I have some government forms I need to type on for work, but cannot for the life of me find a place where I can use a typewriter! Aside from these forms, I have no use for a typerwriter, and therefore have no interest in buying one just for this form.
Where can I go to use a typewriter for 20 minutes? Kinkos doesn’t have any, and neither does the public library.
Any ideas? I never thought in a million years that I would have trouble finding access to a typewriter.
Where can you find a what?
:: d&r ::
Well, I have one sitting at my elbow… 
Seriously, try calling a business machine repair place and see if they will let you use one of theirs or know of a place that will.
Your local Goodwill or similar should have some. Take the forms with you and if anyone asks just tell them you wanted to test them to see if they worked. Or, you could buy it outright (I got an Olivetti manual typewriter at Goodwill for $3) and then donate it again when you’re done.
Your old university’s career center will have on, for exactly this purpose. They’ll let you use it for free, too. Of course, if you’re not near your old school, that doesn’t help much.
Yard sale, Goodwill, curbside trash . . .
The public library?
Every year I have to do tax forms just like you. Every large suburban public library in the area has an electric typewriter that you can just walk in and use. If your one particular local library doesn’t, start calling around. You’re in a metro area of nine million people. There must be hundreds of public libraries.
If you think you’ll have recurring need for one, keep an eye on craigslist.
About a year or two ago, we had a hell of a time giving away an IBM Correcting Selectric II in perfect condition with extra ribbons and correction tape. It took two weeks on the free board at craigslist before someone expressed interest.
The dirty old ceiling fan was claimed within an hour of listing, but nobody wants a typewriter any more.
There’s a good reason for that, too.
If it is a form you will need to fill in often for work, why don’t you scan them in and then use a computer to fill in the forms?
Yeah - I’d go to any nearby university’s career center and plead my case. I’m sure they’d let you use the typewriter for 10 or 15 minutes if you look pitiful enough.
The Vermont Country Store http://www.vermontcountrystore.com sells two typewriter models, one electric and the other manual.
Try calling a few offices and offer to pay to have someone type it for you. I work in a small real estate office, and when I have the time I will type anything for anyone willing to pay me.
Yes, but not that many offices use typewriters any more either.
To the OP. Is it possible to obtain the forms in PDF format, or to scan them into your word processor and edit/print them from there?
What kind of loon job government would still be producing forms that need to be typewritten? Can you not just print hard in ballpoint?
ebay.
I’m a public librarian. We just got rid of ours. Too much trouble to keep 'em running, and we had other things we could be doing with the space. Many other libraries are doing the same.
So what I hear people saying is the old typewriter lost its job by being typecast?
Pawn shop will sell you one real cheap I bet, but try it out first.
I have a portable manual, Webster XL-500, made by Bic in Nagoya, Japan, and bought 2/1/68 from Fingerhut for 69.95. It has all the instruction manuals and a "Ribbon Privilege Card" "which entitles you to a 2-color portable typewriter ribbon. There is no charge beyond .45 to cover cost of handling and shipping. Each ribbon card ordered will include another privilege card, giving you a continuous supply."
The ribbon may have dried out but I see I can get replacements for 45 cents. I’m 2,554 miles east of Barstow so cannot help you with it. I want to keep it a while longer until it’s more of an antique.
Oh, it also has a sheet of carbon paper with it. For you youngsters, that is a sheet of thin paper coated on one side with a thin layer of dark blue or black powder. When the typist wants to make a copy of the original document being typed, s/he inserts the carbon paper between the original sheet of paper and a second sheet of paper, usually a thinner sheet, such as tissue paper, with the powder side down, and inserts the three sandwiched sheets into the platen and starts typing. With each key strike, the dark powder transfers from the carbon paper to the underneath sheet et voilâ, you have a second copy. Wasn’t that easy?
What amazes me is that both Brother and Smith-Corona still market several models of typewriters.
Actually, I did this same check a couple of years ago, and each company had only one or two models. Now each has a fairly large number.
Are typewriters staging a comeback?