Staples refuses to print my PDFs....

[Delta]

Okay, to answer a few questions/concerns posted here about what Staples will or will not print...

Do you have a link to your store or company policy published someplace?
Or do we just have to take your word for it?

 

[dshai527]

Not quite pdf's but my wife does digital scrapbooking and digital photography and she has had problems trying to get prints made of her work. She has even taken her camera and original photos (photos before Photoshop or touchup) and they refused to print her stuff. We had to end up buying a near professional printer just for her to get her work done. Very irratating.

 

[rowport]

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.

Actually, yes-- I freakin' hate paying full retail price for books that I could almost certainly have bought cheaper online, only to find one of those d---- sticker tags permanently clamped onto a page or endpaper. That crap drives me crazy.

And, for that matter, your post confuses me; it sounds like you are building a convincing case for why it is obtrusive and annoying that you are treated like a thief by default, only to conclude that "a person has to live with it"? Or, are you saying to buy your books online to avoid the stupid things?

On a related note, the only consistent recommendation about commerical printing of pdfs is to use an online service.

So, I guess my takeaway from this thread is to never buy from brick & mortar stores anymore. I guess I can live with that...

 

[roguerouge]

Call Your Publisher

Again, most of the solutions that this thread has provided for this problem involve a "some rights reserved" copyright which is definitively a part of the creative commons license.

If this matters to you, and it clearly does for many of you, write/email/call your favored pdf publishers and ask for them to start using creative commons. (I don't teach copyright law incidentally; I teach media studies. You'd be amazed at how severely this law impacts documentary, experimental, and hip hop artists.)

 

[JVisgaitis]

Silly me, I thought the whole point of PDFs was that you didn't have to print them out, not that you'd save a few bucks over the hardback price.

Silly you.

If a PDF publisher didn't want to allow a PDF to be printed you can lock the file and prevent it from being printed. As a publisher, I expect my customers to be able to print our PDFs. It has nothing to do with "saving a few bucks" but everything to do with the fact that it costs A LOT of money to produce and distribute a full color RPG product.

Add to that how insane it would be for a new company to even think of attempting to release a product through the distribution chain. You might as well just burn your own money.

 

[madelf]

Both RPGNow and Drivethru RPG's FAQ indicate that it is OK to print the PDF's for personal use.

Actually... that is not for RPGnow or DrivethruRPG to decide.
That would be up to the individual publisher (and though I'm sure most of them would allow it, it's a little disturbing that the retailer is making the assumption that they all will).

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Do the magnetic theft detection scanners at the exits of most major stores also make you angry? <snip>

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.

Wow.

Asking to ascertain that you're not walking out of the store with merchandise you may not have paid for (intentionally or by some kind of mistake) is not unlawful detention in any state I know of. Even if they physically detain and search you.

Heck, depending upon the jurisdiction, refusing them the right to check your reciept against your purchases when asked may even constitute probable cause and could negate even a valid claim of unlawful imprisonment.

For it to be unlawful, they would have to take you into custody knowing you're not guilty or keep you in custody after determining that you're not guilty.

And if by "put them to the ground" you mean use physical force to resist the security personnel or other store employee (or cop, if one is around)- that act is likely to open you to civil and criminal penalties (depending upon just how much force you use and other facts).

I definitely wouldn't try that down here in Texas.

 

[I'm A Banana]

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.

Yeah, I can see that from a store manager position. It's definitely the dunderheads at the top that get my ire. Screaming at the copy kid doesn't do much.

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.

Right, but like Morrus said, the problem is that they're not printing legal pdfs without a signed permission slip from Mommie Publisher.

Personally, I'd extend my principle to be "if the law is dumb people have an obligation to make enforcement difficult and to change the law itself," but, again, that's probably because I blow up out of all rational proportion when companies act like the customer is a thief unless proven otherwise.

 

[S'mon]

Actually... that is not for RPGnow or DrivethruRPG to decide.
That would be up to the individual publisher (and though I'm sure most of them would allow it, it's a little disturbing that the retailer is making the assumption that they all will).

US fair use law lets you photocopy books you own for personal use, whatever the copyright owner says. Is it really different for e-books?

 

[S'mon]

I definitely wouldn't try that down here in Texas.

Heh, for once I agree with Danny! But maybe the OP is so scary-looking they just don't want to mess with him.