and when the report prints, even for the simple jobs, it can be up to 10 paages long and even uses very small fonts on some of the most important information on the job. The system also includes bar codes for each job that is supposed to track it through the process. Their is so much paperwork and logging and entering into computers information on the jobs that most jobs could be done before the order is finished at the front counter.

It prints a barcode (tracks job #) at the top of the report that we should be able to scan to find the job, but because their are limited computer terminals in the branches, including at the front counter, we still sometimes have to wait just to use a computer. Plus the fact that most of the computers are old (except for the two or three new at front counter and out in express. Those were added (with a barcode scanner) to "Order To Pay".

OTP:
Ongoing Technical Problems

A beta-tested piece of software designed for
1)workflow tracking and improved data management
2)increasing data entry time and decreasing time allowed for actually making copies
3)increasing wait time for customers in lines
4)increasing machine down-time
5)culling out the more expensive, long-term employees who recognized that it's suddenly become eight times more difficult than necessary to do your job, and replacing them with cheaper coworkers who don't know how to do their jobs.

Anyone seriously interested in making a commitment to open an independent store pleaselet me know. I'm looking for a team of 4-6 people to open/run a store. I have financing to get it started. Tired of working for corporate and ready to strike out then write busyguy111@hotmail.com. We'll set up a discussion group and see if there is an interest.

The Future...
OK guys, I want you to go along with me on this. I want you to close your eyes. Got them closed? You do? Then how are you reading this? Bad joke. Seriously, when you close your eyes where do you see yourself in a year, 3 years, 5 years, 10? Do you still see yourself with this company? Or do you see youself in some non descript new job far away from Fedinkos?

I ask because I am coming to another crossroad in my life and am curious as to the state of my fellow team members. Are you with Kinkos because it is a job, a kind of holding place until you find your dream job or figure out what you really want to do with your life? Or do you see it as a career working your way up from Epress person to Center Manager and beyond? Did you start with this company before Fedex and Kusin took over 4 or so years ago and you remember what a good company this used to be? Are you basically holding on to that mental image of what this company was and could be again with the right changes and are hoping for the best? Or are you just going through the motions keeping the job because it is still a paying job and you have responsibilities that preclude you from outright quitting and getting what you believe would be something better?

Sorry to get all deep and personal on you but having joined this community some months ago it has cast some light on my and that the stupid problems and bad customers that my store has are universal and I am not alone. I dont know whether to be happy or sad that other people are going through the same bullshit that I go through. Anywho, I have been with this company for 5 years and 7 months. I have worked all shifts and have done all jobs except for management and DC. My father died a little over a year ago and I guess that has got me thinking about my future. I have always excelled at the total of 4 jobs that I have held in my 13 years in the workforce but I have never really thought about longterm of I want to work here for the rest of my life.

The question I am asking myself is do I want to make Fedex Kinkos my main focus for work. Well only I can answer that one. The main reason I am posting these questions here is that my AMP is leaving mid Dec. I say finally because while he is an ok guy, we dont always see eye to eye on the job and production issues.(I am a SPC by the way) And he only got the job due to the fact that I turned it down 2 years ago and gave it to him. I have been burned and burnt out by becomming a supervisor/assistant manager in my previous jobs. I have been told it would come with a dollar raise and bonuses of up to 3 grand. Of course to get that I would have to whip my store into shape. I basically fill in also right now for the stores AMR because we dont have the payroll for one. I dont mind this, I am the type if there is something that needs to be done I will do it. I dont really get paid extra for this but everyone realizes my importance to the store(not to sound stuck on myself) I balance this with the fact that I can cut any additional duties that I have placed on myself at any time if I feel like I am being used or not getting what I want. If I go to AMP I will be technically and fully responsible for my duties. As I said before being burnt out and burned by taking previous AM positions has made me wary of this. I may take this position get stuck with stuff I dont like and end up having to transfer and or quit. Getting demoted,at lest in my district is next to impossible.

So back to my original point "What do you see as your future as a Kinkoid?"Stick around and hope for the best? Actually making a career as it is in this company now?Just using this as a paycheck until your doing what you want to?All of the above?

I will say this to the Future...I had over five years at Kinkos, some was pre-Gary, I had quit twice from Kinkos and came back to work because of the enjoyment I got from working with the files and running production with an end result of a fine product. Since Gary, the atmosphere with Kinkos sucks and even more so with FedEx in the picture. Here you have a guy that brought another documents company to a brink of filing bankruptcy after leaving them and starting with Kinkos (look at Forbes.com). I finally quit due to the BULLSHIT from corporate (Kinkos and FedEx) in which they come in and screw up everything that built this company from a single storefront. Just look at the numbers of lost managers, key-ops and asst manager and coworkers that have been treated like the worst step-child senario. (It could compare with slave treatment by corporate.) Now with the insulting wage reviews and raise situations that bring down morale and not to mention the crappy new system they brought in for corporate benefit and has nothing but horrible results and pissed-off customers and coworkers. I really did enjoy working for Kinkos and so did my significant other, but we just could not take the lack of leadership this company lacks currently with Gary and Fred (neither have experience in running production and cannot any machine except pushing the green button, which is what many of the new coworkers can do because of the lack of training and loss of experiencd coworkers) And it is all from corporate GREED! I would concider going back to Kinkos if Gary Kusin would leave and REAL LEADERSHIP took over the company. So, see what has happened in the last four years and answer this "has the company gotten worse or better since Gary and Fred took charge and how many coworkers have left that are seasoned or experienced and what is the morale like in your store should give you a bigger picture of the future at Kinkos. And why do you think so many have left for a brighter future elsewhere?

How funny to run into this thread here on your blog, Scott :)

I was actually seriously considering using Fedex Kinko's UK for printing some technical manuals (even downloaded Adobe JobReady from them) but after everything I read here I'm not sure I should. Crazy stuff.

Also, a great case study in comments as forum :)

Someone just posted this on Kinkos Workers Unite. We fully support this type of action. http://www.kinkosworkersunite.info/node/164

HELP SPREAD THE WORD!

And if you work at Kinkos, call in sick and support yourselves and fellow coworkers!

We are demanding more worker power within FedEx Kinkos, living wage increases, an end to understaffing, a more extensive benefits package, effective training of coworkers & machinery that is suited for our industry!

So for everyone of you who have been with Fedex Kinko's for a while this news may be good, and for those of you who "absolutely have to miss your luch break to finish a job"...

Wal-mart just lost a $147 million dollar law suit to its employees for not giving them the proper lunch break during the day.

Now I know that lately they've been enforcing lunch breaks and meal penalties, but we all know that before that, there were weeks on end that we would never get a break, either because we were the only ones on the floor or everyone else isn't intelligent enough to be left on the floor by themselves.

I left Finko's in August, and first let me tell you, I'm happier doing what I do now, and my advice, get out while you can, the company is spiraling downward and heading for bankruptcy as we speak. Find a new job, the experience that you've gained from working there is really invaluable to you...

But we should all look into suing for whatever it is that the employees of Wal-mart sued for, looks like there might be some money in it...I'll post again when I find out more...

Former AMP

To the former AMP that posted before me.

I have been a team member for almost 4 years, and I can honestly say I love my job. I may disagree with their decisions, in many MANY ways. That's why I love this website... but in a few ways your wrong. I'm not trying to start a battle, I just want co workers to know what's really going on.

I work close to the corporate office and I deal witht he big wigs all day every day... very closley. I'm in one of those "compact car" centers they are rolling out... this is a HUGE project. Compact car, SUV's... they will be getting these stores out as soon as this test is over. The company is not going bankrupt, FedEx wrote us a blank check and said do whatever you have to do to make this work... so their doing it.

2 months ago I was at a hub center that was very busy (and just as every other kinkos, VERY understaffed) we had so many problems with communication,OTP, production, management... it was horrible. The morale was shit, everyone was yelling at everyone. Customers hated our store, but only came back cause they knew that if it was wrong they'd get it for free... bastards.

So they gave me this opportunity to work in a Compact Car, saying they were going to be opening over a 1.000 of these in the next few years. So I went, thinking maybe this is my way out... maybe I could make a difference in one of these centers. Maybe customer wont dread coming in, and hell I wont dread seeing them walk in the door!

So we've been open a little over a month... and I absolutley love it. We have a total of 4 team members, everyone gets along with everyone. The work flow is nothing like it is at a traditional center, but for as many co workers as we have it gets a little busy sometimes.

But this is what I wanted to point out... they have given us the least amount of "supplies" (auxilary,machines...) and they want to see what we can do what with we have... let me tell you what we've got in the store.. ha.

A slim bundle DPW, basically it has adobe acrobat and the microsoft bundle. No photoshop, no illustrator, hell no page maker!!! So I'm sure you can understand the problem we run into daily without those.

We have a coil puncher, that punched by hand. Yes people the big lever that you pull down.. ha... yes that's right. It punches maybe 5 sheets at a time and the roller that's on the machine to spin the coils... will stop if I put my finger on it... needless to say we are coiling my hand. Ha.

I have no production machines, 1 konika (which i'm glad does 50 a minute, yay, but how about the quality? did we even check that part out? cause it blows) and two black and white machines.

I have 2 computer rentals, no scanner and no programs on them...

I have a sony picture station with no scanner and wont print 8x10's.

No oversize black and white or color machine. And about 2000 square feet to work with. Ha.

So this is a completely different store and customers are expecting that we do anything and everything they want... but you know what?

We are. We do it every day, we already have loyal understanding customers that come in every day. Understanding because we actually explain to them, we talk to them, we COMMUNICATE to the customer exactly what's going on. And before they actually come to pick it up.

Were getting it done, the customers love us. They love this new design. But with everything I listed and imagine what your day was like if you took that stuff out of your hub.. I'm sure you'd like to just give up and quit. But to be perfectly honest i've never been happier in my career with FedEx Kinkos.

Sure you guys say the corporate office gets paid too much, hell i've got a friend in customer service making $16 per hour... ha and he just answers the phone and listens to people bitch. Wow, I answer the phone.. I listen to people bitch.. and I do ALOT more than that for not near $16 an hour. So like I said this company needs to get some shit straight, but they're gettin there... slowly but surely.

These corporate guys aren't bad at all, they are all very supportive and very passionate about what they do, and where this company is going. There's so much opportunity out there guys... just have patients. I know this may be easier said than done, but for someone who was seconds from walking out the door at many points... I absolutley love where I'm at now.

This is going to sound very VERY corny to all you "kinkoid haters" out there...but I'm living the purple promise every day. I do whatever I have to do to make sure that customer walks out the door 100% satisfied. No doubt.

Thanks for listening guys, I really hope some of this sunk in. This company is going somewhere, and I dont know about you but I love having the job security. Thanks again.

that is to funny. man when you read what you typed up does it make you laugh? or are you seriously that unintelligent to see whats going on? you seriously sound like someone fedex kinkos has brain washed "i'm living the purple promise every day" dude stop getting bend over and raped set yourself free. trust me you'll feel better. I've been with kinkos for 14 years. I'm an assistant manager, who has taking on a role as a branch manager who went back to being an AM because i only received a buck raise. nope sorry i refuse to be used. fedex kinkos will hit rock bottom in a couple years i'll give them 2 more years maybe 1. to many idiots are running branches right now. that i believe aren't telling the whole truth to there district managers. who aren't telling the truth to vp's.

To the former AMP - contact me at ucsb1935@hotmail.com. I want to know more about the WalMart case.

Hey funny,

Over here you are our saving grace! Please go for the position! 2/3rds of us are ready to leave if you dont go for it!

(If you are in fact who I think you are)

In response to d:

I worked for Kinko's for 7 years, off and on...I say off and on because I too quit a couple of times and came back, and mainly came bak because I really enjoyed the environment that I worked in. The people that I worked with (I'm still close to a bunch of people that I met in my Kinko's day) I'm not saying it wasn't a great place to work or even in the "Compact car" that the environment isn't great, however...I do not agree that Fedex gave Kinko's a blank check to do what they want. If they did, hey deserve every bit of money that they are currently losing and will lose over the next year or two.

The biggest problem that all the stores are running into is staffing, and the fact that no one wants to work for the shit wages to do the amount of work that they are expected to do. So what is happening, and I'm only guessing, because I haven't worked for Finko's for about 5 months, but they are taking quality workers, such as yourself, from the branches that you rely on to do all your production, leaving the newbies, the people who don't care and the people who are just not intelligent enough to even run a copier. I apologize if I sound angry, that is not my intent, I just feel very strongly that this will negatively effect the company.

So taking these quality workers out means less productivity in the production center, which comes back to you when jobs are wrong or late or even worst...lost.

I was privvy to all of the new info on these upcoming releases when I was a branch manager, and it doesn't take a genius to realize what is going to start happening...Mark my words, when they strat allowing these "compact cars" to take orders and submit them to the production centers, there will be problems and you'll run into the same problems you were running into at a regular branch...

I could go on for pages wih the problems that will be coming up with the release of these newer locations, but it's Christmas and I have a big fat Turkey waiting for me, so...

I believe I've said my peace, and my previous post was mainly to let everyone know about Wal-mart, because I know that I personally have missed alot of my deserved lunch breaks, and I wanted to let everyone who was also afftected by it know what can happen if we unite to stand up for ourselves...

and if anyone wants more information on the lawsuit, just google it.

To "d" you have been so blind-sided and smothered with the corporate bull! And if you are in the Dallas area you can confirm this story: an assistant manager at the production center in Dallas has been working for Kinko's for many years, went through the pre-employment background check and was told he could no longer work at the production center because the fact that Wells Fargo request a back ground check of the management at the production center before Kinko's could win the contract with them. Since many in management do not have the balls to stand up for our civil liberties and rights cannot see the discrimination here of employees already working at the production center and especially the fact that most of whom will see the actual documents are the key-ops. This assistant manager is very good and was told he could still work for Kinko's but not at the production center. This needs to be reported to the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) in which they would have a heyday. If Wells Fargo knew of the fact that at the production center management had left outside in the open for anyone to walk up and pick up information of parents of the local school district that included everything from full names, social security, addresses, incomes and more. It wasn't moved for over a month (I still have pictures to prove it) after I had gone to management, and HR and until I called the school district directly and told them about it. As for the "compact car" crap, it is pretty hard to go from driving a Cadillac to a compact car and so much harder to get back into it. As for the blank check thing "yeah right" someone has been blowing a lot of smoke up your a.. that is unless you are a part of corporate, which it actually sounds like you are. Then how come FedUp Kinko's is a joke to the rest of the printing industry (why not go out and talk with people in the real world and see what is being said or just take a look at the type of positions that are available through out the company in which many are for your key-ops and management positions that have an education/skill or smart enough to see what is really going on here.
Why is it managers are coming and going left and right?
Oh and the corporate group going to branches that win...I worked at one of them a few years ago when I was the only one that was not a manager taking over the store while corporate came in their limo and catered breakfast and lunch in which I saw how they could not take an order let alone run an order and even three of them standing at a cutting machine figuring out how to cut and what size business cards are (I walked by and had to tell them) OR how about an assistant manager leaving two days worth of sales receipts and money was left on the counter in a brown Kinko's paper bag (used for completed jobs for the customer's) and a customer walked out thinking it was their order...I could tell you so many other stories as well. I have written to Gary Kusin and Charlie Fisher as well as to the FedEx Board and Investor Relations about the serious poor management of this company and the theft of revenues by their decisions and lack of experience in this industry of the corporate wanna-be's. Hit the Board of Directors and the investor's where it really hurts - in their pockets and explain to them why revenue has dropped and see why many customers are going to the competition (I see it everyday) the business that has changed from what used to be a really good company to the crap that it is today!
And for the law suits talk, I can give you so much info as well to the lack of breaks/lunches to discrimination of wages because of race and gender, and not to mention the unsafe working conditions (be it aux. equipment to lazy workers leaving trash and boxes around to trip over) or how about harassment and hostile work environment and even the ones that are drinking and drugging during work (even today) in order to cope with the crap they have to deal with.....I know that I am so much more happier now as well as my significant other since we both quit this zoo earlier this year. So "d" I can understand enjoying this type of work but at this company? It has become another "hamburger joint" to work for or to be hearded by a few bozo leaders that have not a clue about your job except how to control you....A VERY SAD DAY in AMERICA!!!

I would be very happy to join a class action law suit and I have much to share with physical proof. Email me butterballwimpy@yahoo.com

Has everyone heard the news that Gary has "resigned"? Wonder what the future holds - even longtime diehards have quit the company. I don't think it's long for this world.

Gary is gone. What a fucking joke. Wanna be a CEO? It is an easy ass job -- travel round giving corpo-lingo seminars on abstract horse shit. Harvard prick. Then meanwhile screw your labor has hard as possible -- fire 50% of the staff and drop everybody to McDonalds wages. To hell with the powers that be. Go fuck yourselves. The truth is on our side. Your days of plenty are numbered.

Good luck Ken May, you seem like a nice guy.

Good luck to Ken Lay, new CEO, FedExKinkos

All of you people need to stop your bitching and moaning. You are all lucky to even have jobs. FedExKinkos is a great company to work for. Unions are bad. Listen to your managers and continue the great work.

Ken Lay (Enron) instead of Ken May what a weird typo.

Or was it a typo?

Or is it a coincidence?

Or?

Hmm.

They track you with your little number.

I just want to be a yuppie. Thats all.

From what I've heard from Ground drivers you're completely off-base in referring to Ken May as a hopeful saviour.

Who would expect anything else from corp goons that repost 5 times in a row?

thought this might interest some of you...seems that a rat was involoved in the failed unionization attempt that occurred in madison.
from kinko's hr:

Lessons from Madison, Wisconsin
Manager Meeting: Union Avoidance
HR Training
page 19
Overview
• Capital of State
. University city
. Liberal city
. 3 Kinko’s branches
• Branch
. Campus branch
. Geographical center of city
. Tenured branch manager
. Tenured group of team members
. Average or better numerical indicators
. On third DM in as many years, second MD/RVP
• Unionization Attempt
. Team member initiated
. United Food & Commercial Workers
. Very Serious
Madison – Capital Branch
Manager Meeting: Union Avoidance
HR Training

Sequence of Events
Events
• Call from TM (2/12/02)
• Investigation of branch issues (2/14/02 and 2/15/02)
• Branch manager resigns (2/16/02)
• Union meeting held (2/27/02)
• HR & Local Mgmt Meeting (2/28/02)
• New BM Placed (2/28/02)
• External legal counsel involved (3/11/02)
• 2 Assistant Managers terminated (3/13/02)
• Unfair labor practice charge filed (3/25/02)
• Union protest (4/22/02)
• Petition for election filed (4/24/02)
• HR and Legal assume branch responsibility (4/25/02)
• NLRB dismisses ULP for wrongful termination (5/6/02)
• Union withdraws petition for election (5/6/02)
Madison – Capital Branch
Time Line - 83 Days

Anybody in Madison that can verify the previous post? I'd like to hear more about that attempt.

busyguy111:
all of the staff from madison that were working in 2002 will be long-gone by now.

from ken may...sounds like he has a decent plan...
Folks,
I hope this e-mail finds you all doing well and recovered after Super Bowl weekend.

I wanted to begin this week by reiterating my message from last week. As a company, we MUST take good care of our team members so they can take good care of our customers! This is my main message going forward, and it is the key to FedEx Kinko’s becoming the greatest company on the face of the earth.

The short-term actions we are taking to support this idea are filling up our training classes and adding labor back into the stores. This week, we have 670 seats available in our training classes yet we only enrolled 240 team members. That leaves 430 seats that we literally wasted. Please put a full court press on maximizing our training resources and fill up the seats! On the labor front, later this week, Jon Cannon and the RVPs will announce the process we're going to use to get labor back into the stores to fix the line issues. In the meantime, if you are seeing long lines, go ahead and add the labor. We MUST fix our customer service issues.

There are few other subjects that I wanted to comment on today.

FKSO SUPPORT – Two weeks ago, I mentioned that I thought FKSO wasn't doing a good job of supporting the field. I think I might have gone too far with my criticism. While there are departments that are not providing the level of support I expect, there are other departments and individuals that are doing a super job! If you are doing a good job, then I'm not talking to you. We will be surveying the field in the coming weeks to get their feedback on which departments need to work on this issue. I'll give the feedback to the department heads for action, and we'll recognize the groups that are going above and beyond.

OTP ENHANCEMENTS – We have gotten a lot of feedback about OTP during the past few weeks. A lot of you feel it is the number one reason our lines are longer. I want you to know that we hear you, and we are working on it through a $2.8M investment and a dedicated team.

The three immediate areas of focus are improving performance, fixing bugs and improving end-to-end order flow.

The first two will be addressed through successive software updates every 4-6 weeks. For example, v1.07 will automate videoconference transactions and improve certain production management screen performance by almost 50 percent. This version is currently in test and is scheduled to roll out during the next few weeks. Other updates in development include alerts for eCommerce orders and improved eCommerce search options.

The focus on end-to-end order flow includes optimizing entry screens for basic and advanced orders, improving the production process, and greatly improving eCommerce integration. These are complicated problems, and during the next six months, we’ll have field team members involved every step of the way to make sure we stay on track.

HIRE FROM WITHIN POLICY – We have also received a lot of questions about internal careers. We want to provide our people with ways to grow and develop during their FedEx Kinko’s careers. As a result, we are currently working on some changes within HR that will enable us to hire for all jobs internally before we look externally. Charlie Fisher and his team are working hard on these changes, and I hope to get some of them announced over the next few weeks.

ZERO CLUB
In addition, I want to recognize our Centers and Managers that were in the ZERO CLUB the week of Jan. 23-27. Centers must have 20 or more orders entered in to Order to Pay (and all orders completed on time) to be eligible. The list is getting longer, and we are starting to see more repeat performers! Great job!

* Denver CO Cherry Creek (Travis E Novak) – 2 weeks in a row!
* Austin TX Campus (Nickolas Kleffner) – 3 weeks in a row!
* Redlands CA (Brad Thompson)
* Amarillo TX Bay St (Blain L Grover) – 2 weeks in a row!
* North Palm Beach FL Pga Blvd (Carol Gavel)
* Dallas TX North Tollway (Hilary Prather)
* San Clemente CA (Tonja Niemi)
* Addison TX (Michael F Forehand)
* Denver CO Park Meadows (Susanne M Geiler)
* Louisville KY Highlands (Nathaniel A Kuhns) – 2 weeks in a row!
* Tyler TX (Keith A Skender)
* Houston TX The Village (Annette Conwell)
* Baton Rouge LA Airline (Mark Goodson)
* Shoreline WA (Ray Yarno) – 2 weeks in a row!
* Kalamazoo MI Portage (Brian D Frieben) – 2 weeks in a row!
* Portland OR Northwest (Joseph S Mcguire)
* Orlando FL Downtown (Ellen E Dunkin) – 2 weeks in a row!
* Newport Beach CA Birch St (Jose Gonzales)
* Villanova PA Radnor (David Scott)
* Tallahassee FL Northside (Michael J Long)
* Highlands Ranch CO (June Michelle Everett)
* Simi Valley CA (David B Lewis)
* Bethesda MD Bethesda Row (Julie Ann Davis)
* Cincinnati OH Beechmont (Paul T Brown)
* Silverdale WA Randall Way (Mark S Aaserud)
* Woodland Hills CA (David B Schneider) – 2 weeks in a row!
* Covington LA (Michelle Clark)
* Upland CA (Michael E Mcgavran)
* Little Rock AR Shackleford Rd (Misty D Belly)
* Asheville NC Biltmore Village (Stephen J Wolff)
* Houston TX Copperfield (Kevin N Hanath) – 3 weeks in a row!
* Houston TX Fondren (Cheryl A Buchanan)
* Plainfield IL Brentwood Cove (William R Birdsell)
* St Louis MO Des Peres (Charles Friedman)
* Detroit MI Mack And Moross (Charles Jackson)
* Honolulu HI Kapiolani (Rondalynn K Kahalioumi)
* Kansas City MO Gladstone (Michael J Murphy Jr)
* El Paso TX Lee Trevino (Robert Chavez)
* New York NY Wall At Water (Sol Torres)
* Jacksonville FL Baymeadows (Anthony J Megas) – 2 weeks in a row!
* Olympia WA Pacific Ave (Joseph G Wahl)
* Portland OR Barbur (Tim Payne) – 2 weeks in a row!
* Woodinville WA (James A West)
* Harrisonburg VA Main St (Donna Michael) – 2 weeks in a row!
* Layton UT Layton (Kevin D Wallace)

In closing, I want to ask you: How many of your team members did you provide recognition for last week? How many Beacon stickers did you use to reinforce great customer service? Recognition is the most powerful motivator. Let's make sure we are all using it more than we think we should.

Thanks for all your hard work. We are making progress!

Warmest regards,

Ken

This message is being sent to all U.S.-based team members with e-mail access, with a copy to all Country Managers.

oh, I sent letters when I first took over the company also. I tried. But all I did was f it up. I'm so sorry. I'm glad that Ken has decided to keep the OTP software and spend more money to fix it. We know its not working, we know the lines are longer, but we will keep changes coming, keep wasting money for software that is a joke for our production and centers. We figure that while waiting in line, customers will spend more money on the office products we have added to our stores.
Good Luck
Gary K

Charlie Fisher fix something?

RU Serious?

Ken, stop backpedaling. FKSO is about as responsive as my dead grandmother. Charlie's department heads up the list of non-responsive. You need to get rid of Gary's people and start over. You're going to lose the 3 weeks of love the people who push the green button have give you.

Ok- so I sent a message months ago about "making your job worth it and stop complaining on this site"-- I got shot down and went to bed thinkng I still hate my job which I alway loved, and these people are dumb asses---- hell I work for FedEx Kinko's....

But you're not all dumb asses- this company will be fine- it will do well- don't ever forget it was Kinko's that made it, and grew it, learned it, cultivated it-

FedEx Kinko's will do well- don't focus on that- focus on what you can do-

I am happy with another company now- yes there are great jobs out there- the band aide "sorry msssages" from Ken or any RVP-won't save the people they hurt- don't forget that- I know when I left as dedicated and strong as I was, they "thought" it was a good thing tenured people were leaving- or so they told themselves

Goodbye FedEx Kinko's the day I left a burden lifted from my shoulders- as much as I love Kinko's and as much as I respect FedEx- I don't MISS IT AT ALL_ WOO HOO TO GOODBYE- Cya to all the f'd up days and nights that are not necesary at all!!! Life is good out there people- it can't get worse

Ken May May be great, He may fix it all, but he can't fix what's been done---------------ever

From: Ken May
Sent: Mon 2/13/2006 8:14 AM
To: Ken May
Subject: Front and Center - 2/13

Folks,
Last week, we held a leadership meeting in Dallas for all Officers and Directors, as well as a few District and Sales Managers. We spent a lot of time taking an introspective look at our results and the direction of the company. After two days, we came away with the following findings:

1. Our team members and managers aren't happy.
2. Our customers are telling us that our service isn't good.
3. Our financial results are poor.

Given all that, we asked ourselves, "What are we going to do about it?" We agreed that the key to fixing the company is to treat our team members better and to work very hard on improving service for our customers. In addition, we agreed turnover and Sales/Operations alignment are big issues we really need to work on. I am happy to report that we had 125 people at the meeting, and all of them came away committed to fixing these problems.

I also have a few other updates for you today.

TRAINING
We still need to fill up our training classes. This week, we filled a little over 50 percent of our seats. We need that number up to 90 percent next week. We have training resources that we are wasting.

LABOR
District Managers will receive information on new beefed up payroll targets this week. Let's use the labor wisely and solve the line problems.

CUSTOMER SERVICE TRAINING
We decided last week that EVERY person who works at FedEx Kinko's will attend an eight-hour customer service training class. This includes me and all members of senior management. We are working on a timeline to make this happen. Stand by for details.

APRONS
Based on feedback from the field, we have decided to add a "full apron" back to our uniforms. They have been ordered, and we hope to have them in a few months.

EXPANSION
Earlier this year, we received approval from FedEx to add 150 new stores starting in June. These will be the first installment of the 2,000 we hope to open over the next five years. This is another example of our company being on the move. We will add thousands of jobs, which will give many of you opportunities for career growth and development.

CAS
I'd also like to update you this week about what is happening with our Customer Administrative Services (CAS) team. As you may be aware, we implemented an entirely new system at CAS a few months ago. We are still working through a number of bugs in the new system. This has made it very difficult for the CAS team to execute on their top priority - collecting and applying payments to accounts - and to deliver the level of service you and our customers have come to expect.

We are working to get them the right tools they need to do their jobs but that will not be immediate, so please be patient. In the meantime, a special center only hotline has been established - 1.800.488.3705, ext. 4600. Please remember, this is for center team members only.

ZERO CLUB
I want to recognize our Centers and Managers that were in the ZERO CLUB the week of Jan. 30 - Feb. 5. Centers must have 20 or more orders entered in to Order to Pay (and all orders completed on time) to be eligible. In addition, we changed the criteria this week to include ALL JOBS entered in to OTP. It will be a little tougher to make the Zero Club in the future, but it is important we are monitoring all jobs and delivering on The Purple Promise for ALL customers.

* #0631 - Westminster CO (Brian L Kamin) - 2nd Time On List
* #1002 - Corvallis OR (Jeremiah S McClintock) - 2nd Time On List
* #0323 - Denver CO CPC (Michael S Lang)
* #0161 - Layton UT Layton (Kevin D Wallace) - 2 Weeks In A Row; 3rd Time On List
* #0435 - Santa Fe NM Guadalupe (Ronald S Salazar - Acting CM) - 2nd Time On List
* #0501 - Knoxville TN Cumberland (Karen Dale Boulden)
* #2202 - Tallahassee FL Fsu (Pooja Jhurani)
* #1147 - Fresno CA Downtown (Le Keisha A Petersen)
* #1340 - Coppell TX Village Town Center (Edwin Frederic Army)
* #1150 - Tampa FL Park Tower (Paul Gopee)
* #5160 - Arcata CA (Elizabeth J Finney)
* #0560 - Tulsa OK Downtown (Richard E Terry)

That's it for this week. Let's make sure we are concentrating on taking care of our team members and customers. Make sure you publicly recognize team members that are going above and beyond for customers so everyone sees that good customer service is appreciated. Have a super week!

Warmest regards,

Ken

This message is being sent to all U.S.-based team members with e-mail access, with a copy to all Country Managers.

history of union attempts at kinkos: http://www.kinkosworkersunite.info/node/14

Would be very interested in knowing how you got that info deadman and if you could get more. you can use the "contact us" link on the website if you want.

thanks and solidarity!
kinkosworkersunite

to kinkosworkersunite:
i copied the info. from an hr release on hidden in the bowels of the company intranet. it is actually easy to access in the training section.
what i like about the words of ken may (and i will admit that they are just words at this point, yet still...)is that he seems to be acknowledging that there is moral problem that requires addressing and redressing the concerns of the worker on the floor; not the manager, or the d.m. or just the asst. mgrs.s. this is hopeful in my opinion.
all too often i have heard or read about corporate concerns for moral just reaching down to the manager level where, as they say, the "rubber meets the road". this stupid phrase really ignores the contributions of the workers. unlike many other types of companies, there is a very real difference between the usefulness of the different categories of employees at fedexkinkos. corporate can all take a month off, so can rvps, dms, mgr.s and even most ams, but the company cannot function without somewhat skilled and somewhat motivated workers in the branches. if only for purely business-driven reasons, it is these people who should be happiest as they will then pass on this vibe to the consumer, perform the jobs properly, find areas where they can improve on the consumers initial ideas, trouble-shoot problems and generally use their skill and experience to complete the transaction satisfactorily. corporate and those in op.s who are closest to them are certainly useful, but they are not as critical as the line-worker at all. in my former branches i could get paper from any good vendor, we could outsource jobs to any vendor based on our own cost-benefit analysis, we could even come up with marketing ideas that were better than the some of the crap corporate pushes. are these not some of the main functions of a corporate system in a company like fedexkinko's. granted, they can make plans and align the various scattered branches in a way the workers in the store cannot, but so what? all this mobile professional crap is hype. most customers are local and most are walk-in at first and maybe cold-called by an scc to say that we are in the area so try us out. so really people do not care if fedexkinko's in dubai is like the one in boise. they just want concerned, skilled, imaginative, problem-solving people at and behind the counter of the branch they use. this means reasonalby happy production-level coworkers.
sorry to be so long-winded. good luck with the union thing.

Hey,
I'd like to sue the company. I never signed my rights away to sue, that arbitration form. I just never got around to it, and the management forgot to keep bugging me. I was one of the lucky people that slipped through the cracks when it came to keeping employees from getting a lawyer.

Here is my situation:
I transferred to a new store almost a year ago.
I wasn't brought into the position I applied for because it was no longer available.
But, it did become available.
So, I applied again, but nobody was ever hired.
Now the management put this guy who doesn't know what he's doing and refuses to do C.O.D.s and the like because he doesn't know how, and even tells cusomters we don't offer the service.
I think I was passed up because of two reasons, 1, being that I'm a girl and there are no girls in my store/branch above retail consultant except for one lady who is an MASR that was hired way back when. 2, I'm a jew, and i've overheard management making a few jewish jokes. I don't have it on tape recorder, but it wouldn't be hard to do.

What kind of lawyer should I try to get? Isn't this workplace discrimination?

Thanks

GiGi.

Ha. You get that joke on tape and what position you're in will be the least of your worries. You'll be sitting on a beach somewhere wondering what to order for lunch!!!

Look in your local phone book for the biggest personal injury lawyer (just call the one or two that have the biggest ads in the yellow pages). They'll also be in the business of looking for suits against big companies and especially interested in a class action suit if other women will corroborate what you say about discrimination.

Good luck! And good for you for not signing that form. You go girl!

can anyone please tell me what exactly kinko's hr is all about. i really see no accountability or any desire to look out for the team-member...sometimes they don't even respond to emails or voicemails. is this a common experience with any of you? i actually have some nasty hr lady trying to tell me that i could not transfer because someone (who she didn't know and has subsequently left the company) gave a negative review of me. when i offered to scan and email all my hr record (that i know of, they should all be together, right?), including all PAs, she essentially said that it would not matter. all of the PAs are quite good and there are no other negative marks.
any similar stories? any advise? i thought hr was a counterfoil to mgmt as far a watching out for workers, when in reality they seem to be simply existing to promote mgmt directives and limit mgmt liability.
what gives?

HR = not on your side. I've heard many stories of HR covering for questionable management. They are also certainly in part responsible for the company's woeful staffing and promotion stance.

My experience has been that they are not for accountabilty or pro-worker. Instead they do exactly as you said, make sure the company has no legal liability. The history of Human Resources in companies is kind of interesting as companies saw the need to diffuse intense labor conflict in the 70's and companies needed to cover their butts. So yeah, you're not really going get help from HR.

Your file should be at your current branch. If I were you I would request to see the file and make a copy of everything in it. They are required by law to allow you to see your file and make a personal copy of it. Then, with the info you have in hand, fight it. Go above your HR reps head to their boss.

Whatever you decide to do, good luck!

thanks "idiot". i will do just that.

Deadman:

See my comments re: Fisher's group above.

IMHO, Kinko's HR is the most bloated, self-important group of twits I have ever encountered. There are directors of directors and 2 or 3 people named "VP". IMHO here are so many people in HR and they do nothing except dance the corporate jig. Doesn't it seem to you like they are anti-employee and pro management. Non-responsive is the name of the game, the upper level people are too busy feathering their own nest. There have been complaints about HR on every site that mentions Kinkos so I hope Ken May is reading at least one of them and makes some changes before everybody quits. Now I think the low level people try, but in my opinion they are in way over their heads with no training. In my old company, the upper level people responded to problems, but here, everything gets pushed off on low level people and the upper level people are invisible. It's like they really couldn't be bothered with the little people. It makes me wonder what they do all day.

Gigi:

What you are looking for is a plaintiff's labor and employment lawyer.

You can google your home town and "employment lawyer" and you will probably find a bunch of them. Call around, see if they will talk to you, and pick the one you like best.

They generally work on a percentage basis, something between 1/3 and 1/2 of what they get for you.

If you need more info offline i'm at floridafinko@hotmail.com. We have a family friend who is a labor lawyer.

If you live in Texas, I know of a case like yours that someone else wants to pursue and I can give you contact info.

i'd be interested in talking to a labor lawyer i was transfered to a different branch without me agreeing to it i had to work days by myself for months and i couldn't take breaks or lunches and had to work overtime procedures specifically say otherwise there's so much else i have to say would take days

I was with Kinko's for more than 10 years and a manager for about half that time.

1st, Hr is not there to protect the co-wo.....er, I mean Team Member. Unless there was gross misconduct on a managers behalf, HR is working with the managers and DM's.

Secondly, If you are unhappy, then leave. Don't look to sue or unionize, just leave. That's what I did. I had years where I made over $100K/yr. When I didn't enjoy it anymore, I left. You are not a slave to Kinko's....if you are unhappy = leave.

I agree- however laws are there to protect isolated situations, and if you feel like you are staying but in an unbearable situation, or left because you felt forced out even though you did not do anything wrong, then I would pursue legal action, and go through it with passion.
I too was with the company for over 13 years, and did not like the direction the company was going, both business decisions, and the extreme culture changes. I finally left, and that's right - if you are unhappy leave. Plan take time while you still have a job to update your resume, get your name out there. Interview!! If your manager finds out you are looking there should be zero issues, if there are then you have an HR case as well. You will feel so much better when you leave with professionalism, and move on to something better- why stay unhappy??

Gary's gone? However is Kinkos going to survive.

Gary's gone and all of a sudden this board is quiet? Somethings up

the board is quiet because people like to be part of something big and to see themselves as part of something big. when the old messages were moved to another page, they no longer saw the extent of the dialogue nor did they see their own posts as much.
imho.

No, I don't think that's it.

It's probably something closer to:
Most folks that smartened up got out
and have other things to think about.
I am certain an entirely new generation
of authors that will no doubt find this
board in time is developing as this is
written.

I think part of it is due to the disgruntled people have finally left. Also now that fricken Kusin is gone and Ken May took over things seem to be going in the right direction so there are fewer complaints to be made. Now I am not saying there is not stuff to gripe about but the way I see it if things are improving and corporate is making good changes then there is little reason to make unwarranted gripes daily. We should still be watching corporate, however, and letting them know when they slip up.

yes. that maybe closer to the mark. thing are seeming to move in a better direction (trainers are back, more payroll relief, etc...) with ken may and the people who got out, as well as those with better things to do surely have affected the volume and frequency of posts.
i hope that ken may's words match with his deeds.

Ken -- Do you ever wonder or care how people can live on $9.00 an hour? Just curious. This economy is so great....just keep working hard and things will get better.....hahahaha....Playing by the rules gets you nowhere. Somebody wake up the working class zombies and let them know that they are fucked.

Does anyone know if the folloiwing is illegal and what to do about it?
Our store is 24hrs, and our graveyard team works 10 hour shifts 4 days a week. However, you CM is denying them overtime pay. Is his illegal?

Gi Gi

It depends. Are they actually working the OT hours and not getting paid for it? Or is it that they are getting close to OT and the CM is sending them home before they get to it? If its the first then yes that is illegal, they should be getting paid for what they work. Have them document what they work and what they get paid and contact HR. If its the second then no.Whether it be 4 10 hour days or 5 8 hour days Kinkos is not required to give you OT. Kinkos is a work at will company meaning they can send you home before you get OT, they can send you home early if it is slow even if that means you wont get your full 40 hours for the week.

Gi Gi.

No, it isn't legal to be the best of my knowledge. There are a very few select people who work those shifts and don't get OT. Firemen, nurses, etc... but that was an act of congress and worked well for those employees.

I believe anyone who works more than 8 hours is entitled to OT on taht shift. But a labor attorney could clarify it for you.

But at the very least everyone should keep a log of their shifts worked and pay stubs. Even if you don't get it addressed now you can go back for years on this.

So, if you work there the next three years and then quit you can then go see the attorney. Have most, if not all, of your pay stubs (just get used to putting them in a desk drawer every time you get paid along with the schedule you worked -- and this is the most important thing he'll want to know).

Anyway, even if it's three years after the fact, you can go see the attorney and he'll know right off the bat if you're entitled to OT. If so, you'll get a very nice check at the end of those three years.

Best of luck!

g

It is not the number of hours per day it is the number of hours per work week. You could work 5d 8h, or 4d 10h or 2d 20h it would all still come out as regular pay. But if at any time they go over 40 hours in the same work week then each of those hours after the 40 is considered OT.
http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/whdfs23.htm
The first 3 paragraphs sums it up.

Sorry, I should have said this is in CA. So we have better protection here. Our little poster for CA labor laws says anything over 8 hours is supposed to be OT at a min. of 1.5x.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS COMPANY!?!?!
Anyways, our HR person slipped and admitted that they've been fixing the books so we don't get this thing called CA lunch punches. If we go more than 5 hours with out a break we get an extra hour of pay from the company. However, during a store meeting where a lot of people were pissed about having to hold the store down and somehow make it look like we are on lunch while not on lunch, the HR person slipped and said
The old manager was fudging the books.

if you pay and reward crap you get crap

ive been at kinkos for about 6 years now. for you customers who go to kinkos for computer help to fix files or getting it set up to print, you are assholes. do you think there is such thing as 8 dollar an hour computer experts.there is no computer training at kinkos . so set it up save as a pdf and bring it in so us idiots at kinkos ,all we have to do is open and print.oh yeah try to at least give us a few hours not 30 minutes.oh and if occasionally you dont get a smile ,excuse us for not being happy to get 8 bucks to run 10 diffrent depts. at all hours of the night.even the good employess get .25 cent raises for a year.manager turn over is unbelievable.usually new good employees catch on and use us because of desperste times and as soon as something better which is pretty much any job comes along they leave. only the crappy ones stay,so honestly what kind of service do you expect.as for me im the dumbshit that gives great service with a smile, i constantly appologize to customers for team members mistakes, im on time, i have good attendance ,and i work hard, and i know for sure i will get a 25 cent raise for my yearly review.so please leave us lowly kinkos employees alone.if things dont work out exactly the way you wanted it take it easy, cause you never know if kinko dude will snap and slash your throat with the box cutter in his pocket,cause you know your dealing with people who cant find better jobs and maybe 25 cents is not worth being disrespected by a customer who is complainig about a spot on his million dollar presentation he put together 30 minutes before the meeting.

at least they put "people" (team-members) first:

People - We value and care for our team members so they can succeed. We support diversity.

Customers - We will win the hearts of our customers by making every FedEx Kinko's experience outstanding.

Integrity - We say what we do and we do what we say. We are honest, ethical and do the right thing.

Responsibility - We are each responsible for our own actions. We offer solutions; we do not blame or make excuses.

Innovation - We empower team members to be bold, creative and inventive, and to continuously improve. We value ideas.

Community - We strive to improve the communities in which we live and work. We care for the environment and help create a sustainable future.

have a quick question. is it against policy
1) for only one person working on a shift
2) to transfer someone without asking just doing it.
I've been an ex employee for over a year now and my ex boss he still talks bad about me when on paper i did better then he expected me to. and he still transfers people without getting there opinion and has 1 person working on a shift. please reply thanks

to ex employee:
if you are asking about policy (rather than law), i can say that you can be transferred without consultation and that you can be the only scheduled person (you still take your lunch and manage to use the restroom, i guess). however, there is a legal issue involved with an employer bad-mouthing you. if this can be demonstrated to affect your abilty to gain employment at another company, you have case for a lawsuit. perhaps it is time to visit an employment lawyer and get a professional opinion.
good luck.

There is life after Kinko's. I left after 13 years, and I'm so happy! My new job is so much better, no FedEx, no BS and no Gary Kusin! I'm also happy to see FedEx gave Gary the ax...looks like Mr. May is not doing much better.

Staples is knocking, and I see a lot of old Kinko's customers there using their machines. And Staples has something called customer service,too.

Hey, check out the Wikipedia entry on Gary Kusin!

hello,
a friend wants to know about transferring to the san jose-bay area. any comments? nice area to work, good mgmt? etc...
much obliged.

It's been a while since I have been on here and see that nothing has changed in a year since I quit the Production Center in Dall-Ass. How about this small amount of wisdom: Do you know that $9 per hour for an entire year is actually $1,000 over poverty level?

Oh, I have even emailed Charlie and Ken and have never gotten responses to the many emails I sent. Because they are afraid (and should be) for the many things I have documented and pictures in which they could be sued BIG TIME! Hey Ken remember those pictures I have of the Dallas School District documents that were left on the bag dock of the Dallas Production Center with everyone's social security numbers, addresses, names and even incomes of all the students' parents....yeah the ones I sent to the FedEx Board of Directors as well....hee heee! I still have them!! Oh yeah and the pics of the safety hazards in the stores in which OSHA would have a heyday with you!! That is just the beginning of what I have....so if anyone wants to start a classaction suit give me an email.

Here ya go....another one for Gary K. you all know he went to Radio Shack after leaving Kinko's and here he is (probably) doing his famous cut and screw you projects (just like he did at Kinko's: FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - RadioShack Corp. notified about 400 workers by e-mail that they were being dismissed immediately as part of planned job cuts.

Employees at the Fort Worth headquarters got messages Tuesday morning saying: "The work force reduction notification is currently in progress. Unfortunately your position is one that has been eliminated."

Yep he has no balls to face people and tell them directly...what a chicken shit low life scum back yellow-bellied sapsucking lop-eared bitch and not to mention cum girgling slut!

To happier now that he is gone...

I also work in a store in dallas. I had heard those documents were left out because upper management wanted to get rid of K. the CPC manager. it was done deliberatley. any truth to that?

After getting my new job, I can see FedExKinko's was working me like a dog for a small amount of pay. I guess it depends on the store, but now that I looked back.. I should have been paid at least $14 per hr for what I did and the stress I had to put up with. Now with my new job.. the stress level is about 1/3 of Kinko's and I just do one thing for alot more pay than Kinko's. Kinko's is a okay job.. it paid my bills. I just suggest to use Kinko's as a springboard for a better job. Career-wise.. I suggest getting into management as quickly as possible for the pay raise because the yearly raises are just crap.
I wasn't in management and I was capped... it was not a good situation. So please follow my suggestion...get your experience and go find a new job or grab every opportunity to promote yourself as early as you can.

Fred Smith is a genius. Do you honestly think he would by such a company with NO plan?? Gary Kusin (former CEO) was hired to do a job. Trim the fat, and fatten the pig for market. He did that by cutting staff, cut training, cut budgets. So much so that co-workers were working an avg. of 80 hours per week, non stop. Could you do that, 12 weeks straight, and still be a happy person to help the um-teenth customer who waited until the last minute?

Enter Ken May. He asked what we need for success. He took our requests for better tools to meet the customer?s needs to his heart. With in 3 months, he began to supply us with what it takes to make customer happy. Are things perfect? No. There are still wounds to heal. First to heal: people of the company. As team members wanted to feel important, he is providing career paths, training, better benefits, etc. To have happy customers, you must have happy teams.

Our teams spoke loudly when asked for feedback. We knew we had the improper tools to be successful. Mr. May is now providing them. Even though our company HAS not grown financially, there are still obstacles in the way. Mr. May is beginning to remove them.
Have you read the paper lately? We are growing. Our plans are public. We will be successful.

trim the fat, AND fatten the pig? what??

all i see are new obstacles being thrown up.

I just caught our manager in a compromising position. Mr Tim Davenport had his Dockers down to his knees as I entered his office. He was closing a few windows on his computer with his lotion soaked hands.... hmm.

"Oh, just checking the numbers!"

Tighty-Whiteys. Yeah, I got your number ...

400+ employees... GONE.

How can FXK suceed without sales on the streets?

I guess everyone will find out as it was released yesterday that they are essentially eliminating 90% of all the sales positions.

I'm sure the $20+ million they are saving on salerys will help the stock price.

Had my head in machine too long I guess. What's this about layoffs? any production?

Hi all. Commenting was down on this page for a few weeks, but it is active again. Sorry for the downtime.

I fucking HATE FedEx Kinko's. I've worked for "Kinko's" since 1999 and it's not a thing like Paul O. (Kinko's Founder) intended to be now, or even a thing like it was in 1999! When I announced I was going to look for another job and leave FedEx Kinkos' my district manager literaly told me to my face that "it dosen't get any better anywhere else." Some pep ralley, way to retain your employee's. I could go on and on about the many other poor work conditions but it's a waste of my breath. Just know this...DO NOT GET A JOB AT FEDEX KINKOS OR YOU'LL REGRET IT! And if you want copies made...DO NOT SUPPORT A COMPANY THAT TREATS IT'S EMPLOYEES LIKE SHIT! Shop elsewhere and DON'T support a corrupt selfish corporation that cares little about their employees and less about you unless your a big $ account...tell your freinds to boycott FedEx Kinko's.

FedEx Kinko's = Shit Hole