Most people print only a few times a year — yet they still spend hundreds of dollars buying, maintaining, and troubleshooting a device that mostly collects dust.
Before you buy (or replace) a home printer, here’s the math that often gets ignored, and why printer ownership rarely pays off for modern households.
1. The Upfront Cost Isn’t the Real Cost
A “decent” home printer costs $200–$250 — not bargain-bin cheap, but not outrageous either.
The problem comes afterward.
Because most people print:
- return labels
- school forms
- contracts
- government documents
- the occasional resume
…maybe 5–10 times per year.
When you divide the purchase price across such infrequent use, your cost per print ends up in the $20–$50 range before you factor in ink.
That’s not a convenience. It’s an expense masquerading as a tool.
2. Ink Changes Everything
Even if you barely print, ink does not care.
It dries out. It clogs. It evaporates. It forces you to replace cartridges prematurely.
A set of cartridges typically costs:
- $30–$50 for basic setups
- $60–$120 for printers with separate color tanks
When you add that to the hardware cost, the cost per print skyrockets even further.
3. Printers Demand Maintenance (Even When You Don’t Use Them)
This part surprises most people.
Home printers require periodic:
- alignment
- calibration
- cleaning cycles
- roller maintenance
- firmware updates (that can brick them if interrupted)
If you don’t do these things, the printer stops working properly.
If you do them, you spend more time maintaining the printer than using it.
It’s a no-win scenario.
4. Environmental Impact Is Massive
The average home printer uses disposable ink cartridges that take up to 1,000 years to decompose. In the U.S. alone, 375 million cartridges are discarded each year.
Commercial printers (the kind used in professional print shops) rely on:
- refillable tank systems
- high-efficiency ink delivery
- dramatically less plastic waste
Replacing thousands of home printers with centralized, efficient print houses is objectively better for the planet.
5. Household Printing Needs Are Now Too Small to Justify the Investment
Printer manufacturers designed printers for people who print frequently. The internet (and email) has been around for a long time now, and as products like online signing/signature platforms, e-readers & notebooks, digital classrooms and social media continue to evolve, the need for owning a printer at home becomes less and less.
Today:
- 65% of U.S. households don’t own a printer
- printer ownership continues to decline
- most families only print when absolutely necessary
A printer you use a handful of times a year is not an “asset.” It’s a liability.
So why own a printer at all?
If you print weekly or daily, a home printer might make sense.
But if you’re like most people:
- you print rarely
- you don’t want to troubleshoot
- you don’t want to buy ink
- you don’t want another device to maintain
- you don’t want another piece of plastic ending up in a landfill
…owning a printer simply isn’t worth it.
There’s a simpler way.
Print without owning a printer — and without the frustration.
With Have It Printed, you can skip the cost, ink, maintenance, and environmental waste. Upload your document. We print it locally. We mail it with tracking.
You’re done — usually in under 30 seconds.