Wednesday December 21, 2005
Staples Charges for Virus Scanning
Posted today on boingboing, a former Staples customer (Mike Langlie) complained that he was asked to pay a fee for virus scanning.
Today I visited a local Staples to print some color files. As an employee wrote up my order, he mentioned there would be a $2.49 fee per file for virus scanning. Incredulously, I asked if I am really expected to pay for my files to be scanned for viruses, to which he replied yes. I canceled my order and left.The fee seems high; I'd set a one-time scan fee myself. But I don't see anything wrong with scanning for viruses on customer files. In fact, given the sheer number of viruses out there in the wild, and the havoc they can cause, I think some of the onus should be on the customer.
Mr. Langlie's complaint continues:
Should I assume that until now Staples has never scanned customer files for viruses before processing?
"Common wisdom" used to dictate that if you took a diskette of files to any of the self-serve copy shops, you should destroy the disk afterwards. However, I would hope that the shops that did the work for you would run a virus check.
It's more likely that Staples is asking customers to pay a precautionary fee to offset the costs involved should a virus be present.
Mr. Langlie thinks otherwise:
Most likely, Staples is trying to bilk naive customers for a "service" that should be routine to any sensible and responsible computer user.
Um... just who is being naive here? What makes Mike Langlie think that all of Staples customers are "sensible and responsible" in terms of computer use, especially in terms of virus checking? If all computer users were equally "sensible and responsible" we wouldn't have the major virus outbreaks (plus resulting downtime) that we've had.
As a sensible and responsible computer user myself, I applaud Staples' requirement for a virus check and I can't disagree with their decision to make the customer foot the bill. However, I would suggest a modification to the fee determination. Instead of charging a per-file fee to check for viruses, charge a much higher fee per virus found.
Staples Charges for Virus Scanning
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- posted at Wed, 21 Dec, 13:57 Pacific
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vlb@cfcl.com
Comments
Hi Vicki,
A clarification to my complaint: I certainly don't assume that Staples' customers are sensible and would bother checking for viruses if given a stranger's disc, or even know if their own files are corrupt or not. I do believe that as a responsible business Staples should do it (as should anyone) as a first step of any file transaction. What irks me is that they want to charge for what I feel is a built-in "service," something I've never been billed for at any other service bureau. To me it's like paying a dentist extra for having to put latex gloves on before cleaning my teeth. By making me pay for protecting themselves, something they should be doing as a normal routine anyway, I also suddenly feel guilty until proven innocent.
Posted by: Mike Langlie | December 21, 2005 3:48 PM
Understood.
That's why I'd prefer the idea of charging for viruses found, rather than for the checking. That puts the onus on the customer to be vigilant. If you have clean files, nothing to worry about. If you don't, you help support the extra step of checking and cleaning.
Posted by: vlb
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December 26, 2005 4:31 PM
Note that Staples has posted a clarification of their policy (at boingboing). The charge is not a virus scanning fee.
My opinion still holds but it's not as relevant :-)
Posted by: vlb
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December 30, 2005 8:44 PM