January 22, 2004

Now taking orders: Kinko’s assumes copy services

By Katharine Duke

Starting Feb. 1, all of Northwestern’s copy centers on both the Evanston and Chicago campuses will be serviced through Kinko’s Inc.

Dmitriy Samokhin, assistant manager of production for Kinko’s, helps a customer at the new copy center in the Norris University Center. According to University Services, Northwestern has signed agreements with Kinko’s to run the Norris Center store and to take over the rest of the University’s reprographic needs, creating savings of cost and time for students, faculty and staff.

photo by Mary Hanlon

Last August, a 700-square-foot Kinko’s replaced The Pulse in Norris University Center, and next month Kinko’s will take over the University’s duplicating contract previously held by Pitney Bowes.

“Essentially, the University has signed two agreements with Kinko’s,” said Tom Luczkowiak, senior manager of University Services. In addition to running the store in Norris, Kinko’s will take care of the rest of the University’s reprographic needs, creating what will ultimately be a cost savings for students, faculty and staff.

“We were interested in Kinko’s because the company has a reputation nationwide for providing good service with a quick turnaround,” Luczkowiak continued. “The company also has a network of operations, so if a lot of work needs to be done in a short period of time, we are not limited to the machines we have onsite or to an 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. schedule. Kinko’s has facilities that are open 24 hours a day, and the company provides free pick-up and delivery services.”

Currently, Northwestern maintains copy centers in the Rebecca Crown Center in Evanston and in the basement of the Searle Medical Research Building in Chicago. When Kinko’s takes over in February, the copy center in Rebecca Crown Center will be closed, and all of the copying needs on the Evanston campus will be serviced through the Norris Center site, Luczkowiak said.

This past summer, the University started looking for a new contractor to take over the The Pulse, said Steve Guinta, assistant director of Norris University Center. University administrators picked Kinko’s because the company is known for its service and had a network of stores, Guinta said.

The new Kinko’s branch in Norris is what Kinko’s representatives call a “spoke.” That means that the Norris Center location is part of Kinko’s network of digitally connected stores. If a job cannot be completed between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. or if the job requires equipment not available onsite, then it will be electronically sent to another Kinko’s in the area. Once the job is completed, it will be delivered back to Norris or the customer for no additional charges.

In addition to the usual duplicating services including black-and-white and color copying, binding and finishing work, Kinko’s will also be able to create signs, banners, posters and presentations.

“Even though the Kinko’s in Norris is in a relatively small space, we can get a lot done for us because of the other locations,” Guinta said.

Bill Johnston, director of Norris University Center, said he thought that much of the work will be transmitted electronically to Kinko’s, eliminating the need to have a number of copy centers on campus. “The goal is to transmit the documents online and have Kinko’s deliver the work directly to the customers. We’ve had this technology available for years,” he said.

Alicia Temesvari, a major account manager for Kinko’s responsible for Northwestern, said that to this end, Kinko’s is creating a “DocStore,” a customized online catalog and ordering tool specifically designed to meet the needs of Northwestern faculty, students and staff.