4 ms·

"Most printers sold are letter size by default." No, there are many more printers in the rest of the world than in the US and the vast majority are used with o

"Most printers sold are letter size by default." No, there are many more printers in the rest of the world than in the US and the vast majority are used with or are set to A4 paper. A4 is the world standard, like it or not. It's only the US and a schizophrenic UK that converted to metric and still doesn't realize it that aren't metric.

bobthepanda 4y ago
I guess I should qualify that with, most printers sold in the US are letter size by default, and that would be true for pretty much any sort of office supply store in the US. Which means that it‘s also the easiest thing to source in the US.
- hilbert42 4y ago
  My experience of every modern printer I've seen of Oriental manufacture and that I've used in the US, Europe, Japan and Australia are essentially identical when it comes to paper sizes. All cassettes are large enough to take American Quarto/Letter size and have adjustments/paper restraining guides that easily cover both sizes. It's possible that there are printers being imported into the US that have nonadjustable cassettes but I've never seen any (not in recent decades anyway). Even decades ago the HP LaserJet II and III would take both sizes. BTW, I still have a a fully functional LJ III bought around 1994. As far as I'm aware, there are no printer manufacturers that manufacture normal office type printers left in the US, everything now comes from Asia. Edit: However, in the US reams of letter size are the norm whereas nowadays it's almost impossible to Letter size in any other country. It's been a problem for me because I've had to produce manuals in both paper sizes (depending on which country I was working in at the time). Same with the ring binders which are slightly different sizes not to mention that the US often only uses 3-ring binders whereas everywhere else they're 4-ring and the hole spacings are incompatible.
  - bobthepanda 4y ago
    Which is why literally the second sentence of the comment you responded to is: > Most can accommodate A4 but the defaults need to be changed, you need to arrange new suppliers of office supplies (A4 is less prevalent in the US than Letter size) etc. Most Americans doing printing are doing so for Americans, and doing so in an American market that primarily supports Letter size. If you‘re doing localization for other markets, paper site is pretty trivial in the grand scheme of things compared to much larger hurdles like translation. The location of manufacture ultimately has very little to do with what the consuming market is asking for. Just because most electronic goods are made in China doesn‘t mean we need to switch to Chinese style plugs and sockets.
    - hilbert42 4y ago
      Nevertheless, the real issue is about the failure of the US to adopt the metric system, and similarly the UK to a lesser extent (UK's already supposed to be metric but it acts as if it isn't). Read my reply to Symbiote. As I said in a HN post only a few days ago, in most things Australia is a follower not a leader but it got it right with the introduction of the metric system. During which it banned the use of Imperial units (measurement). For example, one couldn't buy a 12-inch rule, only a 30 cm one. After everyone had gotten used to the change the rules were relaxed and some Imperial stuff could be used but most measurements still had to remain metric - fuel in liters, food in kg etc. One of the reasons the changeover worked well was that kids learned metric from the outset at achool and if adults didn't want to appear stupid in front of them they had to learn to adjust and they did. In the UK that never happened to the same extent.
  - pseingatl 4y ago
    Everywhere else four ring binders? I think not. The most common standard outside North America is two ring.
    - Symbiote 4y ago
      For a manual or other documentation supplied in a ring binder, the stronger 4 ring version would be much more common.
Symbiote 4y ago
The UK has used metric paper for decades, probably the 1970s.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- hilbert42 4y ago
  Granted, I accept that. I should have been more succinct. Let me give you an example (and it's very common, this is but only one instance). The BBC sells/syndicates programs of its health guru Dr Michael Mosley across the globe including here in Australia where I am at present. Regularly, these UK-based programs discuss obesity and weight. Well, these days, the problem is that no one here knows what pounds are let alone stones and ounces except for a few like me who remember the pre-metric days before the 1970s. Same goes with TV shows from the UK and the US that mention temperature in Fahrenheit degrees. If you asked the typical person here what 20°C was in Fahrenheit they wouldn't have a clue that it's 68°F. ...And if you were to ask them the difference between an Imperial gallon and a US one, you'd get blank stares to the effect 'what's a gallon and why are there two types?'. Then neither would the majority of those in the UK and US know the fact or that a US 55-gallon oil drum is essentially equivalent to a 44-gallon (Imperial) one. Right, the US has even screwed up the Imperial system. Moreover, there's an arrogance from those two countries about this. For instance, Mosley's programs are supposedly made to promulgate health and here they're largely deprecated when the local audience cannot put a measure on what he's talking about. That arrogance is palpable, the BBC doesn't even bother to subtitle the programs with the equivalent amounts in kg or Centigrade and such. And why doesn't Mosley make an effort to mention the matter in his programs? After all, he's been here enough times and even made medical programs here to be fully cognizant of the problem on this side of the planet.

bobthepanda 4y ago

I guess I should qualify that with, most printers sold in the US are letter size by default, and that would be true for pretty much any sort of office supply store in the US. Which means that it‘s also the easiest thing to source in the US.

hilbert42 4y ago
My experience of every modern printer I've seen of Oriental manufacture and that I've used in the US, Europe, Japan and Australia are essentially identical when it comes to paper sizes. All cassettes are large enough to take American Quarto/Letter size and have adjustments/paper restraining guides that easily cover both sizes. It's possible that there are printers being imported into the US that have nonadjustable cassettes but I've never seen any (not in recent decades anyway). Even decades ago the HP LaserJet II and III would take both sizes. BTW, I still have a a fully functional LJ III bought around 1994. As far as I'm aware, there are no printer manufacturers that manufacture normal office type printers left in the US, everything now comes from Asia. Edit: However, in the US reams of letter size are the norm whereas nowadays it's almost impossible to Letter size in any other country. It's been a problem for me because I've had to produce manuals in both paper sizes (depending on which country I was working in at the time). Same with the ring binders which are slightly different sizes not to mention that the US often only uses 3-ring binders whereas everywhere else they're 4-ring and the hole spacings are incompatible.
- bobthepanda 4y ago
  Which is why literally the second sentence of the comment you responded to is: > Most can accommodate A4 but the defaults need to be changed, you need to arrange new suppliers of office supplies (A4 is less prevalent in the US than Letter size) etc. Most Americans doing printing are doing so for Americans, and doing so in an American market that primarily supports Letter size. If you‘re doing localization for other markets, paper site is pretty trivial in the grand scheme of things compared to much larger hurdles like translation. The location of manufacture ultimately has very little to do with what the consuming market is asking for. Just because most electronic goods are made in China doesn‘t mean we need to switch to Chinese style plugs and sockets.
  - hilbert42 4y ago
    Nevertheless, the real issue is about the failure of the US to adopt the metric system, and similarly the UK to a lesser extent (UK's already supposed to be metric but it acts as if it isn't). Read my reply to Symbiote. As I said in a HN post only a few days ago, in most things Australia is a follower not a leader but it got it right with the introduction of the metric system. During which it banned the use of Imperial units (measurement). For example, one couldn't buy a 12-inch rule, only a 30 cm one. After everyone had gotten used to the change the rules were relaxed and some Imperial stuff could be used but most measurements still had to remain metric - fuel in liters, food in kg etc. One of the reasons the changeover worked well was that kids learned metric from the outset at achool and if adults didn't want to appear stupid in front of them they had to learn to adjust and they did. In the UK that never happened to the same extent.
- pseingatl 4y ago
  Everywhere else four ring binders? I think not. The most common standard outside North America is two ring.
  - Symbiote 4y ago
    For a manual or other documentation supplied in a ring binder, the stronger 4 ring version would be much more common.

Symbiote 4y ago

The UK has used metric paper for decades, probably the 1970s.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
hilbert42 4y ago
Granted, I accept that. I should have been more succinct. Let me give you an example (and it's very common, this is but only one instance). The BBC sells/syndicates programs of its health guru Dr Michael Mosley across the globe including here in Australia where I am at present. Regularly, these UK-based programs discuss obesity and weight. Well, these days, the problem is that no one here knows what pounds are let alone stones and ounces except for a few like me who remember the pre-metric days before the 1970s. Same goes with TV shows from the UK and the US that mention temperature in Fahrenheit degrees. If you asked the typical person here what 20°C was in Fahrenheit they wouldn't have a clue that it's 68°F. ...And if you were to ask them the difference between an Imperial gallon and a US one, you'd get blank stares to the effect 'what's a gallon and why are there two types?'. Then neither would the majority of those in the UK and US know the fact or that a US 55-gallon oil drum is essentially equivalent to a 44-gallon (Imperial) one. Right, the US has even screwed up the Imperial system. Moreover, there's an arrogance from those two countries about this. For instance, Mosley's programs are supposedly made to promulgate health and here they're largely deprecated when the local audience cannot put a measure on what he's talking about. That arrogance is palpable, the BBC doesn't even bother to subtitle the programs with the equivalent amounts in kg or Centigrade and such. And why doesn't Mosley make an effort to mention the matter in his programs? After all, he's been here enough times and even made medical programs here to be fully cognizant of the problem on this side of the planet.