Kinkos Com

Kinko's Inc., an operator of 1,100 photocopying and printing stores, bought the rest of Kinkos.com it doesn't already own and will substantially trim the Internet venture's work force. Terms of the transaction weren't disclosed. Closely held Kinko's will cut 80% to 90% of the 70 workers at the venture's headquarters in Alexandria, Va., spokeswoman Maggie Thill said. Kinko's expects the purchase to reduce advertising and marketing costs, she said. Ventura-based Kinko's and closely held Liveprint.

Kinko's Inc., an operator of 1,100 photocopying and printing stores, bought the rest of Kinkos.com that it didn't already own and will trim the Internet venture's work force. Terms of the transaction weren't disclosed. Closely held Kinko's will cut 80% to 90% of the 70 workers at its Internet headquarters in Alexandria, Va., spokeswoman Maggie Thill said. Kinko's expects the purchase to reduce advertising and marketing costs, she said. Ventura-based Kinko's and Liveprint.com formed Kinkos.

Kinko's Inc., an operator of 1,100 photocopying and printing stores, bought the rest of Kinkos.com that it didn't already own and will trim the Internet venture's work force. Terms of the transaction weren't disclosed. Closely held Kinko's will cut 80% to 90% of the 70 workers at its Internet headquarters in Alexandria, Va., spokeswoman Maggie Thill said. Kinko's expects the purchase to reduce advertising and marketing costs, she said. Ventura-based Kinko's and Liveprint.com formed Kinkos.

Kinko's Inc., an operator of 1,100 photocopying and printing stores, bought the rest of Kinkos.com it doesn't already own and will substantially trim the Internet venture's work force. Terms of the transaction weren't disclosed. Closely held Kinko's will cut 80% to 90% of the 70 workers at the venture's headquarters in Alexandria, Va., spokeswoman Maggie Thill said. Kinko's expects the purchase to reduce advertising and marketing costs, she said. Ventura-based Kinko's and closely held Liveprint.

In a business alliance to be announced today, customers of Kinko's Inc. will be able to submit printing orders via the Internet then have their orders delivered by FedEx without leaving their homes or offices. Dubbed "Print to Kinko's," the service is being offered through the FedEx Web page and through Kinkos.com, a separate company controlled by Kinko's, the closely held Ventura-based chain of 1,000 document-processing stores.

Ventura-based Kinko's Inc. and FedEx have formed an alliance to provide customers with document printing and finishing, with same- and next-day delivery. The two companies also said they are expanding their existing retail relationship, which has been in place since 1994. Under terms of the agreement, Kinkos.com and FedEx will launch a co-branded service this fall that will be accessible at Kinkos.com and via links at Fedex.com.

Paul Orfalea, founder of Ventura-based Kinko's Inc., is stepping aside as chairman of the chain of copy shops and will no longer serve on its board. He will be succeeded by B. Charles Ames, principal of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice Inc., a New York-based leverage-buyout firm that owns about 30% of Kinko's privately held stock. Orfalea will no longer be involved in the company's day-to-day operations but will have the title of chairman emeritus.

Now that Thanksgiving is behind us, it's time to get ready for the upcoming holidays. Your personal computer can help. If you have a PC or a Macintosh with a color printer, you have a factory for creating greeting cards, holiday place mats, menus, name tags, gift tags and even paper Christmas tree ornaments. You can also use your PC to create personalized calendars, which can make wonderful gifts for family members, business associates and friends.

I started writing this column about Internet cafes while I was sitting in one, watching the Mediterranean off Spain's Costa del Sol shimmering just a block away. A fishing boat trolled near the coastline, trailed by a small flock of sea gulls too proud to beg scraps from tourists bronzing on the beach. A waiter stopped by the table and asked whether I would like to order. I declined, thanked him and returned to my task.

I regularly send thousand-word e-mails to family and friends. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then I figured I could save a lot of typing time by using the Internet to send photos instead. I'm not inclined to plunk down a few hundred dollars for a digital camera or the scanner I would need to convert my regular paper prints into digital files. I'm also not too keen on the notion of paying an extra $6 to have Kodak put my pictures on a CD-ROM when my film is developed. And why should I?