How to print if you don't have a 3D printer?

Over the past 12 months, after lots of research and literature review, I made the decision that the time just wasn't right based on product reliability for a reasonable price for buying a personal 3D printer. So, on to plan B .... how do you print a 3D project once you've mastered designing in Tinkercad or find a great model on Thingiverse? In past posts, I talked about Staples, since it seems there's some industry interest in big box print shops adding 3D printing to their 2D printing options. However, it turns out, Staples has a $150 minimum print job rate, so not a great way to test a small scale personal 3D printing project. Next, I tried out Scultpeo that bills themselves as "a 3D printing factory online". I uploaded my SEP medaldemo project from Tinkercad. They do have a pretty impressive interface and give you an immediate quote. To print my SEP medal in these dimensions: 8.1 x 8.1 x .075 cm, the total cost including shipping = $31.28. You do get emailed your design even prior to your print purchase, from which you can get price updates based on other color, material, and finish options, share/embed these details, and they let you see your 3D project from all aspects in a preview graphics editor, which is very cool. And they claim they will review your project to fix any issues that prevents a successful print job? I was tempted to send my demomedal version where I hadn't anchored the "2016" text to see if they would identify the issue and fix it (not sure if this is extra cost).

So ... I did not pursue printing my SEP medaldemo using Sculpteo. Considering that the Ultimaker2 the Tinkersmiths were so kind to allow me to use to create my prototype costs $2500, ~$30 for a single small print job makes sense. But to put it in perspective, a single spool of ABS filament costs about that much and allows at least 100 small prints. And after all, that assumes you have an affordable personal 3D printer that actually works (user boards are full of unhappy customers).