Road Warrior's Guide to Pit Stops

With the ubiquity of Kinko's and others, local business service support is always nearby.

With FedEx's recent acquisition of Kinko's, now dubbed FedExKinko's, much is being made in the press of the road warrior's battlefield reliance on local business service support. Sun Tzu's The Art of War acknowledged the same strategy some 2,000 years ago with the statement, "When provisions are transported great distances, the citizens will be impoverished."

Personally, I have been pulling in to Kinko's for on-the-road copying, printing, and Internet access -- and RadioShack for emergency electronic accessory needs -- for years. Exhibit A: My drawer of extra cell phone chargers.

Inevitably when I traveled to a convention, I would valiantly try to arrange the bits and pieces of an office in my hotel. Since often the hotel of choice was not necessarily my choice, I would make do. Maybe there was in-room fax, copying, high-speed access, or maybe there was a business center with PCs and printers or maybe a helpful staff that would arrange for overnight delivery or not. Consistently I experienced of sticker shock with business center fees. You may wish to remember this advice from Sun Tzu: "Those in proximity to the army will sell goods at high prices." If you need volume and quality, your best bet is to rely on specialists, particularly if you need printing services.

Here are brief descriptions of five companies that are great resources for on-the-road business services and printing. This is followed by a list of five retailers that sell computer, electronics, and office supplies for those emergency situations while traveling. Mostly likely you are familiar these companies, but maybe surprised to learn of some of the useful services and products they offer.

While researching the Business Travel Almanac, I learned that all of the companies discussed below -- service providers and retailers alike -- offer handy store locators on their Web sites. All you need to do is type in your local address, and you will get a map (complete with distances) to the closest locations. Both FedExKinko's and RadioShack also offer a phone-based locator service. In addition, there are 7,200 RadioShack locations countrywide. Compare that to the seemingly ubiquitous Starbucks and its 3,100 locations. RadioShack estimates that 94% of Americans live or work within five minutes of a RadioShack.

Lesson learned: Business travelers are rarely too far away from the tools they need to use. They just need to know where to go to get them.

Business Services

FedExKinko's

FedExKinko's offers copying, faxing, scanning, binding, document creation, color printing services, and, of course, FedEx shipping. You will also find computer rental (Apple and PCs) with wired and Wi-Fi high-speed Internet access. Videoconferencing is available in select locations.

There are more than 1,100 FedEx Kinko's locations throughout the U.S. In many major cities, there is a least one location open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The company's toll-free number (800-254-6567) and Web site are excellent resources for finding convenient locations and verifying hours of operation and services. Note that locations and hours of operation do change, so it is definitely a good idea to call ahead.

Laptop Lane

Laptop Lane operates 16 airport business centers. The centers offer private workstations with unlimited high-speed Internet access, unlimited phone calls (local and domestic long-distance), printing, copying, faxing, and multi-line phones with conference calling capability. Some locations even include conference rooms. Laptop Lane also sells business and travel accessories.

You can find Laptop Lane at the following airports: Atlanta (3), Chicago O'Hare (2), Cincinnati (4), Dallas-Fort Worth, New York LaGuardia, Oakland (2), Philadelphia, Seattle, and Salt Lake City.

Mail Boxes, Etc., Inc./The UPS Store

Mail Boxes, Etc., a UPS company, is the world's largest franchisor of retail shipping, postal, and business service centers with more than 4,000 independently owned locations around the world. In 2003, Mail Boxes, Etc. began changing the name of its stores to the UPS Store. Services include packaging, shipping, copying, printing, mailbox service, and, in many locations, postal service, and computer rental (printing and scanning). The UPS Store and Mail Boxes, Etc. locations also offer additional services, such as notary services, passport/ID photos, rubber stamps and engraving, money transfers, and office and mailing supplies.

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