# When did typewriters become obsolete? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 10, 2014, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-typewriters-become-obsolete/700985 "2014-10-10T17:52:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![protoboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-typewriters-become-obsolete/700985/1 "2014-10-10T17:52:57Z")
I remember as a child back in the mid-late 90s they were already considered to be going out of use, though come to think of it considering that most people still didn’t have personal computers in their homes until the end of the 90s/beginning of the 00s I wonder if many people in fact still used them even then? Would it be safe to say that the 1990s was the last decade in which a lot of people in America were still using typewriters? ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-typewriters-become-obsolete/700985/2 "2014-10-10T18:01:07Z")
> [@protoboard](#): > > I remember as a child back in the mid-late 90s they were already considered to be going out of use, though come to think of it considering that most people still didn’t have personal computers in their homes until the end of the 90s/beginning of the 00s I wonder if many people in fact still used them even then? > > Would it be safe to say that the 1990s was the last decade in which a lot of people in America were still using typewriters? That sounds about right for me. Once we had a printer for the Commodore 64 there was no point to a typewriter. At work, a few years before that, but still 90s. We (my wife anyway) has/had a Brother typewriter that was in that gap. ---
**Author:** ![Raza](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raza/32/213_2.png) [@Raza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raza)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-typewriters-become-obsolete/700985/3 "2014-10-10T18:01:40Z")
I work in a company that has hundreds of $millions in sales. Every so often I hear the clack of a typewriter; they’re still really handy and fast to type out mailing labels and similar items. It may only be a couple of times a week, but it is still used. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-typewriters-become-obsolete/700985/4 "2014-10-10T18:04:17Z")
I used a typewriter to do some of my homework assignments up until I was in 8th grade, in 1996/1997, and by then I was unique enough in not having a computer to do my work on that when we’d do “pass your assignment around without your name on it and your classmates get to judge it” stuff, mine was instantly identifiable because it was typed. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-typewriters-become-obsolete/700985/5 "2014-10-10T18:06:53Z")
People still ask for them at the library. We have one we have to wheel out. I hope there is a fire one day and that’s the only casualty. ---
**Author:** ![protoboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-typewriters-become-obsolete/700985/6 "2014-10-10T18:18:13Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I used a typewriter to do some of my homework assignments up until I was in 8th grade, in 1996/1997, and by then I was unique enough in not having a computer to do my work on that when we’d do “pass your assignment around without your name on it and your classmates get to judge it” stuff, mine was instantly identifiable because it was typed. Did you live in a fairly wealthy neighborhood? Because stats suggest that only about 1/3 of people had home computers in 1996/97. I imagine for families with children that figure may have been a bit higher, though. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-typewriters-become-obsolete/700985/7 "2014-10-10T18:32:32Z")
> [@protoboard](#): > > Did you live in a fairly wealthy neighborhood? Because stats suggest that only about 1/3 of people had home computers in 1996/97. I imagine for families with children that figure may have been a bit higher, though. Yeah - I was a poor kid in a pretty well-to-do neighborhood. (One of my classmates had her own Cessna.) ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-typewriters-become-obsolete/700985/8 "2014-10-10T19:04:22Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > People still ask for them at the library. We have one we have to wheel out. I hope there is a fire one day and that’s the only casualty. “The fire appears to be suspicious. Did the typewriter have any enemies?” “No, everyone loved that typewriter. Well, everyone except Zsofia.” “Its true, its true, Mr. Mason! But it had it coming! It would drive anyone mad!!” ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-typewriters-become-obsolete/700985/9 "2014-10-10T19:09:37Z")
> [@protoboard](#): > > Would it be safe to say that the 1990s was the last decade in which a lot of people in America were still using typewriters? Sounds right to me, too. I was typing my papers in college until senior year (1992/1993), when I started using WordStar. When I started working in the fall of 1993 there were computers, but typewriters were still kept out and used for forms and labels. I got my first home computer (as an adult) around 1996/1997: it was a used desktop that a friend of my mom’s gave me. I didn’t get online at home until around '98, and didn’t have an email address until that year, too. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-typewriters-become-obsolete/700985/10 "2014-10-10T19:57:35Z")
I took typing AND computer in high school. ---
**Author:** ![DeweyDecibel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d26b3c/32.png) [@DeweyDecibel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeweyDecibel)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-typewriters-become-obsolete/700985/11 "2014-10-10T20:10:18Z")
As of 2005, I used one once per week or so. For some reason there was a form that didn’t work on the computer, so it was handwritten or typed on a typewriter. I left that job in 05, I would assume that the form is now online or something, but for all I know they are still using it weekly. ---
**Author:** ![JesterX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/439d5e/32.png) [@JesterX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JesterX)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-typewriters-become-obsolete/700985/12 "2014-10-10T20:17:37Z")
There was a brief period, maybe around early to mid 90’s, before pc’s went into high gear where they were portable word processor type devices that probably took huge market share from standard typewriters. I had one of those. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-typewriters-become-obsolete/700985/13 "2014-10-10T20:26:29Z")
> [@protoboard](#): > > Did you live in a fairly wealthy neighborhood? Because stats suggest that only about 1/3 of people had home computers in 1996/97. I imagine for families with children that figure may have been a bit higher, though. I doubt whether that high a proportion of households _ever_ had home typewriters, though. Furthermore, the people who _were_ buying home computers relatively early on were probably largely coincident with the ones who already had typewriters. Typewriters were not hanging on in the poorer or less tech-savvy households. Those had never had typewriters in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-typewriters-become-obsolete/700985/14 "2014-10-10T20:31:43Z")
As late as the mid nineties, I used one for labeling at work. Our printer was a dot matrix and not suited for small stuff like that, so we wheeled out the old _SelectricII_ when we had to ship something. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-typewriters-become-obsolete/700985/15 "2014-10-10T20:35:31Z")
In 1995, my college roommate used a typewriter to write his assignments. He was widely regarded as a loon because of it. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-typewriters-become-obsolete/700985/16 "2014-10-10T21:09:45Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Typewriters were not hanging on in the poorer or less tech-savvy households. Those had never had typewriters in the first place. Like poor people had pagers long after wealthier people switched over to cell phones. It isn’t that they had pagers all along, it’s that they got them used and cheap after the market shifted. We got a used electric typewriter in the early 90s and I used it for school papers and typing practice until we _finally_ got a computer when I was a high school senior in early '99. I’m sure we got that typewriter cheap precisely because some wealthier family got a computer in the early 90s, when we couldn’t afford one yet. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-typewriters-become-obsolete/700985/17 "2014-10-10T21:12:13Z")
That sounds about right. I know I was still using an old Selectric to fill out forms at my school well into the 90s. Eventually everything migrated on-line, but there some serious hold-outs. ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-typewriters-become-obsolete/700985/18 "2014-10-10T21:18:58Z")
In late 2000 or early 2001, I had to fill out a form for a replacement auto title. It needed to be typed, and I had a heck of a time finding a typewriter in my company. Eventually did find one. Typewriter related story: a guy a couple of cubes over from me at work sounds like he is working on a 1920s version Remington manual typewriter. He is beating the shit out of his laptop keyboard. The sound is really annoying. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-typewriters-become-obsolete/700985/19 "2014-10-10T21:30:49Z")
> [@JesterX](#): > > There was a brief period, maybe around early to mid 90’s, before pc’s went into high gear where they were portable word processor type devices that probably took huge market share from standard typewriters. I had one of those. I did too. It cost about $100, and this was back when computers were still at least $1,000, and before AOL, so 90% of what most people did was word processing. At my university, that computer clusters were always full of people writing papers. The only people doing anything else were taking programming classes. Windows XP was the first version where you could select foreign keyboards, and didn’t need special programs. My uncle used a Hebrew typewriter sometimes even though he had long abandoned qwerty typewriters. That, plus laser printers were what spelled the end of typewriters. A lot of organizations required things in duplicate or triplicate in forms of different colors, and used typewriters for carbons. Dot matrix was slow, and it was hard to feed page by page. Even bubble-jet was slow, and feeding different colors was a pain. People who were used to typing found just using the typewriter to make the carbons easier. When laser printers came out, it was suddenly so easy, and you didn’t have to start over if you made a mistake. Then the 3-in-1s came out, and everyone had a cheap photocopier. It was even easier. Print one, and photocopy the other two. There were deliberate hold-outs, but one by one they retired. So the beginning of the 21st century was about the time the typewriter was gone for good. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-typewriters-become-obsolete/700985/20 "2014-10-10T21:54:33Z")
By the mid 80s classical mechanical and electric typewriters were obsolete in the workplace in a sense. Some form of electronic typewriter that ranged from the portable dot matrix units up to full blown word processors were purchased for all new applications. Any new purchases of the old types were to replace units or to add new personnel to a function that would soon be obsolete anyway. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-typewriters-become-obsolete/700985.md?page=2)