Membership warehouses face the fax of business services - offering facsimile transmission services - Home Office Merchandising

Discount Store News, May 22, 1989 by Richard C. Halverson

Membership Warehouses Face the Fax of Business Services

Warehouse clubs are venturing into the business service operations that office products chains offer to help snare additional customers.

Sam's Wholesale Club, for instance, is testing what it calls "Sam's Express Center" in its Southwest Freeway store south of Houston.

The center will print business cards, letterhead and envelopes, and emboss company names on standard business forms. It also offers fax and photocopy services as well as custom rubber stamps.

Sam's Express Center goes office product chains one better by serving as a drop-off for United Parcel Service and Airborne shipments.

Sam's levies a slight service charge for shipments, so the cost is a "bit more expensive" than shipping directly, a center employee said.

But for printing, "the center offers some of the lowest prices around, especially on business cards," the employee said. Citing a Sam's policy, he refused to quote prices over the phone.

Costco, the Kirkland, Wash., warehouse chain, confines its business services to a limited range of printing. Costco has operated a print shop in its Portland unit for four years and another in a Seattle-area unit for a year.

Now, it is considering opening print shops in San Francisco and Clearwater, Fla., by year-end, said president and chief executive officer Jim Sinegal. Costco will offer printing at just one warehouse club in each market, Sinegal said.

Costco offers only limited bindery services, such as folding and stapling, said Sheila Sweet, a press operator in the Portland Costco. "If you can work within the limits of the printing services we offer, the service is really reasonable," she said.

The print shops turn a profit, Sinegal said, even though rates are about half of prevailing rates. Costco considers printing a money-making service, rather than a traffic-building loss leader.

Makro, K mart's wholesale club chain, will begin a business service center at its Cincinnati unit next month, an executive said. Afterward, Makro plans to expand the service to all of its six units.

Several office products chains also haven't "pinned down" the concept and are modifying it as they gain operating experience.

Office products pioneer Staples, for instance, has dropped services such as printing and special order rubber stamps because they proved to be too labor-intensive. Staples offers just basic photocopying and faxing services at its 24 stores, marketing director Todd Krasnow said.

"We can make better use of space and staff providing office products." Staples charges 3 cents a page for photocopying and $5 for the first page of a fax document and $3 a page thereafter. Krasnow credited the photocopying service as a "traffic builder."

At the other end of the service spectrum, WORKplace, a six-store chain based in St. Petersburg, Fla., offers extensive printing services, including wedding invitations and business stationery. In addition, the office supply chain will set type for printing jobs.

It also photocopies for 3 cents a page and charges $3 per page for the first three pages for faxing documents and $150 thereafter.

Office Depot, Boca Raton, Fla., provides photocopying, printing and faxing services. It charges $1.98 to send each fax page and 92 cents per page for receiving fax documents. Photocopying charges range from 5 cents to 9 cents a page. Chief executive officer David Fuente declined to comment on profitability, but did affirm that the chain doesn't believe in loss leaders to build traffic.

PHOTO : HQ Office Supply, Culver City, Calif.. Signage spotlights business services offered.