Those of you that like to print your own envelopes…what are you using?
Is there such a thing as a dedicated envelope printer?
I’ve been using the HP Officejet Pro L7680 All-In-One and it suxx!
Many times the envelope slips when the printer starts to print and
this causes it to not print according to the design I made in MS Publisher
and sometimes the printing isn’t straight.
I’d like to find a printer that is made to just do envelopes.
Is there such a printer out there? I’ve not been able to find one.
If there isn’t, anybody know of a better make / model printer
that does a good job printing #10 Business Envelopes?
With printing envelopes… you mean the addresses or are you doing some kind of fancy design?
Because if it is just printing addresses, I simply have a list of names and their addresses and use word mailing combination assistant and it works beautifully.
Either that, or I print the addresses in sticks which I will put on the envelope later on.
I’m just printing the recipient’s address, and my return address and
I’d like to stick it in a printer…print it…and have it come out straight
and professional looking every time instead of what I have now
which causes me to have to print several just to get one that
has the printing straight and centered as I designed it in Publisher.
The only dedicated envelope printers I’ve been able to find are the
ones like a print or copy shop would use to do large volume jobs
and they start at around $3,000.
So, I guess I need to find a modern ink-jet printer that does a
very, very, very good job at printing #10 Business Envelopes.
You’d think these manufacturers would make their machines
do a good job printing envelopes, but I’ve yet to see one that
does.
My HP Officejet Pro L7680 wasn’t a cheap printer as far as
all-in-one printers go…but it suxx at envelopes!
Just print labels and stick them on, do you actually think anyone actually looks at envelopes when they open them? They check that it is addressed to them (sometimes), they rip open the envelope and they throw it away.
Part of being a professional is making all things look good, man!
This makes a good impression on customers. Sloppy stuff makes 'em think they are dealing with a fly-by-night, snuff dippin, redneck outfit
I’ll see if I can see the HP PSC 1100 in action printing envelopes down at Office Max and see what it can do
[FONT=“Georgia”]If you wish. Honestly though, I’ve found thinking like that makes you run out of money. A thing doesn’t have to be pricey to not be sloppy.
I’ve never tried envelopes with it, but I got a nice Okidata color laser printer a few years ago (around $300) partly because it could handle large and heavy paper types and if all you’re doing is printing #10 envelopes, you might just want to see if you can try a few printers out at office max or staples and see which works best for you.
What are you mailing? Are these invoices or proposals, or direct mail pieces?
I’d love to find a cheap, home office suitable large format printer for oversize envelopes that would be good for direct mail, but I’ve seen the same you have, that you need to spend a few grand for something thats more suited for a small letter shop.
Putting a sticker on the front doesn’t look as good as printing an envelope which is what most of the big companies do. I can see that for mass mailings of monthly statements or something, but not for sales and marketing to potential new customers.
I’m a small company, but the way I do things has most of our customers thinking we are a large organization cause we always do things neatly and we always take care of customer’s needs.
This doesn’t cost much more at all and it gets us more customers because they have more confidence in us versus some of our competitors that do things like putting stickers on envelopes.
But, we all have to do what we think works best…
I like to custom print envelopes when I send proposals and/or marketing material out to the occasional customer that doesn’t do email, or that prefers something by mail.
Just want it to look very clean and professional.
And, when I send a personal letter out…I want it to look nice!
I’ve had spotty results with a color laser printer myself.
They print beautifully, and dead straight I’ve found; problem is an envelope is not a flat surface because of the flap in the back. Very noticeable with a heat set ink.
I would think that printed envelopes would not only be nicer looking but save a lot of time (ergo money). Honestly, it sounds as though you need custom envelopes so infrequently, that sucking up a mild PITA might be your best option.
I guess you need to figure out if the time and effort to get your envelopes to your standards are worth it, or if you’re just looking at an expensive treat.
I wonder if there is a heat shield that can be put into the envelope to help this situation when printing on a laser.
If there is, envelope manufacturers could offer this shield already inside the envelope so it’s ready to print and all you have to do is remove the shield before putting the letter in the envelope and sealing it.
In other other hand, I might look into getting an envelope tray for my laser printer (HP Color Laser CM1312 nfi MFP)
I know. On my ink-jet I’ve been using for envelopes, the print heads won’t align now so I have to see if there’s some sort of adjustment that can be made somewhere of if I need new print heads.
I guess if I had to I can keep using it and go on printing a couple of two or three envelopes until one comes out OK.
That is the exact model that I have.
If I recall, I just used the Word envelope preset and reduced the guides in my paper tray to fit the envelopes.
I think it might be the pressure of the envelope being pushed against the drum that causes a ‘shadow’ of the seams to show in the inking on the front. Perhaps you could get away with a heavier paper inserted in the envelope to reduce/eliminate that. I’m not sure what weight of paper that model handles, and it’s not really a thing you’d want to experiment with!
Just cause everybody is doing something, doesn’t make what they are doing right for me. I never was much on following the crowd like a bunch of cattle
I mean, if they all start backing up their data with cloud storage (where who knows how many hackers are peeking at their stuff), does that mean we all have to? I tro not!
My laser is my primary printer loaded with letter size paper, and my ink-jet is my secondary printer loaded with envelopes.
I could print envelopes on my laser but I’d have to remove the paper and put envelopes in before printing and that’s just too much trouble. I not only bought the ink-jet as a backup printer in case the laser breaksdown, but I also wanted it to be used as a dedicated envelope printer.
With today’s high technology, there’s gotta be a way to print a nice custom envelope without having to spend a few thousand dollars to buy special equipment.
I know, I know…you’re one of those people that thinks anyone who doesn’t agree with them is not teachable and isn’t “learning”, right?
Over something as simple a preference of printing a custom envelope versus using an envelope with a window…really??? (if window envelopes were such a big breakthrough…that’s all that would be available today, which is not the case because it’s a preference situation where people use what they like)
So, yeah I’m not a fan of the window envelope so I was already feeling free to not use those. Thank you. My point was, just because alot of people are doing something…does that automatically make it right for me? No, it does not.
And, hackers are everywhere and are hacking into all kinds of stuff these days so it is a legitimate concern that needs attention. If you want to stick your head in the sand on that issue, be my guest cause your decisions about your life don’t effect me in any way.
Right…everybody else is wrong, and only you are right…is that it?
It’s obvious that you believe this based on your last post.
What you don’t realize is that some things are subjective. Sometimes there are multiple choices (such as deciding how to work with envelopes) and no one choice is the “right” choice for everybody.
So, to your logix concerning envelopes…NO thank you
I think Noon (amongst others) is simply saying that there are much more productive uses of your time than this.
Quiz all of your clients about what made they pick you up as a service provider. I’ll bet that none of them say your pretty envelopes made the difference.
