[rickreynoldssf]

Are personal printers really still a thing? I can count on 1 finger how many times I needed to print something in the past few years and FedEx Kinkos is perfect for that. I'd rather pay like $5 rather than have some bulky ugly thing taking up space on my desk.

[vlovich123]

My Brother laser printer sits in a corner unobtrusively (not on my desk). I don’t print enough these days to warrant the convenience it but the toner lasts forever and not needing to make a trip to print is really nice. I’m sure there are people who use inkjets for printing photographs or have lots of paper copies they need to make for whatever reason. Statistically, ~45% of Americans own a printer [1].

Be careful when you extrapolate your own personal habits onto broader market trends.

HP by itself still brings in $18B per year in printer revenue [2].

[1] https://www.statista.com/forecasts/1247076/consumer-electron...

[2] https://www.statista.com/statistics/274447/hewlett-packards-...

[jawns]

There are plenty of people who have frequent printing needs, even if they're not using it for work. For instance, my wife homeschools, so she prints a lot of worksheets and such. My son plays piano, and he likes to print out sheet music. And I find myself, more often than I'd like, having to print out forms and sign them, because the company or organization hasn't figured out electronic signatures yet.

But perhaps the bigger feedback I'd offer in response to your comment is that just because something doesn't apply to you or your situation doesn't mean that it's not relevant to other people.

[chankstein38]

They just asked the question. How would we know that something is relevant to others if we don't ask? As another person in the same boat, it shocks me people even care about printers at this point. I do the same, just run to FedEx if I need to print. That said, thanks to the parent commenter asking the question, I now know. Not sure why you feel the need to lecture.

[danielrhodes]

Yes! There is a Staples near my house with a print center. Their prices for a job I needed done were so exorbitant that I bought a printer/scanner from the same store and broke even almost immediately. I have not returned to the store since. Their business model is pretty flawed when they sell something at low margin which makes the high margin thing they're selling obsolete.

[hedora]

We found that we needed one once we bought a house because banks like you to sign + email stuff, for reasons that are unclear to me. One the one hand, the iOS "scribble on the PDF with your finger" feature has almost replaced that. On the other hand, their notes app includes a good enough document scanner, so we often print, fill out, scan and file instead of just scribbling on the PDF. (We used to print, fill out, and then use a full-duplex hardware document scanner, which provided better / faster scans, but does not fit in my pocket).

[JohnFen]

Yes they're still a thing.

> I can count on 1 finger how many times I needed to print something in the past few years and FedEx Kinkos is perfect for that.

That's awesome! But there are lots of people who need to print often enough that the cost (in time and/or money) of going to a shop to do it is very hard to justify.

For my case, I print 2-4 pages monthly no matter what, and a handful of pages on average on top of that. That's not much printing, but it's more than enough to justify having a printer. Going to a shop to do that printing is a large amount of time and hassle.

[kelseyfrog]

Absolutely! I print off worksheets for my kids (online school) all the time. One of my hobbies(linocut) involve printing off templates.

It's great having a Brother laser printer at home. It's saved me hours and hours going to a Kinkos. But also keep in mind that my use cases are not generalizable. If I didn't do this, I'd feel much the way you do.

[ang_cire]

If you do anything that involves groups of people (tabletop games, teaching students, organizing events, etc) you'll need to print hardcopies pretty regularly. I love Kinkos for large-dimension printing (though a 4'x5' color DnD map can easily run $80), but I'm not going there once a week to prep handouts for students.

[massysett]

Yep. I wrote software to print grocery lists. I also print recipes. Nothing beats paper and pen for this: it's cheap and easier than futzing around with devices.

I also routinely print for work. This is how I review draft documents. This allows me to leave my desk, and I find it easier to read paper.

I don't think paper will ever be obsolete for me.

[mdavidn]

Yes, personal printers are still a thing. My family uses a Brother laser printer. It sits unobtrusively in a corner. We have yet to buy more paper or toner, so we don't print in great volume, but we do regularly need it. We print tickets for events or prepaid parking, documents to sign, envelopes, and crafts for the kid.

[BillSaysThis]

My wife is often printing stuff. Even though is mainly content that would be fine as a PDF on her phone or tablet, one of which is always with her. TBF I do occasionally also print things but little enough that I'd be fine going to the library to do it.

[bombcar]

I print about 2-5 times a month, maybe more in bursts.

* worksheets/coloring pages for the kids

* FedEx/shipping labels for various things

* documents/forms/etc (especially legal/school/rebate)

* state taxes when not e-filing to save money

The printer is small and sits in a corner on a shelf, far from everyone.

[Sohcahtoa82]

I keep a printer for the convenience.

A $150 one-time purchase will result in several hours of saved time going to the print shop over a few years.

I don't print often, but when I do, I like that I don't have to make a trip out.

[ta8645]

It is interesting to see all the people who replied to you with every-day printing needs. But just to let you know you're not completely alone, I haven't needed a printer for ten years or so.

[troupe]

I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum. I can't imagine how a typical family could get by without having a printer to handle basic educational, correspondence, and hobby needs.

[choilive]

Depends on your day to day I guess. My partner is a med student and goes through about a ream or two of paper per semester.

[maximus-decimus]

> some bulky ugly thing taking up space on my desk

I think there's beauty in a well running machine.

[jabroni_salad]

i print so many D&D supplies. The printer lives in the basement though, not on my desk.

[psunavy03]

There's a joke here to be made about D&D stuff and living in the basement . . .

[travoc]

Most households with kids needs a printer at home for school stuff or crafting.