Walk into any electronics store and you’ll see rows of sleek home printers promising convenience, speed, and “office-quality results.” But here’s the truth hiding behind the glossy packaging: most people barely print enough to justify owning one at all.
Across the U.S., household printing has steadily declined as more forms, signatures, and documents live online. Most families print only a handful of pages per month or sometimes even per year. Yet the average price of a “decent” home printer still sits around $200–$250, not including ink.
When you spread that cost across such low usage, the real price per print skyrockets. A couple of résumés here, a school form there, maybe a tax document... suddenly each page costs far more than you think.
And that’s before you factor in the soft costs:
- Time spent reconnecting your printer to Wi-Fi
- Stress spent "updating the firmware"
- Mental overhead of remembering how the thing works
- The inevitable “why won’t it print?” moment right when you’re on a deadline
For most households, the equation is simple:
Printing is an occasional need, not a daily habit.
Occasional needs don’t require a $200 machine gathering dust.
So how much do you have to print to justify the cost of owning one? Honestly, with a typical ink-cartridge home printer you likely never will.
The good news is, there’s a smarter, more cost-effective option:
Just print when you actually need to.
Skip the hardware. Keep the convenience.
Upload your document to Have It Printed and we’ll print it, mail it, and send tracking — all without a printer in your home.