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You might be tempted to print stickers at home, given the possibilities that widespread ownership of computer printers offer for anyone to turn a corner of their sitting room into a tiny print shop. However, there are several reasons why you should probably choose to have stickers – such as window stickers, bumper stickers, and similar items – printed by a professional service such as Fotobuch rather than attempting the task yourself. Some of these reasons have to do with the extra quality that professionals can add to your sticker projects, and some of them are simply matters of convenience to you, saving time, effort, and trouble. Here are five of the top reasons not to print stickers at home.

1. Coatings and other details – although you may be able to design a fine-looking sticker, and even print it out, most people simply don’t have the equipment to finish stickers properly and make them last. Window-stickers, in which the printing and adhesive must be on the same side, are completely impossible to make on a standard home printer. Bumper stickers are easier, but will have no protective coating, and will quickly be ruined by wet, road salt, and exposure to sunlight. A professional sticker will be much more durable.

2. Commercial-grade adhesive – although you can buy sticker paper for your printer, the professional printer will have access to commercial-grade stock. The adhesive they use will be sure to stick to the surfaces where you need your sticker, and stay there – it won’t peel off when conditions (temperature, humidity, etc.) are less than perfect.

3. Design – although some of us are natural designers, and you may be one of these people, many of us lack the design experience to make our stickers look as good as we want them to. A professional printer will take your ideas and use their knowledge of colors, fonts, design, and so on to make a clean, crisp, attractive sticker that you’ll be happy to use.

4. Cost – you will have to pay the professional designer and printer for their work on your sticker, of course, but computer ink or toner is not cheap, and experimenting to produce the sticker you want can end up costing more than the professional’s fee. Sticker paper is expensive, and both ink cartridges and toner cartridges are costly as well. If you need to redo your project multiple times to achieve the desired result, you will probably spend more on materials than you would have on a service’s fee.

5. Convenience – finally, there is the matter of convenience to consider. Your time is valuable to you, and designing a sticker, setting up the file, and working with your printer – especially with the special demands of printing on sticker paper – can be time-consuming and frustrating. Handing the bundle over to someone else lets you get the sticker without the time and trouble of actually designing and producing it.