Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/03/04/hp-wants-you-to-pay-up-to-36-a-month-to-rent-a-printer-you-never-own.html
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5 Likes
HP can go and suck something as a service.
They’ve been dead to me for quite a while now, and I see nothing that might change my mind.
19 Likes
I print out fewer than 10 documents per year, and that’s probably higher than average for consumers these days. And the response of these highly paid “genius” MBA executives is to make their printers even less attractive to their customers.
21 Likes
[Citation sorely needed]
Unless ‘used to make’ was intended
10 Likes
For 2 or 3 months of “service” I can buy someone’s else’s printer and get full ink. That would last me probably a full year of printing.
14 Likes
If it weren’t for the fact that I have an old but serviceable multi-function printer (not HP!) that I use mainly for scanning, I’d do what few print jobs I have per year at the library or FedEx.
For those who do need to print more frequently (e.g. people who ship a lot of stuff for their home business), I usually suggest the entry-level Brother laser printer. They’re reasonably priced, with no HP-style games or BS.
15 Likes
We bought a Brother laser printer ten years ago - we replace the cartridge every 2-3 years and it’s never had a problem of any kind.
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18 Likes
It’s ok though! Because it never works anyway!
2 Likes
Managed print absolutely has legitimate applications; it’s somewhere between common and the prevailing model for higher volume environments.
This variant, though, looks like a combination of things not working out because the economics are different and a seething disdain for consumer data-chattels.
First; there’s the hardware itself: on the business side; ‘managed print’ normally means that incentives align and you get the good stuff: when the vendor knows that they are on the hook for maintenance and that the printer doesn’t have to hit a razor-and-blades impulse purchase price point(because that model is only ever leased as part of a managed print contract or purchased by people expecting to amortize it over 5+ years); suddenly you get printers that aren’t shit because both the vendor and the customer need them to work.
Here; HP is reusing existing models; engineered to fit the razor/blade arrangement; so it’s unlikely that hardware quality is going to be particularly brilliant(fundamentally; there’s just no way to amortize the build quality of some $20k+ high volume MFP across the print volume of a remotely normal household; but specifically reusing models built for low sticker prices isn’t going to help).
And, much more fundamentally, that privacy policy; man.
Unless you want to just pay worst-case rates you can’t really avoid the vendor reading the meter on number of pages B/W and number of pages color; possibly percentage coverage; but HP appears to be taking a…truly expansive…position on their prerogatives here. They don’t outright say “OCR everything you do to customize advertunities”; but that’s the vibe. And for that alone, this goes from “we can talk price” to an assessment that would probably violate forum policies so I’ll merely allude to it and suggest that Enrique Lores getting his dick pulled into a fuser assembly wouldn’t be undeserved.
9 Likes
And then it will be cheaper to buy a new printer than refill it.
If GDPR were working as intended there’d be a course of action that involved sitting HP down with the regulators and getting them to attempt to explain why they need to snaffle so much data.
6 Likes
It’s actually pretty good for medium sized businesses and larger; you pay for the usage of the devices over the set leasing fee for the units, the managed print company handles toner for just in time refills and maintenance on the devices. This came out of the copier side of the print industry, where it’s a common practice, because few companies want to drop 15-20K on a medium-high end Canon Imagerunner with color and bookbinding capabilities. A lease arrangement is much more palatable, as that’s opex instead of capex. 
2 Likes
The lesson and concern here is, even if they’re only doing this with their printers it is a barometer for what they think will be acceptable to implement elsewhere in their business. As long as they think they can get away with it they’ll try it, so this is enough for me to never buy an HP product ever again.
10 Likes
This is why I just go to Kinko’s.
2 Likes
Never again will I buy an HP product.
8 Likes
kind of my point.
1 Like
I work at a small private university, and we are partnered with a MSP for our printing needs. As of this year, we are switching to Brother for all of our future printer deployments. I’ve been supporting HP printers for about 25 years… sad to see HP go down this route
3 Likes
Only if they send a free serviceman out to my parent’s house in half an hour whenever they can’t get a decent print. Being two hours from the nearest city, I doubt they will commit to that. If I’m paying for a service, mail shouldn’t be involved - I should never have to touch it, because that would surely void the warranty and the service contract.
1 Like
We leased our printers at work, but then we used the heck out of them and needed service all the time, which was part of the lease. At home for $36 I could go down to staples and have everything printed for less than that.
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