printing Dungeon pdf at a print shop

[kitsune9]

I just tried to get a copy of a Scales of War PDF printed at a FedexOffice (formerly known as Kinkos), through their web printing method. I have never done this before, but I was under the impression that it was pretty common for people to get PDFs they have purchased printed in this way.

They just called me and said they wouldn't do it because it's copyrighted. Now, clearly, as a Dungeon/Insider subscriber, I have purchased this work and have the right to print a copy for my own use. And they said that if I came into the store and did it myself, that would be fine. They would bind it and so forth, as well. But they will not press the button themselves, due to liability concerns, I guess.

Is this common, or is there some trick or magic word that will get them to do it? Does it differ from store to store?

I've gotten this spiel from Kinkos before. I even wrote something of my own, made it look nice and they refused to do a print job on it until I had to yell at the teenage customer service that I wrote it. Then they screw it up.

However, it's a rule that they don't all follow, because a different guy at the same Kinko's printed out my pdf of Pathfinder Beta so that I can bind it for a friend of mine. No questions asked and no copyright spiel.

 

[davethegame]

The magic phrase at Kinko's (never will call it by the new name!) is "I will sign a copyright release form."

If they won't let you do that, talk to a manager.

-Dave, former Kinko's assistant manager

 

[ryryguy]

Thanks for the tip, Dave! I'll try that next time.

 

[Kafen]

No kidding, I'll have to give that a try at the local shop here. I use a few small print shops for legal/local-made PDFs that I help make for locals, but it would be nice to have another option.

 

[Treebore]

Yeah, just tell them you'll sign the waver, sign it, and print it. It is legal for us to have our own copy printed, much like it is legal for us to have one duplicate copy of our music, IE the original we bought, and a back up.

Now if your printing up a bunch of copies to hand out to buddies, or sell, well then you can get in trouble.

 

[jaerdaph]

I had a couple of questions for folks with more experience at Kinko's/FedEx than I do. If Kinko's refuses to print something because of copyright issues but let you do it at a workstation, can you make color copies yourself? Also, will they bind something you printed out?

I'll definitely keep the copyright release form in mind should I ever need their services (thanks for the tip, davethegame!).

 

[davethegame]

I had a couple of questions for folks with more experience at Kinko's/FedEx than I do. If Kinko's refuses to print something because of copyright issues but let you do it at a workstation, can you make color copies yourself? Also, will they bind something you printed out?

Varies by store. The ones I worked at generally turned a blind eye to anything happening in self service unless you were really obvious about it (like the guy I caught trying to make fake IDs on our scanner who got the FBI called on him.)

They'll bind anything, since there's no duplication involved. We would even re-bind existing books.