Staples refuses to print my PDFs....

[roguerouge]

Writers: There's more options than just copyright and piracy

I find it interesting that our society has now moved to the assumption that any form of information sharing is theft until proven otherwise. What people are reacting to here is the erosion of the presumption of innocence in social and economic interactions.

Interested in protecting the rights of the author while still refusing to support the tyranny of the distributor? Check this out: http://creativecommons.org/

"Share, reuse, and remix — legally.
Creative Commons provides free tools that let authors, scientists, artists, and educators easily mark their creative work with the freedoms they want it to carry. You can use CC to change your copyright terms from "All Rights Reserved" to "Some Rights Reserved."

We're a nonprofit organization. Everything we do — including the software we create — is free."

And, of course, for other types of creation, there's: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html#GPL

 

[roguerouge]

I'd be paranoid if I was the store manager and my district manager told me I'd be fired if my staff printed something they shouldn't.

Sorry, but job preservation trumps in this situation.

Thanks,
Rich

Interesting. I had much the same reaction from my school's copy center manager, despite the fact that I had documentation from my school's copyright coordinator that my requested copying was fair use. She wouldn't print it because of exactly this kind of corporate bullying of both the customer and the employees.

 

[Graybeard]

I agree that the sensormatic gates at the front doors at retail stores are unreliable. They can be set off by any number of things since they work on a specific frequency. They are not magnetic. Sometimes cell phones will set them off. At every store I have worked for the staff are instructed to apologize to the customer saying something like "We're sorry, sometimes these go off for no reason. Do you have anything you may have purchased at another store that might have set it off?" I have had customers come in with DVDs they rented that didn't set it off on the way in but did on the way out. Also, the distance from the sides will affect whether they go off or not. Generally, the closer to the center, the less likley the alarm will sound. Also, sometimes the cashiers get lazy and don't deactivate the security strips. Manufacturers are also seeding merchandise with them hidden in the box. The cashiers often forget about that and if they don't see a security tag, assume there isn't one thus resulting in setting off the alarm on the way out the door.

If you do set off the alarm at a store and they do not attempt to troubleshoot the situation and apologize, then they are not trained right.

 

[TheYeti1775]

Do the magnetic theft detection scanners at the exits of most major stores also make you angry? Every store with these is treating its customers as assumed thieves. I seem to be jinxed to frequently set them off with tagged items I've purchased. I've not once got an apology from a store employee. They must think its fun to have everyone in the area look up at you as the alarm goes off. It's definitely annoying, but in the end a person has to learn to live with it, or choose to do business elsewhere.

I ignore their beeping and keep walking. I know I did nothing wrong and as soon as they attempt to unlawfully detain or search me, I will protest or put them to the ground if they were to touch me or my family. The local China-mart has quit even attempting their receipt check with me. The only place I submit to the Receipt Check is the BJ's because that is part of their Membership Policy, which I signed up for.

Now back to the subject at hand, I would just go to another store. Arguing their Corporate/Store Policy does nothing but give ya a headache. Your best luck will be with as mentioned the local store, not a corporate chain. I've never had an issue printing anything I wanted at the local Staples though. And if it is their policy to never print copywrited material than they break it regularly. And a Professional/Unprofessional look doesn't matter either. I get flyers printed for my wife's business regularly, they are created by a professional graphic artist and put the PDF for her to print. And like he!! will I bother with registering them with the Libary of Congress.

Also, if they want to start quoting all the copyright laws as reasoning, they should be aware of the fact of 'Returning Said Violation' back to the customer would in fact be a violation in itself. When in reality they are suppose to call the cops due to an attempt to break the law.

And the policy of do it at 'Self-Serve' is an open and shut case of 'Enablement of a Crime'. So what exactly can you copy under those policies.

I have a B&W Laser Printer at home, several local copy shops (some are chains), so it's not a huge issue to me. I understand their corporate policies are their to protect them, and if ever they have to refuse my business then I shall go right across the street and wave bye to them as I enter the other store.

That being said my 40 or so gig of PDF would be crazy to print it all out. And since I never need more than a few pages of something at any given time, the old B&W laser works just fine.

==========================
O' and Mark (CMG), I wanted to say Kudos to you for now incorporating that into your PDF's as suggested. One of the best things about forums like this and the community we have here is the fact that the small publishers (and now even a few WOTC folk) take heed to the needs of their consumers quite readily. Though I would make a suggestion of in that permission adding only the need of a receipt as required proof, that could help provide some safety margin verus the Pirates.

Yeti

 

[jdrakeh]

Interesting. I had much the same reaction from my school's copy center manager, despite the fact that I had documentation from my school's copyright coordinator that my requested copying was fair use. She wouldn't print it because of exactly this kind of corporate bullying of both the customer and the employees.

This is what I was getting at earlier. The problem is symptomatic of bad management. Managers (and corporations) should make certain that their employees are aware of policy, understand it, and apply it in accordance with the law. This, apparently, isn't happening very often.

 

[Mark Chance]

Nobody is complaining that the store won't print things that are illegal to print.

They're ocmplaining that the store won't print things that are legal to print.

Exactly. Here's the hypothetical exchange:

Me: I'd like to print the PDF document on this disk. I purchased it from an on-line vendor.

Them: Sorry, we can't do that. It's against store policy.

Me: Why?

Them: The policy is to prevent people from making illegal copies of copyrighted works.

Me: But that's not what I'm doing. I want to make a legal copy of a copyrighted work.

Them: Sorry, but that's against store policy.

Me: But that doesn't make any sense. You just told me the policy was to prevent illegal copies, not legal ones. The only assumption I can make now is that you're calling me a liar. You calling me a liar?

 

[Rykion]

I can understand checking to make sure someone has a receipt or other proof of ownership for a PDF, but to make it impossible to print anything with a copyright is going overboard. It hurts the customer who can't use the PDF as they legally intended. It costs the company that refuses to print it lost sales. Finally, it will cause the companies that sell PDFs to sell less. A lose, lose, lose scenario.

If you do set off the alarm at a store and they do not attempt to troubleshoot the situation and apologize, then they are not trained right.

In the dozen or so times it's happened to me I have gotten zero apologies. That is from quite a few major retailers. The scanners themselves are not magnetic, but the labels they detect have an RF signal or a magnetic field.

 

[S'mon]

I would certainly advocate boycotting this Staples chain and any other company with similar policies. And buy a printer, even though the ink is a rip-off.

Edit: If you write (not email) to them to let them know you're boycotting them, and why, they may pay some attention.

 

[bodhi]

No, not "not quite the same". Not the same. Because, you see, traffic law, unlike Copyright law, is not so unamiguous. There is no "fair speeding law." The police officer does not need to take me to court to issue a citation in that instance. It's clear that he can.

In the case of speeding, it is clear that the driver is guilty. However, because the copyright law is ambiguous, is is not clear when the business is not guilty, barring explicit permission (signed consent, explicit disclaimer, copyright ownership).

Now, there are certainly poor policies and poorly trained (and poorly motivated) employees. And any place that refuses to make copies when you have the right paperwork is just being stupid or ignorant. But the store is not in a position to decide what is or is not Fair Use.

 

[Belen]

One of the stores I used to work at in NC, was sued because someone at the copy center made color copies of wedding pictures without the photographers permission. They may be pictures of your wedding, but the person who took them, owns them.

Not true. He only owns them if you refuse to purchase them from him. The second you purchase those photos, then you buy the rights to them. Unless someone was dumb enough to sign a contract that allowed the photographer to keep the rights.