Ah the paper-free home office. Such a charming idea, but one that we rarely ever see executed, because in 2011, paper is still useful. While many of our friends have gotten rid of their printers at home and chosen to print at work, when you work from home you don't really have that luxury. Here are 5 reasons why the printer still lives in our home office.
5 Things We Print
- Boarding Passes: While our primary airline, Delta, does accept the boarding passes on our iPhone at many terminals, this is not the case with other airlines. With lines during the holidays being so crazy we don't want to wait for the little machines at the terminal to spit out our boarding passes and would rather just print them at home.
- Art: We like to change up the art we have in our home office frequently and find that there is a great selection of printable art that is at our disposal online. All we have to do is buy or design it ourselves and print.
- Invoices & Resumes: As much as we would prefer to send everything electronically, many companies still prefer to receive hard copies of invoices. We have run into requests for printed copies of our resumes while on the job hunt and it's nice to be able to run a few off at home before heading to an interview.
- Shipping Labels: In our line of work, many products need to be sent back after we've reviewed them and this means printing shipping labels. We thank our lucky stars for our little printer on days when it's nasty outside and the last thing we want to do is make a run to Staples to print out a label.
- Photos: While we do view our photos primarily digitally, we also like to display some around the house. The biggest users of printed photos however are our moms who are huge scrapbookers. They have a standing request for new images and we bring a stack of photos with us on every visit.
What do you still use your printer for?
(Images: Joelle Alcaidinho)
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Comments (13)
What kind of printer do you use? With all the photo and art printing, what's your best resource for reasonably priced print cartridges?
@alison78 The printer pictured (our printer) is the first generation HP Envy 100. We have not had to buy cartridges for it yet as we are still using the ones it came with. When we have had to buy cartridges in the past we generally look online for the best deals and just buy them there, usually on sale from a large office supply store. Because we only print the 5 things we mentioned we don't tend to go through much ink.
I bought a Brother HL-2030 black and white laser printer 6 years ago, and have never changed the toner cartridge that came with it. I have been through four years of university and printed countless reports and essays, and even let friends print their papers on it, but still it has toner left. At the time when I bought it, it was on sale for $69. When I think about how much I've saved on ink cartridges or pay-per-use printers at the school, it blows my mind.
My point is that whether or not people need a colour printer is really dependant on the user, but everyone should own a good office printer. You will save a fortune.
I still have a printer as I'm a teacher, and being able to print things at home so I just have to photocopy at school is brilliant. Plus when I'm not teaching I'm still studying, so being able to print papers and slides is a must.
I'm very lucky in that my parents upgraded their perfectly acceptable printer to a shiny new Canon and were more than willing to 'donate' it to me, with 2 sets of cartridges. I've had it a year and haven't had to change the cartridges yet!
I'll second travelingmusic's recommendation on having a good laser printer if you need to print on a regular basis. I have a Brother as well (2040), and I think I've changed the toner once since I bought it about five years ago. Those things last forever!
The only time I use my printer is for DVD covers, movie or sporting tickets, or custom projects like printing envelopes or labels. Its a multifunction and its hard finding just a scanner, so it serves more then one purpose.
I print bunch of calendars once a year. What I mostly use printer for though, is to print PDF manuals at work. Even though my work PC is a laptop, it is just so much easier to have paper manual when you're working on a machine away from your desk, and to be able to go quickly between pages. Paper manuals don't run out of batteries and don't go into power save mode.
I have an Epson R1800 large format printer and I've been buying ink for it on ebay since I've had it for the past 5 years. With 8 cartridges, I couldn't afford to buy the Epson branded ones.
On ebay, I usually get a set of 3 each for less than $40 with free shipping.
Being a dad of two young daughters who bring home a bunch of schoolwork, I use the scanner part more these days. Although I love to hold originals in my hand and marvel at their creativity, I can't possibly file away all the artwork, tests, and book reports.
I use an Epson Artisan so I can print photos from my phone and our family has a tradition to make our own holiday cards, so the printer gets quite a bit of use towards the end of the year.
Another aspect of this particular printer is that the print media is loaded from the front, and it has an automatic scanner feeder, so the printer can be tucked away in a bookshelf with relatively low clearance. The printer is mostly black, so it remains virtually invisible until I send print jobs at it, where it would whirr and click back to life.
According to Epson, it's more "green" to leave it on and let it go to sleep, rather than to turn it on/off at every use.
I've used other brands, including hp Lasers, but this one seems to deliver the most value for the money (coming from a amateur photographer's point of view). I do have to admit, the old B&W Canon Bubble-Jet 200 that I had was one of the best no-nonsense printers for the home office, but she's passed away - may she rest in peace...
I know it can get pricey, but I choose to never use 3rd party ink - it wreaks havoc on the printer nozzles and rarely plays nice with the photo paper that I use.
I have the same printer, the Envy. I use it rarely but am happy I have it when the need arises. I also have used it for scanning. Its Ipad/Iphone printing ready also. I use it for boarding passes, ticket confirms for events and I also sometimes print notes for a blog post (easier to have it right next to me while I have wordpress open). Sometimes I also print recipes if I'm going to modify the recipe a bit.
If you do have big printing needs, I wouldn't recommend it, it's pricey. You may be able to get something more robust for a similar price.
For me? I have a small home and my desk is in my bedroom. I live in a dusty area. The HP is nice looking and doesn't look like a printer, I have strict rules about anything looking too "office" like where I sleep, it's stressful (I have a day job, the home office is for blogging and writing). It closes completely so I don't have to worry about dust getting in.
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