Gene Gable, a technology consultant and writer for Creativepro sent us his thoughts in a piece that provides an "alternate perspective" on the Adobe-FedEx deal. Gene's comments echo what many have said since the deal was announced in June, but he also takes the industry to task for not looking for ways to innovate and compete in a global market. Is it time for printers to grow up and get off Adobe’s back as Gene suggests?

Why the Adobe/FedEx-Kinkos Deal is the Best Thing that Could Happen to the Printing Industry

By Gene Gable

Adobe is set to announce the company's "solution" to the current controversy over placement of a "print to FedEx-Kinkos" button that was recently added to Acrobat software products. Most likely the statement will be a politically correct one that apologizes to the printing community, reaffirms the value printers have to Adobe, and will point out that the action was originally taken to "serve Adobe customers better," and not to create an exclusive relationship with any specific printing company. But if I were advising Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen, I'd suggest he politely tell the printing industry to "grow up" and start thinking like a real business instead of a bunch of molly-coddled whiners set on finding anyone to blame for their woes except themselves.

Businesses make these kinds of deals every day and on a global scale--it's how business is done. Will these same printers have any issues with taking a discount from United Airlines, the "preferred airline of GraphExpo" when they fly to Chicago next month? And even though they could certainly pay cash or use another card, would these printers pass up a the value-ads that come from using your Visa card at Disneyland, or your MasterCard at a Major League baseball game? No one is forcing any customer to send their printing to FedEx-Kinkos. It's just a deal that makes sense because it's something Adobe customers do every day.

It's true that Mom and Pop Printers in Topeka Kansas don't have much of a chance against Adobe and FedEx-Kinkos, unless of course they provide a superior service to their customers, develop close personal relationships with their customers, or otherwise compete the same way every small business competes against international brands. What makes Mom and Pop think that because they buy a copy of Photoshop every few years that they count as much as a customer to Adobe as FedEx-Kinkos does? Bigger customers get better prices, better service and exclusive deals. That's the way capitalism works.

In a quote on Public Radio Monday, WhatTheyThink writer and industry consultant Cary Sherbourne said the Adobe FedEx deal was "like Ford Motor company putting a blinking light on your little electronic control panel in all of the Ford models that says “You’re oil needs changing. Go to Jiffy Lube…." What would be so odd about that? If I'm not mistaken, when I bought my first Honda in the Seventies, it came with a brochure in the glove box advocating the use of Castrol GTX motor oil. And last time I bought a new washing machine, there was a little box of Tide detergent inside with some discount coupons. Cross-promotion among big customers is a basic formula for business success. Well, at least for big business success. Perhaps the printing industry doesn't want to be thought of as a big, mainstream business and prefers to be marginalized and "special."

What's sad to me is that the printing industry is crowing about "taking action" if Adobe doesn't end its deal with FedEx, like they have some sort of entitlement because they depend on Adobe products to do their job. Take action? Like what, refuse to use Adobe products? Go ahead and try. Adobe has all the power here because the printing industry blew it decades ago when it tried to convince everyone you couldn't possibly create cheap software that did what they did. So instead of Linotype Photoshop, or Scitex InDesign, or Agfa Acrobat, we have Adobe products. Printing industry suppliers held on to the concept of huge profit margins and exclusive relationships for too long. I find it ironic that this same industry is now looking again for special consideration instead of standing up and marketing themselves on their own merits. Is Adobe really responsible for the choices printing customers make? If that's really the case then the printing industry might was well just pack it in and go home.

I went to college in the Seventies in Southern California and patronized Kinkos when it was run by a bunch of stoner hippies making copies for 3 cents a piece. They didn't grow to become an international force by whining about the competition. They grew by offering a better service at a better price. And they made some savvy deals with the copier companies who were accustomed to charging on a per-page basis instead of on a monthly one. But by forging a new machine leasing model, Kinkos brought huge advantage to other printers who also were able to lower their costs. Had the big copier companies caved to pressure from the traditional printers the result would have been higher prices and less competition.

By making printing a "push-button" option in Acrobat, Adobe is finally doing what the printing industry has been talking about for too long--bringing a distribute-then-print mindset to print buyers. All printers will benefit from this important change in consumer behavior, and quite frankly, only companies the size of Adobe and FedEx-Kinkos can get the job done.

The printing industry continues to think like the U.S. auto industry did while foreign competition ate their lunch. "We can't compete. People don't understand what we do. We've done things this way for hundreds of years," etc., etc. Meanwhile, companies like FedEx-Kinkos are delivering better service at better prices and in more locations, because they don't think like printers. The opportunities for printers are not going to come through protectionism, any more than they did for the auto industry. They are going to come from innovation, partnerships, good customer relations and better services.

Adobe has moved well beyond the printing industry and done a good job of creating value in mainstream markets. Had more printers and more printing industry suppliers done that with their products and craft, then they wouldn't be in the jam they are in today. The outcry from the printing industry regarding the Adobe/FedEx deal has only demonstrated to me that not much has changed in the last two decades. Printers are still thinking too small and are too narrow minded to get out of the rut they have dug for themselves.