Postnet

Those companies are targeting self-employed inventors, designers, and college students who need to build things but can’t afford to buy their own printers, says Dave Thorsen, an architect who is piloting a 3D printer at his PostNet franchise in Minneapolis.

So why are pilot 3D printing programs being offered this year at office supply stores like Staples, the UPS Store, and PostNet?

Thorsen brought the idea for the pilot project to PostNet after he saw community college students working with a 3D printer.

Steven Greenbaum, founder and chief executive of PostNet International Franchise Corporation, a design and printing company for business-to-business companies: “My sense is that her strength is in information and not in technological development and creation. I’d want to stick to my core strengths. I’ve had to take some of my own technology in house, and it’s not easy.”

The box was rented from PostNet, a business center.