(no subject)

[camwyn]

Had an Etsy order last night, and by 'last night' I mean 'I got the notification email when I was checking my phone one last time before bed to make sure nothing at the office had exploded and sent me a torrent of emails that weren't noticed because my phone goes into Do Not Disturb mode at 10 PM*'. Perfectly good reason for this; the buyer was in New Zealand. Thing is, I wasn't able to grab the box with the ear climbers in it that the buyer ordered before I left this morning, so I'm going to have to ship the order tomorrow, and it's way cheaper to buy the shipping label through Etsy and print it than to buy one at the post office, esp. for international shipping.

My stupid inkjet printer hasn't been used in over a year, so the cartridges are all dried out. Given the sporadic but quietly persistent number of Etsy purchases I've had over the past few months I am debating which is more likely: that getting ink and printing all my labels at home rather than a library or Fedex Office center will keep the cartridges alive and the nozzles unclogged, or that I should find a different type of printer that doesn't develop atherosclerosis of the ink if not used every day.

*Yes, this happened. Last February. Nothing like being about to go to bed Friday night into Saturday morning at 1 AM, checking your phone, and seeing automated messages out the wazoo about how the servers can't be found or contacted by the DR site or the backup service. That only has to happen to you once.

Comments

[newredshoes]

I caved and bought a Brothers laser printer after too may disappointments with inkjets; I primarily use it for big print jobs (novel drafts &c), and it’s been truly fantastic, would highly recommend!

[camwyn]

At this point a laser definitely sounds like the superior choice. Print head cleaning sucks something like half an ink cartridge out by the time it's finally effective, and the recommended maintenance of 'print a full color page once a week' to keep things flowing is... I don't have any reason to print a full color page once a week. I don't want a photo printer. I don't need a scanner. I just want to get black and white printing done on a sporadic basis and if a low end laser printer exists that does that, I'm up for the idea.

[newredshoes]

This is the one I got, love it so far. It's a little bit pricier than what else is out there (I don't know if you need all-in-one capabilities too; I did), but it's been very worth it to me.

[camwyn]

I don't especially need the all-in-one stuff. My inkjet is an all-in-one and I honestly don't remember the last time I scanned or faxed anything with it, and I've had it since... I don't know, 2016 or so. I may get a Brother HL-L2350, which is around the same price point but only does printing, once I hit my annual bonus (they pay that out on the 30th of January at my office). I'll unload my current printer on Craigslist or something when I've got an alternative.