Round Four: Printing and Copying Beijing-style

Since it was nearly three weeks before I could get a library card, and about the same amount of time before I finally decided what classes I would take, my printing and copying needs have been much lower than usual. However, I have now done both Beijing-style (or Beijing University-style), so there is some basis for comparison. On campus the copy situation is quite humorous. There are at least 10 (and probably more) hole-in-the-wall copy-shops. These places are absolutely TINY, but very versatile. This one I went to today, for example, not only does printing and copying but, according to this sign, also features color printing, internet printing, long distance telephone calls, faxing, telephone cards, cell-phone numbers, and name cards.

Once inside, the printing is totally self-serve, though if you don't know where to insert your thumb-drive they'll do that for you. The copying, on the other hand, is done for you by the pros. This young fellow did mine. You can't see it in the picture I sneakily snapped of him, but he has a special thick plastic ring on his right index finger allowing him to turn pages quickly. He'd turn the page, press the start button, and then position the thing--perfect timing, not wrong once, and very fast. Cost of photocopying about 25 pages--1.6 RMB, or about 20 cents. I paid about the same at the copy shop across the way for printing 10 pages, so if I printed Colin's "Minds and Metals" paper over here, it would have cost me only 40 cents.

I should add that the copy shop where I did the printing also had a binding service. But no bulky velo or spiral bindings for them. They actually used glue and what-not, and could print a special cover for you, and would trim the edges with a nifty trimmer, which is what is shown in this picture. (I used tradecraft to take it, hiding behind a tree.) Oh yeah, the "bindery" is that tiny desk outside the tiniest little hole-in-the-wall shop. But they have all the stuff they need, and the product is pretty even if the process isn't.

The only downside? Everything you print copy or bind comes out on A4 paper. Sure it's more text per page, but it's a different size from everything I have at home!

Round Four: Printing

Those not of the academic lifestyle might not realize how much printing and copying your typical academic does. Some of this is exaggerated in my case: I run through multiple drafts of everything (though as a snarky email from my DGS reminded me recently, I'm still a crappy proofreader), and so I tend to do a lot of printing I didn't even realize how much, though, until we moved from Princeton, land of plentiful and free printers--oh, the nights jogging a few doors down through blizzards to get to the cluster computers--to a place without.

Suddenly cursing my generosity in giving away my old printer ("I haven't used this in 3 years!" says I, "Why don't you take it, Nick?"), E and I were forced to find a Chicago printing option. Now, I can print in at school, and that's fine if I plan ahead. But some days--say, this past saturday--I just want a copy of something I'm working on to have a virtuous weekend. That's where Kinkos comes in.

E had used Kinkos often before we left to bind her intimidatingly large sourcebooks, but my experience was more limited. Aside from printing out a conference poster at the one in Eugene, I had never really had much use for them. Which is not to say that they didn't have some sort of weird mythos attached to them. In some point around the mid-90s, the highschool version of me became convinced that Kinkos was where cool people hung out.
Like a lot of things (Starbucks), not actually having one in Frederick helped make it seem a lot cooler than it actually was. I honestly can't remember why I thought Kinkos was so full of indie cred---some sort of nth-generation Gen-X stereotype passed through a Telephone-style series of links before it got to me, I think. But yeah, Kinkos was where people hung out, everyone either xeroxing their indie-rock riot-grrrrl 'zines or working to save up enough money to xerox their own zines, or star in "Reality Bites II: European Road Trip" or whatever. So yeah, this Kinkos at least... ummm... has some guys with piercings and stuff? Or at least the guy in the picture; while he wasn't the one who helped me, he was happy to glare sullenly while I snapped pictures in a very un-sneaky way.


Anyhow, that's all by way of apology for a post entirely about Kinkos. The redeeming feature of the Kinkos in my part of town is that they're happy to print stuff for me for the cheap behind-the-counter price instead of the criminal DIY-for-49-cents-a-page price. E claims that this is a general feature of Kinkos. However, I tried to ask for it once at a Kinkos down in the loop, and they gave me a look like I'd offered to poop on their chests, so I think they're actually just nicer folks up here on the north side. Anyhow, the total price for "Of Minds and Metals", draft 11, is pretty low: a 25-page paper double-sided came out to $2.16. Beat that, China!