Staples refuses to print my PDFs....

[s.j. bagley]

But I maintain that the solution is simple. Find out the stores policies and meet them. It isn't really that hard.

it's not really that simple though, especially since at the nearest staples, not a single employee seems to be aware of the same set of policies.
hell, i once had a kinko's employee tell me i couldn't photocopy something i created in the store, while they were watching me, because it was somehow against some policy that they couldn't actually quote or even find on paper in the store.
more often than not, when i've had these sorts of problems, it's because the folks there simply don't know anything about their own policies, let alone the monolithically one-sided and soul destroying details of copyright law (let alone things like copyleft and creative commons.)
.
(also, i'm sure as hell not going to bother getting that angry with some person at a minimum wage job who isn't educated on the subject. after all, minimum wage is hardly an incentive to become educated on copyright law, or even company policy.)

 

[The Merciful]

Staples is obviously being Lawful Neutral. They have a rule, and they are following it.

More like Lawful Stupid.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Yes, but I equally loathe the assumption that anyone couldn't be an abuser. Certainly not all users are abusers. But certainly there are more abusers out there than who get caught.

So?

Prove me guilty or give me my copy and take your $5.95. You're a Staples. You're not here to judge innocence or guilt.

But I maintain that the solution is simple. Find out the stores policies and meet them. It isn't really that hard.

But there's no excuse for it to even have to be done in the first place.

You're scared about book pirates? Compete with them. Show us a good product at a fair price from a company we want to support. Legitimate sales will always trump pirated copies, and pirated copies will mostly be downloaded and printed off by those who wouldn't buy the original in the first place. It's been shown that internet piracy has no measurable effect on sales (the music industry has certainly done these studies).

You can't stop it. You can't even make it significantly harder. All you can do is irk legitimate customers by treating them like criminals.

 

[Delta]

Do a Google on "screenshot copyright". Here's one decent result: http://lifehacker.com/software/ask-...is-publishing-screenshots-fair-use-193343.php

A map designed with SimCity is not a "screenshot" -- I'm afraid that article doesn't say anything about your prior "derivative work" claim. So I'm quite unconvinced about that claim.

(What it does say, as I'm sure you're well aware, is that publishing a screenshot of someone else's work is held as permitted in at least 3 different examples -- screenshots of a website, copyrighted games, and thumbnail images of artistic works.)

 

[Rykion]

In my mind, it's an insult.

"You're a thief unless you can prove you're not. You're not a customer, you're a criminal. We don't serve you, we serve our suspicious superiors who treat IP and copyright law like a bludgeon against consumers."

It's a pet peeve with me, I get angry out of proportion with it, but I loathe the assumption that all users are abusers.

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.

 

[rgard]

I have pretty much the exact opposite feelings, Staples is acting very poorly. If they place paranoia over not getting sued as a higher priority than good customer service, I'll take my business elsewhere.

Now, it looks clear that purchasing .pdf's to download and have commercially printed isn't what they had in mind with this policy. Companies that sell .pdf downloads need to contact Staples and let them know how their policy is interfering with their sales, and how a form like they are asking for isn't practical to be faxed around for every customer that wants to take their product to be printed (and since that's the whole idea of the product, that means all of their customers are going to need printing, and a lot are going to be looking at commercial printing).

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

 

[Graybeard]

Okay, to answer a few questions/concerns posted here about what Staples will or will not print.
Every store may have an individual who sees the policy as black and white. A yes or no policy. As I stated previously, we will make copies of newspaper articles and photos from newspapers. We get permission from the newspaper publishers very easily. A simple phone call is all it takes. The major local newspaper has even given our store blanket permission to make copies of its articles for customers as long as it is only one or two articles from the newspaper.

Printing a map made with SimCity that has the permission to print clearly identified would be no problem at my store either.

Printing a pdf with the permission to copy for personal use would also not present a problem at my store.

Printing copies of anything the customer authored (pdf, thesis, etc) would also not present a problem provided the customer showed us proper identification.

Some things we will not copy for anyone include:

Identification, artwork not produced by the customer, photographs unlless they are very old (75+yrs), magazines, postcards, stamps, money, etc. We have a pamphlet available in our copy center that states what can and cannot be copied/prinited. However, if a customer comes in and makes their own copies at the self serve machines without our knowledge, we cannot stop them. If we see them doing it, we are instructed to politely inform the customer that they are violating the copyright law. Every customer I have dealt with has told me in several ways (some not very nicely) to mind my own business and that they are not hurting anyone. I have had customers ask for our assistance in making copies of photgraphs (usually wedding or school photos), passports, drivers licences, etc. We always tell them we cannot assist them and that they can't copy those items. The exceptions include B&W copies of IDs/passports which can be done. One time we asked a customer to leave because he wanted us to make double sided copies of money so he could "give them to his kid to play with". After we explained nicely that we could not do that nor could we allow him to do it he got angry and started cursing at my staff and myself.

Your local Staples may vary but as I said earlier, the one I manage is more understanding.

 

[I'm A Banana]

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.

Heck yeah, they do. They're unreliable and pointless. While everyone's distracted by the alarm, the thief stuffs something without a magnet strip in a side pocket that he's not asked to open, and the theft goes on.

Bag checks grind my gears, too. It's like the fourth amendment is only there to make red tape for law enforcement, not to actually guarantee my privacy.

 

[the Jester]

Regarding store policies on copying stuff:

But there's no excuse for it to even have to be done in the first place.... (snip) You can't stop it. You can't even make it significantly harder. All you can do is irk legitimate customers by treating them like criminals.

The policies are there to make sure store employees aren't breaking copyright laws left and right. It's not to treat customers like criminals. Generally, such policies are there to prevent employees from getting the business in trouble. The store doesn't have the option to just shine the law.

Given how easy it should be to get the ok to print one copy of these kinds of things, it should be a non-issue. Again, though, some companies will not allow a third party (i.e. Staples, Kinkos) to charge you money to print their work. Don't blame the copy guy- that's like saying, "Aw, man, I really wanted to eat some dog today, but it's against the law for my favorite restaurant to serve it in my city. DAMN YOUSE, FAVORITE RESTAURANT!!! HOW COULD YOU FAIL TO SERVE ME DOG?! I'M A LEGITIMATE CUSTOMER!!!1!!"

 

[Morrus]

Don't blame the copy guy- that's like saying, "Aw, man, I really wanted to eat some dog today, but it's against the law for my favorite restaurant to serve it in my city. DAMN YOUSE, FAVORITE RESTAURANT!!! HOW COULD YOU FAIL TO SERVE ME DOG?! I'M A LEGITIMATE CUSTOMER!!!1!!"

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.