All Hail Quik Print

I just had the best experience, and I am going to blog about it!

I can safely assume that the majority of you aren't graphic designers, but I'm sure at some point in your life you have had to use Kinkos for something. Let me just say:

I hate Kinkos.

Hate. I avoid them at ALL cost, and when I do have to go there it's with weeping and gnashing of teeth. Kinkos is over-priced and has horrible service. Horrible. You can take your project in, drop it off and explain everything to the employee, then when you come back to pick it up there is some other dude who knows nothing of your project and gives it to you--usually done wrong or at least printed poorly, or crooked or whatever. Oh and most of the time the employees are rude. They treat me like I'm an idiot, when (ironically) I have the skills to go back and put my project together better than they can. There's even been a few times where I've had to TELL THEM how to do things.

I just hate Kinkos. Most people outside of the industry think Kinkos is a great life-saver, but I just see them exploiting people who don't know where else to get these products.

I'll prove my point:
Last Christmas I made calendars for the family. I printed them at work and I took them to Kinkos to have them spiral bound. I waited in line for 20 minutes and paid $4.20 per calendar to have them bound. I only did two, so it was $8.40 plus tax.

This year I decided to make calendars for all my aunts and cousins, nine total. I rounded up for inflation (and just stupidity) and estimated it would be $5 each to have them spiral bound. So I budgeted $45.

In Oklahoma we have a local place--a competitor of Kinkos--called Quik Print. They are in Oklahoma City and in Tulsa (They used to be in Wichita but I am not sure anymore.) We use Quik Print at work all the time for posters, banners or things of smaller quantity. They aren't just a "copy place" in fact they house full color presses and can do big jobs. They have awesome quality, it's cheap and FAST. Earlier this year I had a lady's wedding invitations printed there, and they turned out amazing. Our entire office is full of perfectionists, and QP totally passes the test.

There is a Kinkos next to my house, but just to avoid the agony of it, I trucked it two miles down the street to Quik Print and asked them to spiral bind my calendars. They were so polite! And I didn't even have to wait! He said my order would be done within the hour and they'd call me when it was ready. I went shopping, got a call saying they were done, came back and picked them up. Total for nine calendars: $14.03 including tax. I would have at least paid $37.80 at Kinkos, not counting a raise in price or tax.

Quik Print saved me almost $25 bucks!!!! And they were NICE and I didn't have to wait forever!!!

Last time I went into Kinkos (it was to Fed-Ex something) I watched a man shell out $300 for 500 black and white, one-sided business cards. Do you know how much it costs me to print 500 business cards FULL COLOR two sided cards somewhere else? $25. Do you see the mark-up here?? It's RIDICULOUS.

Moral of the story: If you are in Oklahoma City or Tulsa and have a small project you need bound, printed, copied go to Quik Print. If you need posters, banners, or signs, go to Quik Print. DO IT, they are great.

If you don't have a QP then look up your more local copy places and ask them their prices and what they can do. I bet you can find something much cheaper than Kinkos!

Why I didn't go there last Christmas, I don't know.