Mail Boxes Etc. Glasgow – Byres Road

I send quite a lot of packages every few days and usually buy all my requirements from Amazon just out of convenience.
As l was passing by I enquired on items that l could purchase locally than buy online this included large rolls of bubble wrap and cardboard boxes & tape to secure the boxes.
I wasn’t expecting these guys to be twice as expensive as Staples who l was buying from before and five times more expensive than Amazon online.
You would think by buying local you may get a better deal but this is not always the case.
I think l will be buying from Amazon for quite some time yet.

I was in a hurry to get some A3 copies done from PDFs I had on a USB stick. Normally I’d go to Vistaprint at Charing X, but then I remembered that MailBoxes Etc. could probably do this, so as I was closer to Byres Road at the time I went there.
The place was deserted with one staff member on duty, so I handed over my USB stick and told him my requirements. He mumbled something about ‘checking it for viruses’ without any mention of charges, and although I told him it was clean he did it anyway, and then proceeded to charge me £2.12 for 8 x A3 copies, which works out at 26.5p each, when the displayed price said 14p. I was too stunned to comment on this so left rapidly.
Looking at the receipt later, the charges are £1.12 for the 8 copies, plus £1 for ‘Artwork’ (??). Outrageous!
Somehow I don’t think I’ll be using this place for copying again anytime in the near future.
Welcome to my first one-​star review, guys.

You can definately tell that Mailboxes, Etc is the popular print shop amongst the students. Based in the heart of the west end, within a stone’s throw of the Uni, it was a favourite of mine, not too long ago!
But I don’t know what’s happened to it since then, I’m not an economist, but I would guess that the Uni library is making things much cheaper and easier on students. At any rate, Mailboxes’ prices are high high high!
To get a document printed from a USB stick (which, let’s face it, everyone has one nowadays), I was not only charged for the printing at 10p a page (not bad), but…
they also charged me to run a virus scan on my USB stick! I can understand the virus scan, but not the cost. A sign posted on the wall said ‘A minimum of £1 will be charged for the 15 minutes it takes to run a virus scan’
Now, first of all, my usb did not have a virus (I could more easily understand the charge if it did), and it did NOT take 15 mins. And also, I know it sounds catty, but it isn’t as though I was wasting their time. When I entered, I was the only customer and there were 4 members of staff standing around having a chat. And then I was reluctantly approached.
So, in the end, I hade to pay £1.90 to print 9 pages (and I’d only wanted the one page printed, but now it’s printed 9, so there goes 80p on nothing).
Scanning…oy, scanning a document is £4 for up to 10 pages. It doesn’t matter whether you have one page or 10, it’s always £4.
I don’t know what sort of student can afford that, but, unimpressed, I took my one page of printing, my 8 extra pages I didn’t want, and left in a hurry.
Minus a star for needless charging. Minus a star for service and minus a star for overpriced scanning. Sorry Mailboxes, you’ll have to try harder to impress me next time.

I’d like to know what the ‘Etc’ covers in here, but I expect it covers things I wouldn’t know about.
They done a good job on some Uni stuff for me on a few occasions when I used to squat at my mates nearby. Dropped in recently to get some printing and had a wee chat. A lively place.
I now have a new place for my binding needs, but will always remember this place. Never had any hassles in here, or any other local framing service either for that matter. They seem to pride themselves on their work in order to keep customers coming back.
Looks as though this place is doing a good job at exactly that.

The thing I love about this shop is the way staff photocopy your stuff as if what they’re doing is genuinely impressive. They’ll whip your work off you, slam it down elaborately on the copier, batter the buttons, twirl around, slap up the lid and present you with a warm piece of paper, before swaggering off, seemingly certain they have left you agog in awe.
They are good at photocopying, admittedly. If you need the copy to be in colour, the size of a postage stamp on an A3 sheet of paper, then they can do it. Furthermore, the shop is a particularly handy resource for this area given its close proximity to the university and basically offers everything you would expect of a Mailboxes Etc.
As one of the longest servest Byres Road businesses, it’s certainly doing something right anyway. Who knows, maybe I’m the only one not turned on by skillful photocopying.

A shop that sells private mailboxes and does document processing and photocopying is hardly going to be the most exciting of places, nor is it ever going to stick in your memory.
Except Mailboxes etc, who came to my rescue twice by binding both a dissertation and a postgrad project at the very last minute. Since then I’ve found them just that bit more thrilling.

When I lived on the Dumbarton End of Byres Road, visits to the Post Office against the clock at 4.45pm were constant for me. That was when my ebay empire was booming… Alas, I”ve lost the will a bit now, but when I was in full flow, Mailboxes Etc came to my rescue a few times, what with them being just that little bit closer than the Post Office, and with me being totally lazy. That was until they raised the Royal mail delivery prices by 10 or 15% (I can’t remember which) and I haven’t been back since. Nice guys who work there though — very accomodating; lent me stickers and pens a few times!

Mailboxes Etc offer binding, printing, internet, and document processing services. Essentially, they can do a lot for you, whether its binding your thesis or photocopying that last minute essay. Brilliant.
They really saved my life when it came to a 97 page report that we needed colour copied with 20 minutes to go before it was due in. We literally ran to this branch on Byres road, and thrust it in their face asking «canyoucopythisimmediately?!». I can’t remember exactly how much it came to, but any price was worth paying to get it handed in ontime, without penalties, and they managed to photocopy it within 10 minutes which meant we had 10 minutes to hand it in. Needless to say we literally had 1 minute to spare before deadline close, but we did it.
Fast, efficient and inexpensive. Phew!

Mailboxes Etc is extremely handy for all the local students as it has photocopying, printing and scanning services. It also has fed ex.
However, everytime I have used the fancy photcopying scanning machine, the staff have watched me with a look of distrust and scorn like I was juggling their family heirloom china tea set.
Get a grip guys.