Tree Killer of the Week: Kinko’s
I try to conserve as much as the next guy. If I can avoid printing a receipt or confirmation, I’ll opt for that. If I can simply email or use a USB drive to transfer a document rather than burning a CD or DVD, I’ll take that option. Granted, there are resources used either way, but I still like to think that I am doing some sort of good by not needing to chop down a tree to print out a boarding pass to get on a plane to pollute the environment even more.
How weird. It’s 2010 and we chop down trees to document stuff. And we burn oil to get places. Anyway….
Recently, I uploaded a document to Kinko’s to print a proof of some artowrk I was producing. The artwork was 8’ x 20’. Yeah, you read that right. This isn’t a Spinal Tap style mistake, swapping feet for inches. It was a 20 foot wide vinyl banner. Now, what correlation a small paper print has to a 20’ vinyl print is beyond me, but it’s my own fault. It was a rush job, and although artwork was sent via FTP, I inquired in an email “Do you need me to overnight a proof print to you?”. I was thinking the response would be “Oh no, don’t bother.” Instead it was “Hey, that would be great.
Now, I don’t do a massive amount of print. I have a half-decent printer. But, my attempts to spit out an ink-jet print proof of my banner were pretty bad. So, after checking to make sure my colors were properly inspected, infected and neglected, I decided to send the print off to Popcopy to have an 11x17 print made, and then FedEx out! Hey isn’t that convenient. Now they are in the same spot.
The process is pretty easy, actually. You upload a PDF, specify what you want, pick your local Popcopy where you’d like to pick it up. And bam.
What struck me was the vast amount of waste involved. I was handed a large paper bag including my 2 prints (one for me and one for client), 9 pages of receipts/confirmations/payment info, a 2 page brochure on why I should send my prints to Kinko’s (?), another sticky note saying something about the person that printed it, plus my FedEx receipts. Altogether, I used maybe 15 pages of paper to print this, not including the tube I sent it in, plus the additional paperwork needed to FedEx it.
Really? Can’t you just email this to me? At this point, I’ve already produced the artwork, gotten approval, uploaded it, confirmed it online and paid for it.
Next time around, I’ll see if I can get them to not waste this much paper. Or, maybe I just won’t suggest the proof print.
