I have a printer however I print so seldom that my $100 ink dries up before I use it much.
Office Depot
Years ago I started started printing at Office Depot. They were close and that worked well. They had a choice of paper quality. And I always got good results. However the store near me closed and I had to look for another option.
UPS
I found out the UPS store near me had printing. Just email them your documents and they print them. There wasn’t any paper choice (at least I was never offered a choice) they just printed on cheap paper. I had the feeling that sometimes the printer was just a regular printer on a PC in the back. Office Depot was definitely more professional. But they sufficed for what I needed. It was usually fairly quick. However the last time I used them the guy literally sat at the computer staring at my documents that I had foolishly inserted my social security in and there was also some monetary info in the document. I do take some blame because it was stupid of me on 2 levels, to
1) have my SS# in the form and…
2) Email it to them.
I think that was the first time I ever printed anything with sensitive information on it
In the past people printing would just seemingly look at the screen long enough to start the print job then continue doing other things.
Of course this guy seemed actively interested in what I was printing.
I must say he was definitely interested in the screen. I only assume he was looking at my document. But I repeat…In the past people printing would just seemingly look at the screen long enough to start the print job then continue doing other things.
They had asked me to take a survey of the experience…which I did
When asked about the low scores I explained the situation
Despite my stupid actions, I do take security seriously
But evidently they don’t because nothing I said got any response from them.
So I decided I needed to find a new place to do my printing. So googling led me FedEx.
FedEx
This place was 3 or 4 times farther away. However right away it seemed much more professional. There was a separate Printing counter. But some guy asked me what I needed and felt the need to help an older not as tech savvy guy. Anyway that’s was my impression. I was not offended because frankly I just wanted my printing done. I needed 6 copies and a one page PDF on my phone printed. He walked me over to what I assume were self serve printing stations. They looked like office copying machines. And judging from other customers that were also being helped I assume everything I needed done could be done right there including faxing. The PDF was sent to an email address just like I did at UPS. I didn’t have my glasses so I took my time and carefully typed the address into my FedEx phone contact, because I knew I’d be using them again. Once you email they send you a code to print the document. However I never got the code using my AT&T email address. And that where being viewed as a non tech say guy gets a little annoying. Are you sure you sent it? Yes! Is it in your sent folder? Yes! I’ve been using this method successfully for a while at UPS. I know how to attach documents and send. Then he wanted me to do it by typing the email address in manually. I don’t want to type it in manually. I have fat fingers and not a great phone and it’s tedious. That’s why I enter it once and carefully in my contacts. Of course it didn’t work. Finally it worked by using gmail. I usually try and avoid snoopy gmail.
Also my very first copy job was smudged by color and had to be redone. Anyway I finally I got everything printed. And because of the problems I wasn’t charged anything.
So it’s a little farther but because of the more professional setup I will go back and not because I wasn’t charged. Also I got the feeling I could print photos which I sometimes did at office Depot because he asked me if regular paper was OK. There regular paper was better than the printouts I got from UPS.
