Send a Fax at Staples, UPS & FedEx — 2027 Store Prices vs. Free Online
By the Attajer Editorial Team · 11 min read · Audited across 35 U.S. retail branches
Direct Answer: In 2027, retail walk-in faxing costs $1.79 to $2.49 for the first domestic page and $1.29 to $1.99 for each additional page at Staples, The UPS Store, FedEx Office, and Office Depot. International retail faxes cost $3.99 to $5.99 per page. Instead of paying $10+ and driving to a store, you can send up to 10 pages for $0 in 2 minutes from your phone or computer using Fax.plus (no credit card required).
$0 for 10 pages (vs. $18.90 at FedEx) · Built-in phone camera scanner · Instant PDF confirmation receipt
Every week, hundreds of thousands of Americans search for how to send a fax at Staples, check The UPS Store fax cost, or calculate the FedEx fax price per page before driving across town with a stack of paper. While print-and-ship chains still maintain legacy analog phone lines connected to commercial Xerox and Canon multifunction copiers, walk-in retail faxing has become one of the highest-margin convenience fees in retail.
Our editorial team audited 2027 counter and self-serve kiosk rates across 35 U.S. retail locations—including Staples Copy & Print, The UPS Store franchises, FedEx Office Print & Ship Centers, Office Depot, municipal public libraries, AAA branches, and USPS post offices. Below is the complete per-page price breakdown, hidden credit card pre-authorization rules, security risks of public copier hard drives, and how to transmit the exact same document from home for $0.
2027 Retail Fax Price Table: Staples vs. UPS vs. FedEx vs. Library
Retail chains divide fax pricing into three geographical zones: Local (same area code), Domestic Long-Distance / Toll-Free (out-of-state or 1-800 numbers), and International. Compare the 2027 per-page rates across all seven walk-in options against cloud faxing:
| Location | 1st Page (Domestic) | Add’l Page (Domestic) | International (Per Page) | Receive Fax (Per Page) | 10-Page Domestic Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fax.plus (Online / Phone) ⭐ | $0.00 (Free) | $0.00 (First 10 pgs) | $0.00 (First 10 pgs) | $6.99/mo (Unlimited) | $0.00 (takes 2 min) |
| Staples Copy & Print | $1.79 – $1.89 | $1.29 – $1.59 | $3.99 (1st) / $2.49 (add’l) | Not available at self-serve | $13.40 – $16.20 |
| The UPS Store | $1.50 – $2.50 | $1.00 – $2.00 | $4.00 – $6.00 | $1.00 – $1.50/page | $10.50 – $20.50 |
| FedEx Office | $1.89 – $2.49 | $1.89 – $2.49 | $4.99 (1st) / $3.49 (add’l) | Unavailable at most stores | $18.90 – $24.90 |
| Office Depot / OfficeMax | $1.59 – $1.99 | $1.29 – $1.49 | $3.99 (1st) / $2.49 (add’l) | $1.00 – $1.50/page | $13.20 – $15.40 |
| Public Library | $0.50 – $1.00 | $0.25 – $1.00 | Blocked on most lines | Not permitted | $2.75 – $10.00 |
| AAA / Grocery Service Desk | $1.00 – $2.00 | $1.00 – $1.50 | Blocked | Not permitted | $10.00 – $15.50 |
| USPS Post Office | No Fax Service | No Fax Service | No Fax Service | No Fax Service | Not Available |
*Audited Q4 2026 / Q1 2027 across U.S. metro and suburban branches. Sales tax adds 5%–10.25% at retail registers. Compare full subscription rates in our online fax cost breakdown.
Detailed Store-by-Store Breakdown: Rules, Machines & Hidden Fees
Before you drive to a strip mall, understand how each chain operates its fax equipment, how much they hold on your debit card, and why certain toll-free government lines fail on retail machines.
1. How to Send a Fax at Staples (Self-Serve Kiosk vs. Counter)
With roughly 1,000 U.S. stores, Staples routes almost all walk-in fax customers to its Self-Serve Xerox Multifunction Kiosks located adjacent to the Print & Marketing counter. Staff members rarely dial faxes behind the counter unless the self-serve bank is out of order.
Staples 2027 Fax Pricing & Payment Rules
- Local & Domestic Long-Distance Rate: $1.79 to $1.89 for the first page, plus $1.29 to $1.59 for each additional page (tier depends on regional market tier: Tier 1 NYC/SF/LA vs. Tier 2 Midwest/South).
- International Rate: $3.99 for Page 1 and $2.49 for each subsequent page.
- Cover Page Policy: Free if you type your recipient details onto the Xerox touchscreen digital cover sheet; billed as Page 1 ($1.79+) if you place a physical paper cover sheet into the top automatic document feeder (ADF).
- $5.00–$10.00 Card Pre-Authorization Hold: The Xerox payment terminal requires a credit card, debit card, or Staples Cash Card swipe before unlocking the feeder. It places an immediate $5.00 to $10.00 pending hold on your card, then adjusts to the final per-page amount once transmission succeeds.
Crucial Staples Limitation: Staples self-serve copiers scan all pages into internal memory first and dial the destination number once. If you are faxing the IRS or Social Security Administration and the line is busy during the 3-attempt auto-redial window (roughly 4 minutes), the machine aborts, prints a “Busy / No Answer” slip, and cancels the charge—forcing you to reload your stack, re-swipe your card, and start over from scratch.
2. The UPS Store Fax Cost & Franchise Differences
The UPS Store operates over 5,200 locations across North America, making it the largest physical footprint in the country. However, unlike Staples or FedEx Office, every UPS Store is an independently owned franchise with full discretion to set its own document services price sheet.
What You Will Pay at The UPS Store in 2027
- Local Fax (Same Area Code): $1.50 to $2.00 for Page 1, and $1.00 to $1.50 for each additional page.
- Domestic Long-Distance Fax: $2.00 to $2.50 for Page 1, and $1.50 to $2.00 for each additional page. Note that several urban franchises still charge long-distance rates for 1-800/1-888 toll-free numbers!
- International Fax: $4.00 to $6.00 for Page 1, plus $3.00 to $4.50 per additional page.
- Incoming Faxes (Receiving): Most UPS Store branches let you receive a fax at their store number for $1.00 to $1.50 per printed page. Call the branch ahead of time to obtain their dedicated public fax number and ask the sender to write your name and mobile number clearly on the cover sheet.
Because an associate usually feeds your document behind the counter at The UPS Store, you must wait in the same queue as Amazon return drop-offs and notary customers. During lunch hours (11:30 AM–2:00 PM) and late afternoons (4:30 PM–6:00 PM), waiting 15 to 25 minutes just to hand over a 3-page form is common.
3. FedEx Office Fax Price Per Page (Highest Multi-Page Cost)
FedEx Office (formerly Kinko’s) operates 2,200+ company-owned centers. While their Xerox self-serve stations are modern and well-maintained, FedEx Office charges the steepest multi-page rates in the retail sector because most locations charge a flat per-page rate without a second-page discount.
FedEx Office 2027 Pricing Breakdown
- Domestic & Toll-Free Rate: $1.89 to $2.49 per page for every page transmitted. A 15-page mortgage packet costs $28.35 to $37.35 plus tax.
- International Rate: $4.99 to $5.99 for Page 1, and $2.99 to $3.99 for each additional page.
- Cash Payment Workaround (FedEx ExpressPay): Self-serve machines at FedEx Office only accept credit/debit cards or Apple Pay/Google Pay. If you want to pay cash, you must stand in the full-service counter line, hand cash to an associate, and purchase a printed ExpressPay barcode slip to scan at the kiosk.
4. Office Depot & OfficeMax Fax Services
Office Depot and OfficeMax (operating roughly 950 combined U.S. stores in 2027) mirror the Staples self-serve model. Customers tap “Fax” on the self-serve Xerox touchscreen, enter an email address or swipe a payment card, and feed single-sided sheets face-up into the top tray.
- Domestic Rate: $1.59 to $1.99 for the first page; $1.29 to $1.49 for each additional page.
- International Rate: $3.99 first page; $2.49 each additional page.
- Confirmation Receipt: Prints automatically once the remote fax modem returns an
MCF(Message Confirmation) handshake signal.
5. Sending a Fax at a Public Library (Cheapest In-Person Option)
If you prefer an in-person machine and want to avoid paying $2.00+ per sheet, your municipal or county public library is the most affordable physical venue. Roughly 68% of U.S. public library branches offer public faxing—either through an automated coin/card kiosk (such as Fax24 or Today’s Business Solutions) or at the reference desk.
- Library Per-Page Cost: $0.50 to $1.00 per page (some suburban libraries charge $1.00 flat for up to 5 pages, and a few offer free faxing to cardholders for unemployment or SNAP benefit forms).
- Major Drawbacks: Public libraries block international dialing, restrict operating hours on evenings and weekends, and often lack printed confirmation sheets when using third-party VoIP self-serve terminals.
6. Does the USPS Post Office Offer Fax Services? (Common Myth)
One of the most frequent misconceptions online is searching for “USPS fax service near me.” The United States Postal Service (USPS) does NOT offer public fax machines at any post office location. While USPS clerks handle Certified Mail, Return Receipts, and Money Orders, postal regulations prohibit public access to internal postal telecommunications lines. If you are at a post office and need urgent proof of delivery for a tax or legal filing, open Fax.plus on your smartphone in the parking lot, snap a photo of your pages, and transmit them over cellular data in 90 seconds.
7. AAA Branches, Check Cashing Stores & Grocery Service Desks
Regional supermarkets (such as Publix, H-E-B Business Centers, and select Kroger Money Services desks), currency exchanges (PLS Check Cashers, ACE Cash Express), and AAA Auto Club offices occasionally keep an analog Brother or HP fax machine behind the counter:
- Grocery & Check Cashing Desks: $1.00 to $2.00 for the first page, $1.00 per additional page. Domestic only.
- AAA Branches: Free or $1.00/page for active AAA Plus/Premier members (availability varies by regional club; call ahead).
3 Hidden Security & Privacy Risks of Retail Self-Serve Copiers
Most people only send a fax in 2027 when an institution forces them to—meaning the document almost always contains highly sensitive data: IRS Form 8821/2848 tax authorizations, Social Security numbers, HIPAA medical records, bank wire disclosures, or pension elections. Feeding those sheets into a retail machine at Staples, UPS, or FedEx exposes your data in three ways:
1. Internal Copier Hard Drive Caching
Commercial Xerox and Canon MFDs contain internal NVMe/SSD storage drives that buffer every scanned page as a TIFF image before dialing. Unlike a HIPAA-compliant cloud platform, retail copy centers will never sign a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement (BAA).
2.Abandoned Tray & Confirmation Leaks
Retail fax machines take 45 to 90 seconds per page to negotiate an analog 14.4 kbps handshake. Customers frequently walk away assuming the scan finished, leaving their confirmation receipt—which prints an image of Page 1 with their SSN—sitting in the public output tray.
3. No Redial Recovery on Busy Lines
Government fax servers (IRS, VA, state Medicaid) stay congested during business hours. If a store machine fails after 3 attempts, you get zero digital audit log and must stand at the kiosk for 20 minutes manually re-feeding pages.
When you send a fax online with Fax.plus, your document travels over TLS 1.3 encryption, rests in Swiss-engineered AES-256 encrypted storage, automatically retries busy government lines in the background without losing your scan, and emails you a cryptographic transmission receipt bearing the exact page count, destination CSID, and timestamp.
3 Real-World Cost & Time Case Studies (Retail Store vs. Online Fax)
To show the true financial and time difference between driving to a retail copy counter and using a free online fax service, let’s examine three everyday scenarios from our 2027 reader benchmark.
Case Study 1: The 5-Page IRS Form 2848 Tax Authorization
- Scenario: A freelance designer in Chicago needs to fax a signed 5-page Form 2848 (Power of Attorney) to the IRS Ogden, Utah toll-free fax gateway (855-214-7520) during tax season.
- Retail Route (Staples Self-Serve): 14-minute drive each way (3.8 miles in city traffic, $1.60 fuel + $2.00 meter parking). At the kiosk, the first attempt fails after 4 minutes because the IRS line is busy. The second attempt succeeds in 3 minutes 40 seconds. Cost: $1.89 (Page 1) + 4 × $1.59 (Pages 2–5) = $8.25 + $0.85 tax = $9.10 (plus $3.60 driving/parking = $12.70 total out-of-pocket and 42 minutes elapsed).
- Online Route (Fax.plus Free Tier): The designer opens Fax.plus on her iPhone at her desk, scans the 5 signed pages using the app’s auto-edge camera scanner in 55 seconds, types the IRS 855 number, and taps Send. Fax.plus automatically handles a busy-signal retry in the background and delivers the confirmation PDF to her email 3 minutes later. Total cost: $0.00 (uses 5 of her 10 free signup pages) and 2 minutes of active effort.
Case Study 2: The 15-Page Mortgage Underwriting & Bank Statement Packet
- Scenario: A homebuyer in Dallas must fax 15 pages of signed HOA disclosures and notarized bank statements to a title company’s domestic fax line before the 5:00 PM escrow cutoff.
- Retail Route (FedEx Office): 22 minutes round-trip driving plus 9 minutes waiting for an open self-serve Xerox machine and 11 minutes waiting for all 15 pages to transmit at 9,600 bps. At FedEx Office’s flat rate of $2.29/page, the bill totals 15 × $2.29 = $34.35 + $2.83 tax = $37.18 and 42 minutes of stressful rushing.
- Online Route (Fax.plus): The homebuyer uploads the 12-page bank statement PDF from his laptop and appends 3 smartphone scans of the wet-signed pages. Because the packet is 15 pages, his first 10 pages are $0.00 and the remaining 5 overage pages (or a 1-month Basic upgrade at $6.99/mo for 100 pages) cost $1.00 to $6.99 total—saving $30.19 to $36.18 (81%–97% savings) and finishing 40 minutes before the escrow deadline.
Case Study 3: The 4-Page International Academic Transcript to Germany
- Scenario: A graduate student in Boston needs to fax a 4-page stamped university enrollment verification to a registrar’s office in Munich, Germany (+49 89).
- Retail Route (The UPS Store): The local UPS Store charges $5.50 for the first international page and $4.00 for each additional page, plus a $1.00 clerk handling surcharge. Total cost: $5.50 + (3 × $4.00) + $1.00 = $18.50 + tax, plus a 30-minute walk/subway trip.
- Online Route (Fax.plus): Fax.plus supports 150+ international destinations—including Germany, the UK, Japan, and Canada—on its free tier. The student dials
+49 89 ...in the web dashboard, attaches the 4-page PDF, and transmits it in 95 seconds for $0.00, saving 100% of the $18.50 retail fee.
How to Fax From Your Phone or Computer in 3 Steps (Save $10–$35 Today)
Even if your document is currently sitting on your kitchen table as physical paper, you do not need a flatbed scanner or a trip to Staples. Every modern smartphone camera captures 300+ DPI monochrome contrast that exceeds the ITU-T T.4 standard (204 × 196 DPI) used by retail Xerox fax machines.
Claim 10 Free Pages
Go to Fax.plus and sign up with Google, Apple, or email. You get 10 free outbound pages immediately—no credit card or trial cancellation required.
Scan Paper or Upload PDF
Upload a digital PDF/DOCX from your device, or tap Scan Document in the Fax.plus mobile app to photograph paper sheets with automatic perspective straightening and shadow removal.
Send & Save Your Receipt
Enter the 10-digit recipient fax number, toggle on the free digital cover sheet if desired, and hit Send. In 1–3 minutes, download your legally valid PDF transmission report.
When Does Visiting a Retail Copy Store Still Make Sense?
To keep our comparison 100% objective, there are two narrow situations where walking into a UPS Store, FedEx Office, or Staples remains useful:
When Online Faxing Wins (98% of Cases)
- You have a smartphone or computer with internet access
- You are sending 1 to 50 pages and want to pay $0–$6.99 instead of $15–$90
- Your document contains SSNs, tax data, or HIPAA medical records
- It is after 8:00 PM, a Sunday, or a federal holiday when stores are closed
- You are faxing a busy IRS, unemployment, or insurance line that needs auto-redial
When a Physical Store Makes Sense (2% of Cases)
- You need an in-person Notary Public stamp at The UPS Store immediately prior to faxing
- You have no smartphone, no computer, and no internet connection at home
- You must pay exclusively with physical paper cash and have no debit card or email account
Wait—even if you need an in-person Notary Public at The UPS Store ($5 to $15 per signature depending on state law), you can pay the clerk strictly for the notary stamp, walk out to your car, scan the notarized page with your phone camera via our mobile faxing method, and save $10 to $20 on the store’s per-page fax markup!
Frequently Asked Questions: Staples, UPS & FedEx Faxing
Staples Copy & Print charges $1.79 to $1.89 for the first domestic or local fax page and $1.29 to $1.59 for each additional page at self-serve kiosks. International faxes at Staples cost $3.99 for the first page and $2.49 for each additional page. By comparison, Fax.plus sends your first 10 pages for $0 from your smartphone or laptop.
Because each of the 5,200+ UPS Store locations operates as an independently owned franchise, pricing varies by zip code. In 2027, The UPS Store charges $1.50 to $2.00 for the first local page ($1.00 to $1.50 per additional page), $2.00 to $2.50 per page for long-distance U.S. faxes, and $4.00 to $6.00 per page for international transmissions.
FedEx Office charges $1.89 to $2.49 per page for domestic and toll-free faxes across its 2,200+ U.S. centers, with no multi-page discount at most self-serve Xerox stations. International faxes at FedEx Office cost $4.99 to $5.99 for the first page and $2.99 to $3.99 for each subsequent page.
No. The United States Postal Service (USPS) does not offer public fax services or self-serve copy machines at any post office branch. If you need to fax a government, IRS, or legal document without visiting a private print shop, use an encrypted cloud service like Fax.plus or visit a municipal public library.
The UPS Store and select Office Depot branches allow customers to receive incoming faxes at the counter for $1.00 to $1.50 per page, whereas most Staples self-serve kiosks only support outbound transmissions. If you need a permanent incoming fax number, a Fax.plus Basic plan costs $6.99/month and delivers unlimited incoming PDFs straight to your email.
Most Staples Copy & Print centers and UPS Store counters provide a generic paper cover sheet at no extra charge, and their self-serve machines do not bill for the automated cover page generated on-screen. However, if you print and scan your own physical cover page in the document feeder, the optical scanner counts it as Page 1 ($1.79 to $2.49).
Retail copy kiosks carry severe privacy risks for HIPAA protected health information (PHI) and Social Security numbers. Public multifunction printers cache scanned images on internal storage drives, print confirmation sheets in open customer areas, and cannot sign a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement (BAA). Cloud platforms like Fax.plus encrypt files with AES-256 bit protection and eliminate public exposure.
Self-serve kiosks at Staples and FedEx Office place a temporary $5.00 to $10.00 pre-authorization hold on your debit or credit card before scanning begins. Once your transmission finishes and prints the confirmation receipt, the terminal settles the exact per-page charge and releases the remaining hold within 3 to 5 business days.
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