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Comment by nehal3m | Hacker News Reader

I'm probably super biased because I work in a relatively modern office that produces relatively modern tech, but we barely ever use paper for anything anymore. The same goes for my home office use; I moved a few months ago and left my printer behind. With the advent of QR code tickets and parcel barcodes and iOS's Continuity scanning features I just don't see the point of having a space-, paper- and toner-eating monster on my desk anymore. I used to administer about 12 leased Toshiba reproduction units and that has planted a deep seated hatred for printers. Is the public at large wise to avoiding these fuckers like the plague, or am I an outlier?

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I think it's quite likely that people use their printers far less, but for many people not having any access to a printer at all is unrealistic and/or undesirable.

There are still plenty of example use cases which aren't covered by the existence of QR codes and phone scanning. Documents which need ink signatures. Boarding pass backups so you don't hit disaster when you are running late for the flight and your battery dies. Government agencies which insist on doing things by post. Sending things to non-tech capable relatives or customers who don't know what to do with a PDF. Leaflets and handouts for community meetings. Notices which have to be physically displayed in a building or on a window. Homework assignments for young children.

Some of these you might be able to workaround with some added inconvenience (e.g. carry a spare phone battery). Others are simply impossible. I'm not going to fail to buy a house because I can't comply with the mortgage company's requirement to return a signed deed for example. Much as I rarely use my printer and wouldn't be bothered at all if it stopped being required, I accept that I need to be pragmatic about it.

For me it's infrequent enough that I'll just go the the library if I need to print.

That's a reasonable proposition, but I think it comes down to your individual circumstances, frequency of need, and tolerance of inconvenience.

For people who have an office or home where a printer won't take up valuable space or look out of place, use it semi-frequently (let's say a few times per week or month), and might have to deal with the occasional urgent case, owning a $100 printer is a small price to pay to avoid having to spend an hour visiting the library (depending on distance of course) every time you need to perform 30 seconds worth of printing.

For a bit more money, you can get a multi-function printer with a built in duplex scanner and document feeder, which actually helps with running a paper-free environment. I have one of those sitting on my desk. Every piece of mail that arrives goes first into the scanner and then into the recycling bin, and avoiding trips to the library for printing is an added bonus.

YMMV but in my experience, instances where you need to provide a physical signare but are not provided a printout are pretty rare. Rare enough that you can use a printshop or similar service.

Bording passes are are almost always provided for you on check in for international flights (all you really need is your passport). And honestly I can't recall my phone battery ever reaching 0% - then again, battery lifetime is one of my primary criteria when choosing a new phone. There is still some risk that the phone blows up (literally or figuratively), but that's getting into theoretical territory.

I do have a printer for convenience but it's rare that I actually need it and I have lived for long stretches without one.

I don't understand why is your post relevant to the topic at hand? I assume you're not quite a target market for printers then? Or is it a question because you can't imagine anyone still using paper in the world?

In the world is a bit large in scope, I’m trying to gauge whether printing in the HN audience is on the decline I imagine it to be.

I like printing papers and some other material. I know there's e-ink, but they are just worse than pen and paper. I also like printing train tickets so I don't need to stress out about my phone battery. Occasionally I have to mail the government something too.

I never used paper for anything else, so from my point of view, it's not on the decline. But just steady and stable.

I prefer reading papers on paper, with fountain pen to make notes. It is easier for me to focus on compared to electronics devices (well, I am answering on HN instead of doing things I should be doing)...

I try to avoid having a printer, but I have a kid and kids want coloring books and need printed homework assignments.

Most people need to print so infrequently that they should just print to library or print service like fedex. My library's printing is a third the cost of local printing services. Both have simple ways to send print jobs to a location. Really convenient.

One person's convenient is another person's inconvenient. For me, a trip to the library means dealing with awkward opening hours and a 35 minute round trip on foot, or 10 minutes by car with a fight for a parking space plus a parking charge and petrol. Printing at home means pressing a button and waiting 30 seconds. I can even do it on a Sunday or at 8am or 7pm if I want to. There's no comparison.

I went for years without a printer at home. If I needed something printed, I'd mooch off a friend or the office. Then I found a small-business grade brother laser printer for dirt cheap at a thrift shop and I've really liked having it.

Short story you're trying to read but the endless scroll makes you lose your place? Print it. Sheet music you want on-the-go without buying an ipad pro? print it. Funny picture you want to tape to your wall? Print it.

Presumably, you can understand there are vast use cases for printed paper extending beyond trivial consumer activities of printing tickets and such yes?

I think nearly everyone on HN is aware of and may use QR code tickets sometimes but that's irrelevant to the broader need for printers in business and government.

Yeah I understand, no need for hostility. I prefaced my question with my own bias, I'm just interested in how others feel about it. It's fine if you think HN is aware, but that shouldn't invalidate an honest inquiry.

Yes, people do rely on them still. Some airlines still stipulate a printed pass (despite the phone pdf/app still being viable). There's also a bunch of forms that still need printing out to be signed (no docusign). I guess that will tail off over time but they're still needed now. Just maybe not for you, some do.

Does your office mail anything? That's what is 99% printing we have to do - shipping labels. And some obscure not available to file online government forms.

Hmm for most forms we use things like DocuSign, but I suppose there must be some that have to be mailed in. For mail we mostly do parcels and those get either a dedicated label printer, or if they're large products, a dedicated transport.

Things I hadn't immediately thought of as an engineer. Good point!

I could not justify labels printer for number of packages we ship (we do sell online, but most stuff is handled by Amazon's fba service). But also had to send federal paper tax forms, because in order to file online you have to confirm address which is done with pin code sent via snail mail to our address and that's wouldn't happen before due date... Also filling property appraisal protests evidence can be done on USB stick or CD disk, but the most reliable way is just to print 5 copies and bring it to the protest hearing... These just recent odd things I had to print. All in all printers are still useful sometimes. The only thing is that with my usage ink printers are no go. So cheapish laser printer, with cheap aftermarket cartridges available in eBay is the way to go for me

> With the advent of QR code tickets

Until you need an app that also monitors your neighbors heartbeat just to be able to enter the venue. No thanks I'll keep printing.

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