Staples has, in their arsenal, wide format printing capacities; offered both in color and in black and white. Let’s examine both to see how they really are.
In the B&W; vein, Staples actually does rather well. They can print documents up to 36 inches in width (length, you can make it as long as the roll, and you will never have a document that large). Also the price, for once, is actually rather cheap compared to many other places. It is $0.50 a square foot. How do you get the measurement? I will cover that near the end of the article.
Now, you have heard it’s cheap and they have a good sized printer, but what if you need something wider, and of course how is the quality? If you need something larger, all the Staples have a major printing center referred to as a “Hub,” not unlike a bicycle hub. They have major printing capacities and can print up to 42 inches in width.
Quality, usually good. The reason I say usually is because the machine they use tends to mess up. So you run a high risk of some gray lines appearing on your document. Most of the time, this is a very mild mistake. However, there have been times where the entire area is illegible. Always make sure to check your document before accepting it from them. They are good about doing reprints, and if needed the second time it tends to get done faster (unless their schedule just can’t accommodate it, then it will get done as soon as there is a let up in the jobs).
Normally good for plans or cheap banners (since the paper is only 20lb, meaning it is quite thin), it is not too good for graphic intensive jobs. So keep the B&W; for plans or banners with a message on them, and maybe one graphic.
Now, their color variety.
Staples offer two paper types for color prints, a matte finish and a glossy finish. While I know some people like matte paper, I would go for glossy. The matte feels like regular paper (just a little thicker), and curls with the heavy saturation of ink. The glossy holds up better, it’s thicker, and it looks more like a real poster.
Lengths of color prints are at most 24 inches wide in store, and 36 (for most paper types) at the hub printer. However, unlike the B&W; printing, there are many different paper types at the hub not available in store. For instance: a mesh flag paper, different types of vinyl, thicker glossy, etc. While they do usually cost more (some are the same price as in store) they can be worth it for big projects. Also all the paper types have different maximum widths, so make sure to talk it over with the Staples associate helping you before deciding what dimensions to make your poster.
Quality wise, color has less of a tendency to mess up than the B&W.; There is a rare chance where the ink will not dry completely, and for a few minutes it can be smeared, this is again quite rare. So here you are safe. Just make sure that your design is at least 300 dpi, or else it will print very pixelized.
What about price for color poster? Unlike B&W; which was among the most affordable I have ever seen, color does not follow that.
At the time of this article, every square foot is $8. The most common poster sizes are 18×24 and 24×36. For each of those, with this price, it is: $24 and $48 respectively. You won’t find a bargain here, but everything else about the printing is good.
Now, how can you find the square feet and thus estimate the price of your project? It’s quite simple, actually. You take the two dimension, so in the case of 18×24 you take 18 and 24, then multiply them. From this we get 432. After that, divide by 144, and you will get 3. Now, let’s say for square feet you get 2.1, or 3.6, will they charge you exactly for that measurement? No. If it is even .1 over, as in the case of 2.1, they will round up. Sometimes the associate is nice and will give it to you if it is only .1 or .2 over, but their policy dictates they should round up no matter what, so expect that.
Combined with wide format printing, the associate will probably also try to get you to laminate or mount the poster. While this is commonly done more for color, sometimes B&W; posters look good with these additions.
The mounting boards in store are 24×36, and in the hub they are larger. Also the laminating at the hub is thicker, for an extra charge, and wider. These do look very good, but the additions of course cost more. Laminating is $0.50 a square foot, and mounting $2. However, what they normally don’t tell you until later is that to mount, they also have to laminate (that is how it affixes to the board). So really the mounting price is $2.50 per square foot.
