In 1977, the press approached John Lennon for a comment on the death of Elvis Presley. Lennon remarked, “Elvis died when he went in the army.” As music historians note, Presley entered the army as a rock and roller, but returned as a crooner and movie star. The rebellious independence Lennon loved in Elvis was gone long before the bloated King died at the age of 42.

Friends, acquaintances and journalists have been approaching me for comments on FedEx’s decision to drop the Kinko’s name from their copy and print centers. Although I sold my financial interest in Kinko’s several years ago, this news hit me hard.  I have mixed emotions, because the Kinko’s I knew has been gone for a very long time.

For thirty years, I worked with tens of thousands of fellow Kinko’s co-workers to grow an innovative customer-driven business.  Every stage of life required Kinko’s – being a student, business owner, bride, job-seeker, sales person, event planner, soccer parent and much more.  We took pride in helping customers achieve their goals and always put customers first.  Those of us who built the company from a single site in a hamburger stand near the campus of UCSB in 1970 to an international network at the millennium assumed our grandkids would know what it meant when we said we created Kinko’s.  Sadly, they won’t.

At Kinko’s our motto was “In Ideas We Trust.” Those ideas, expressed in the way we shared power, shared profits, and shared knowledge, touched tens of thousands of coworkers and millions of customers from 1970 to 2000. The signs may be coming off the building, but when you next meet a former Kinko’s coworker and he or she brightens up to tell you how it used to be, take note of the fire in their eyes. That’s the Kinko’s I’ll remember.