I've never been a fan of the FedEx-Kinko's merger. It's been funny to watch the company try to come up with a concept to describe the combined offering: "office and print center?" Okay.

I had to go to Kinko's today (does anyone really call it FedEx Kinko's?) on West 72nd Street to place a printing order. All of the original Kinko's signage is down; new FedEx-branded signs are up, and the formerly open area in front is significantly more cluttered. The store is selling stationery, though it's not hard to find a whole range of FedEx shipping boxes.

The wait was a little long. One person obviously didn't have a PC at home and was hand writing corrections to a resume. The other person, placing an order to print a services offered flyer, had to make a call on a cell phone to ask how to spell "pursue."

My experience was fine, though. I had called before to find out exactly what I had to bring to place a business card order. The counter associate quickly processed the request and then filled out the trademark Kinko's 900-permutation order form. Every possible service order is captured on a single page. It's quite a design achievement.

I looked briefly through the selection of mailing supplies to see if they had regular #10 envelopes. Nope (or, apparently not). Then I realized why: FedEx doesn't handle those; it would make it easier to use its competitor, the U.S. Postal Service.