On 31/8/24 15:26, Brad Rogers wrote:
What about the time (and, therefore, cost) of getting to/from the print shop? Time alone (for me) would add £22.88 (at minimum wage) to the cost of any print job. Factor in fuel costs, parking fees, vehicle wear and tear and depreciation, and suddenly that printer looks like a bargain.
The bigger picture is that personal printing is on the way out because there is declining need for it. In its place is electronic delivery of documents. As proof is the rapid decline in personal mail usage (while personal parcel delivery in booming)
A good example is the transition from chemical based photography to digital photography. In the old days you would take photos and send them to a develop and print service (or even develop and print yourself!).
This transitioned to you take digital photos to a big box store and get printed copies and a floppy disk or CD.
This has again transitioned to taking digital photos and uploading to an image publishing service and never getting a printed copy.
There will always be a need for personal printers of any variety - photo, text, etc, but in many cases they will get less and less use. In the rare cases you need to print something today you can always go to a printing service at some low marginal cost.
