FedEx Office opened a location in the Danforth bookstore of Washington University in St. Louis more than a decade ago, offering services that were not found on campus before its opening.
WashU wanted to provide students and staff an easy way to get projects completed without the inconvenience of having to leave the university, so the relationship with FedEx Office was a natural fit.
“We had several vendors close to campus and so to get anything shipped or printed, our students, faculty and staff all had to go off campus,” says Jeffrey Cooper, director of auxiliary enterprises for WashU.
The FedEx Office network connects over 1,900 locations, 20,000 professionals and technology resources into a single, seamless network to support the demands of WashU faculty, staff and students.
Solutions include full traditional printing services, plus promotional printing for signs, banners and posters, as well as packaging and shipping services.
Aside from the convenience that on-campus locations offer, there are also operational efficiencies. For example, when WashU staff travels to an off-site conference, they can use any FedEx Office operation for printing and shipping needs and receive the WashU contract pricing.
Expanding convenience with two additional locations
The breadth of solutions that FedEx Office offers, and replicating the convenience and cost savings from the Danforth location, made it easy to add two additional locations on WashU’s medical campus last year, one in May and another in June.
With the new locations came several valuable new services, most notably the ability for customers to ship using dry ice, which was much needed when the medical campus locations were added.
The ability to tailor the FedEx OnCampus locations to the specific needs of the university has been an important differentiator in the print and parcel management space there.
Positively impacting efficiency and consistency
The FedEx on-campus centers, which provide white glove pick-up, print and delivery services, allowed Olin Business school faculty and staff to reduce machine utilization, creating staff efficiencies.
On both the Danforth and Medical campuses, products such as signs, graphics, direct mail campaigns and stationery collateral created brand consistency through FedEx Office and Publications and Medical Public Affairs.
Keeping everyone conveniently on campus
FedEx Office’s brand recognition and quality is second to none, according to Cooper. “Brand recognition is important and it’s a strong draw for people to come into the bookstore,” Cooper says. “FedEx Office is a known entity to our students, faculty and staff.”
Cooper says the bottom-line benefit is that FedEx Office keeps staff and students on campus, so they don’t have to worry about factoring time to travel off campus to send a package or make copies, or to wait three days for another vendor to pick up packages from a drop-box location.
“Staff and students do not have to drive off campus— they love the convenience and service,” Cooper says.
