For most people running to the mall/office store when they need to print is a better deal. Yes the costs per page are high, but how often do you really print - between ink going dry, and cheap printers not having a long lifespan, the actual cost per page of a printer you own is probably a lot higher than you think. Plus keeping paper in the printer, and all the other issues are not your problem.
I still own my own laser printer because the convenience of not having to leave when I want to print is worth it, but I'm not pretending this is something worth doing.
Agreed, not only are the printing services actually cheaper in the long run, you get access to better and more specialized printers. Want to print on A3? no problem. Want to print stickers and have them die cut? Easy. The commercial printer will be 100x nicer than yours. You don't have to maintain it or deal with crap and malicious firmware.
Running to a store to print definitely seem like a better deal than buying personal printers at this point. Since those printers are in fact being leased instead of being sold, might as well have them take up somebody else's space.
>For most people running to the mall/office store when they need to print is a better deal.
Maybe if you don't value your time, or have perfect foresight/planning (eg. it's 10pm and you needed something printed for 9am tomorrow). The cheapest plan is $0.99/month, or $12/year. That seems like a pretty good deal to avoid having to do a 30 minute errand every time you need something printed.
I still own my own laser printer because the convenience of not having to leave when I want to print is worth it, but I'm not pretending this is something worth doing.