Posted by Brooke Squyres on 1/23/13 10:14am
Msg #451673

Update needed on mobile printing-

if this has been answered, I cannot find it in the search button, though I know it's been discussed ad nauseum over the years, but my question is slightly different.

What I would like to do is have a small, compact Laser printer to carry in my car(not wired to the car) that I could plug in at the borrowers home and print from my iphone for those last minute docs. I cover a huge territory, most of it rural, and getting back home is usually impossible, and it means losing money to have to cancel last minute. Fed Ex Offices are few and far between, I ended up at one last night and it cost me 35 dollars and 40 minutes of stressing and driving and bugging the poor fedex guy about getting it done quickly. If I HAD to bring in a small laser printer and download/print from my phone, it would save a lot of this stress...
If anyone can reccomend a printer that isn't too costly (especially with toner/drum replacements), that is reliable, and new enough to hook up (and how does one do that?) with my iphone, bless you bless you bless you!
I think the days of hard wiring your car is just too old-tech at this point, and I believe most borrowers understand and would be happy if you could get their docs printed withing 15 minutes or so......
again, thank you for any input, or steering me to the already posted message!

Reply by jojo_MN on 1/23/13 10:45am
Msg #451683

I have a small HP Laserjet 1020 that I carry. New toner cartridges are around $100, but I get them thru TonerPirate.com for $18.95 for the remanufactured cartridge ( 3000 pages) or $69.07 for EOM (2200 pages). I have had excellent results with my printer. Very light. Measures 8 x 9 x 13.5. Prints both legal and letter size, but you would need to change paper manually or just print all on legal. Hope this info helps.

Reply by RickG/CA on 1/23/13 11:50am
Msg #451703

If you can find one, an older HP 1320 is a quality printer that is somewhat portable at 25 (ish) pounds. In any case I don't recommend leaving the toner cartridge in the printer during the moist or hot times of the year to get the most of the cartridge. Good luck.

Reply by OR on 1/23/13 12:05pm
Msg #451708

I prefer to call and let the borrowers I am going to be late and print in my office. However I have taken in my laptop and printer into the borrowers homes. I have never had a any borrower get upset with that ever. I have learned that letting the borrowers know what is happening at your end smooth out any rugh edges.

Reply by CJ on 1/23/13 3:57pm
Msg #451747

I always appreciate any info on this. :) n/m

Reply by notary/OR on 1/23/13 10:58pm
Msg #451814

Another thought...

I have a HP 1020 also and its great. If it is in my car I can pull into a starbucks or other wireless location and print.

But another convenient way is to map out stores like Mailboxes, etc. or Postal Connections (pack and ship locations). You can stop in and log on to your email and print on their printers (which are laser and dual) for about 5 cents a copy if you purchase copy cards in increments of 500.

I also live in a rural area and cover several towns and this saves me ALOT of time and driving.