Hacker News Reader

Comment by eternityforest | Hacker News Reader

What are people printing that doesn't require color? Unless you're a business owner or something at least half of reasons to print that I find are color.

We have SyncThing and tablets now for random documents and manuals, print to PDF into a sync folder, no paper needed. Pocket thermal Bluetooth things do labels with more convenience. Pen and paper will suffice if needed for recovery codes and master key backups.

View on HN

I haven’t had to print a color page in over a decade or more. What are you printing that requires color?

Receipts, warranties, tax docs, health docs, shipping labels, directions, manuals, schematics, electronic diagrams, and financial docs are things I print and I’ve never needed color. Most of the items I print aren’t even in color to begin with.

I find things in my life that require color printing are few & far between and would be better printed at a high res print shop.

The investment in color laser and cartridges would not be worth it in my case.

Same. 99% of my printing is B&W stuff for business purposes; e.g. forms to print, sign, and mail, etc. Some light scanning in there, too.

The few color things that I'd like to print -- pictures, posters, etc. -- might as well go to a print shop (I'm ~4 blocks from one) and get it printed on good paper, mounted, maybe even framed.

Last thing I printed was a bunch of clues for a scavenger hunt, before that it was Christmas cards.

I don't think I've ever printed a receipt, map(Aside from watching family print directions in the MapQuest era, but now we have phones), or warranty.

The only documents I ever print are remnants of some legacy process that can't be done some other way. I think one time I was emailed a contract, printed, and signed it, but I don't remember why we thought that was the most convenient way to do things.

I've probably scanned more diagrams and manuals than I've printed over the years.

For a business owner I totally get it, for a consumer, screens have replaced most documents.

> What are people printing that doesn't require color?

Documents and forms.

I had a colour-laser printer for a few years, and dealing with all the different toner (CMYK) cartridges was annoying. At some point went with a B&W Borther laser (like in the article) and haven't missed colour.

If I'm going to do photos I'll 'outsource' it, and if I really need colour for a few pages I'll do it at work.

I own this printer and almost exclusively use it to print shipping labels. The only other thing I print is my strength training template once every 3-4 weeks so I don't accidentally spend 5 minutes scrolling between sets - I work out at home anyway so I don't mind looking like a doofus with a clipboard but my girlfriend enjoys making boomer jokes about it.

You answered your own question. Most people don't need to print say, color photos anymore because they can be shared digitally more easily. However, people still need to print out documents physically sometimes.

I will say that color printing would have been preferable, had it not been for the adversarial business demon who is summoned when you say "color inkjet" three times.

We just use shutterfly for color printing. Every once and awhile my wife buys another shitty photo printer that ends up in the trash in 6 months or so. I told she's on her own with those things, I have a brother laser for the necessities and my loathsome printer repair days are behind me.

Color printers (even lasers) are a huge hassle and expensive. I just go to my local library for the off chance I want to print color. (Free for 3 pages a week)

The exception are small photo printers like the Canon Selphy.

It's very reliable, and the price (30c per photo), is cheaper than getting them from the store or ordering online (if you get less than 10 pictures).

For bulk photo orders, online ordering is cheapest, but the quality of print shops has gone down, so that my home printed photos are just as good or better (I haven't found a shop that prints photos as good as 90ies analog prints)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com