4 ms·

> I would like to own a printer again, but for printing something like once a month, I just can't financially justify spending several hundred bucks on a device

> I would like to own a printer again, but for printing something like once a month, I just can't financially justify spending several hundred bucks on a device For printing something like once a month, it is even harder to justify wasting space by putting a printer. Printers should be put around in form of vending machines which would let you you insert a USB stick, drop some pennies and print the PDFs.

Kankuro 4y ago
In France, some post offices have such self-service printers. I chose to go to the a self-service printer shop when I need it every few months. It minimizes resources, it limits feeding this toxic industry and it saves space on my desk.
grishka 4y ago
We had a machine exactly like that at my university.
zeusk 4y ago
> Printers should be put around in form of vending machines which would let you you insert a USB stick, drop some pennies and print the PDFs. Every Fedex Print/Office center has this service. Most city libraries do as well.
- yencabulator 4y ago
  And it seems the nearest "Fedex Office Print & Ship" is 176 miles away and gets 2.7 stars. No thank you.
  - zeusk 4y ago
    Obviously, you can't expect businesses to be at every place in the world. There are 3 within 10 miles of me and I live ~30 miles from Seattle.
viraptor 4y ago
A lot of office equipment stores do that. For example in Australia Officeworks does that. You can even upload your bigger documents and drop in to pick up the ready result. https://www.officeworks.com.au/print-copy/info/pcc-print-and-copy-self-serve https://www.officeworks.com.au/print-copy/info/pcc-print-and...
Majestic121 4y ago
I don't know where you live, but such devices are pretty common at least in France : you can go to most supermarkets and print a couple pages for less than a euro. Definitely more expensive than ink+paper if you print a lot, but for my uses (couple of times a year) it's a no-brainer.
thatguy0900 4y ago
For what it's worth, if you have a staples nearby that's exactly what they offer. They accept emails too. I use it for my once a month printing, usually spend like 2$ on a small stack of papers.
Spooky23 4y ago
They are. Public libraries and places like FedEx Office do this and have for years. FedEx even has a virtual printer driver. Until my kids were a little older, I had an old HP laser printer and then one of those cheap Brother devices. Now I use a little HP mfp with instant ink… it’s essentially a worry free existence.
- anjel 4y ago
  I was at Kinkos last month to print a us govt passport renewal application document. The document had one tiny bit of color, entirely non essential to the purpose of the document. FedEx printer will scan the print job, and if there is any color in it, will unavoidably print in color, at much higher price per page. I asked, there is no way to force it to print in mono chrome.
jrib 4y ago
My local library allows me to print for a few pennies per page. I need to print things so rarely and don't want a printer taking up space, so I've been using my library most of the time.
selykg 4y ago
UPS Stores also have this type of option. Though, depending on your print choice it is freaking costly.
kalleboo 4y ago
Where I live convenience stores (7-11) and most larger supermarkets have this. Basically a combo photo printer + office copier with a touchscreen and USB/memory card readers. Some of the are also loaded with postcards (for xmas cards) or even sticker paper to make your own stickers. I also like to print out A3 posters for my kids and these printers can do that, whereas I'd never buy a huge A3 printer to have at home.
- sithadmin 4y ago
  Japan? US 7-11's absolutely do not have this service, and you're lucky if you find a grocery store that has a photo copier these days (was somewhat common in the 90s).
  - Aeolun 4y ago
    I remember this being kind of common in Dutch supermarkets, but there are no convenience stores there.
  - toast0 4y ago
    US drug stores commonly have a photoprinting area which I'd guess will do documents too. Not usually at the grocery stores or convenience stores though. There's also reprographics places and most shipping stores do printing as well. None of that is as convenient as a home printer, though. If you can get a decent color laser and lightly use it, it should treat you well for quite some time. Inkjets don't really like light use though, although I have fond memories of first page time on the ancient Deskjet 660C and 720C.
    - sithadmin 4y ago
      In my experience, US drug stores that can do document printing are the exception rather than the rule, though the self-service photo printing stations are practically universal.
- ascagnel_ 4y ago
  Your local public library is also a good option for this. Most, if not all, libraries have publicly-accessible computers where you can either log in to your cloud storage or email to print, and some have printers that can directly read from USB devices. Some will also let you send a file to a dedicated email address, where the library staff will print the document for you, should you be concerned about using shared hardware. At my local library, prints are $0.05/page, vs. $0.15/page at my local commercial print shop.
JasonFruit 4y ago
Office stores have exactly like that in the Midwestern American city I live near. I like paper, so I have my own printer, but for occasional prints in 11x17 I use this and it's great. Quick, cheap, easy.
guerrilla 4y ago
Pro-tip: Libraries.
criddell 4y ago
There's no way I'd ever use put that USB stick in one of my computers again.
- exyi 4y ago
  It's not going to make a rubber ducky from it. And the age of autorun USBs is hopefully over. I think this is but too paranoid However, I'd not want to be the device manufacturer, making it secure against all kinds of USB attacks
projektfu 4y ago
I'd love this but I can't think of a vendor that is reliable enough to put in a minimally attended machine. Thus we have the ones in UPS stores and markets. There's been a sea change. In 2000 if you wasted time on a website for a pitch, it was a gimmick. People wanted a nicely printed, bound pitch book that they'd have in front of them at the meeting. They'd probably throw them away but one would float around for a while if you were lucky. Now people expect you to have it digitally, and don't have a place for paper.
torpid 4y ago
I for one, like being able to print content in the privacy of my own home without letting private companies like Fedex/Kinkos see it, and potentially filter/share it with third parties. We're already shifting towards a society where things that offer a traditional offline, anonymous way of transacting information or currency is being construed as a threat because "terrorism", aka it cannot be monitored and controlled. Easily justifiable to still have one. My dad still uses a Laserjet 4L daily to print ebay stuff and refuses to replace it because it works, and my 14 year old brother mfc, with an ipv6 stack(!) still works as good as the day I bought it. These things last generations.
- pigeons 4y ago
  The laserjet 4L works really well.
aceazzameen 4y ago
Anyone remember about a decade ago when Chrome had a "Print to FedEx Kinkos" setting in the print dialog? I used that so much. It was the most convenient thing. It was only available for a year or two? Then suddenly the feature vanished and I had to go back to using USB sticks. And now these days there aren't as many locations to print as there used to be.
yencabulator 4y ago
... and store copies of your private files on their hard drives for up to years. No thanks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC38D5am7go https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC38D5am7go

Kankuro 4y ago

In France, some post offices have such self-service printers. I chose to go to the a self-service printer shop when I need it every few months. It minimizes resources, it limits feeding this toxic industry and it saves space on my desk.

grishka 4y ago

We had a machine exactly like that at my university.

zeusk 4y ago

> Printers should be put around in form of vending machines which would let you you insert a USB stick, drop some pennies and print the PDFs. Every Fedex Print/Office center has this service. Most city libraries do as well.

yencabulator 4y ago
And it seems the nearest "Fedex Office Print & Ship" is 176 miles away and gets 2.7 stars. No thank you.
- zeusk 4y ago
  Obviously, you can't expect businesses to be at every place in the world. There are 3 within 10 miles of me and I live ~30 miles from Seattle.

viraptor 4y ago

A lot of office equipment stores do that. For example in Australia Officeworks does that. You can even upload your bigger documents and drop in to pick up the ready result. https://www.officeworks.com.au/print-copy/info/pcc-print-and-copy-self-serve https://www.officeworks.com.au/print-copy/info/pcc-print-and...

Majestic121 4y ago

I don't know where you live, but such devices are pretty common at least in France : you can go to most supermarkets and print a couple pages for less than a euro. Definitely more expensive than ink+paper if you print a lot, but for my uses (couple of times a year) it's a no-brainer.

thatguy0900 4y ago

For what it's worth, if you have a staples nearby that's exactly what they offer. They accept emails too. I use it for my once a month printing, usually spend like 2$ on a small stack of papers.

Spooky23 4y ago

They are. Public libraries and places like FedEx Office do this and have for years. FedEx even has a virtual printer driver. Until my kids were a little older, I had an old HP laser printer and then one of those cheap Brother devices. Now I use a little HP mfp with instant ink… it’s essentially a worry free existence.

anjel 4y ago
I was at Kinkos last month to print a us govt passport renewal application document. The document had one tiny bit of color, entirely non essential to the purpose of the document. FedEx printer will scan the print job, and if there is any color in it, will unavoidably print in color, at much higher price per page. I asked, there is no way to force it to print in mono chrome.

jrib 4y ago

My local library allows me to print for a few pennies per page. I need to print things so rarely and don't want a printer taking up space, so I've been using my library most of the time.

selykg 4y ago

UPS Stores also have this type of option. Though, depending on your print choice it is freaking costly.

kalleboo 4y ago

Where I live convenience stores (7-11) and most larger supermarkets have this. Basically a combo photo printer + office copier with a touchscreen and USB/memory card readers. Some of the are also loaded with postcards (for xmas cards) or even sticker paper to make your own stickers. I also like to print out A3 posters for my kids and these printers can do that, whereas I'd never buy a huge A3 printer to have at home.

sithadmin 4y ago
Japan? US 7-11's absolutely do not have this service, and you're lucky if you find a grocery store that has a photo copier these days (was somewhat common in the 90s).
- Aeolun 4y ago
  I remember this being kind of common in Dutch supermarkets, but there are no convenience stores there.
- toast0 4y ago
  US drug stores commonly have a photoprinting area which I'd guess will do documents too. Not usually at the grocery stores or convenience stores though. There's also reprographics places and most shipping stores do printing as well. None of that is as convenient as a home printer, though. If you can get a decent color laser and lightly use it, it should treat you well for quite some time. Inkjets don't really like light use though, although I have fond memories of first page time on the ancient Deskjet 660C and 720C.
  - sithadmin 4y ago
    In my experience, US drug stores that can do document printing are the exception rather than the rule, though the self-service photo printing stations are practically universal.
ascagnel_ 4y ago
Your local public library is also a good option for this. Most, if not all, libraries have publicly-accessible computers where you can either log in to your cloud storage or email to print, and some have printers that can directly read from USB devices. Some will also let you send a file to a dedicated email address, where the library staff will print the document for you, should you be concerned about using shared hardware. At my local library, prints are $0.05/page, vs. $0.15/page at my local commercial print shop.

JasonFruit 4y ago

Office stores have exactly like that in the Midwestern American city I live near. I like paper, so I have my own printer, but for occasional prints in 11x17 I use this and it's great. Quick, cheap, easy.

guerrilla 4y ago

Pro-tip: Libraries.

criddell 4y ago

There's no way I'd ever use put that USB stick in one of my computers again.

exyi 4y ago
It's not going to make a rubber ducky from it. And the age of autorun USBs is hopefully over. I think this is but too paranoid However, I'd not want to be the device manufacturer, making it secure against all kinds of USB attacks

projektfu 4y ago

I'd love this but I can't think of a vendor that is reliable enough to put in a minimally attended machine. Thus we have the ones in UPS stores and markets. There's been a sea change. In 2000 if you wasted time on a website for a pitch, it was a gimmick. People wanted a nicely printed, bound pitch book that they'd have in front of them at the meeting. They'd probably throw them away but one would float around for a while if you were lucky. Now people expect you to have it digitally, and don't have a place for paper.

torpid 4y ago

I for one, like being able to print content in the privacy of my own home without letting private companies like Fedex/Kinkos see it, and potentially filter/share it with third parties. We're already shifting towards a society where things that offer a traditional offline, anonymous way of transacting information or currency is being construed as a threat because "terrorism", aka it cannot be monitored and controlled. Easily justifiable to still have one. My dad still uses a Laserjet 4L daily to print ebay stuff and refuses to replace it because it works, and my 14 year old brother mfc, with an ipv6 stack(!) still works as good as the day I bought it. These things last generations.

pigeons 4y ago
The laserjet 4L works really well.

aceazzameen 4y ago

Anyone remember about a decade ago when Chrome had a "Print to FedEx Kinkos" setting in the print dialog? I used that so much. It was the most convenient thing. It was only available for a year or two? Then suddenly the feature vanished and I had to go back to using USB sticks. And now these days there aren't as many locations to print as there used to be.

yencabulator 4y ago

... and store copies of your private files on their hard drives for up to years. No thanks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC38D5am7go https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC38D5am7go