News HP begins subscription plans for its printers and ink — up to $36 per month, includes limits and cancellation fees

[Admin]

Three months after HP CEO Enrique Lorres said it during an interview, the company finally released its all-in printer plan, which provides a printer and link for a monthly subscription but caps your monthly printing and requires you to be locked in for two years.

HP begins subscription plans for its printers and ink — up to $36 per month, includes limits and cancellation fees : Read more

 

[RandomWan]

I hope to hear the sweet, dulcete tones of Enrique Lorres saying the subscription model is under-performing.

 

[RichardtST]

Yeah... Netgear started this with their routers. I stopped buying them. At least I knew enough to stop buying HP a long time ago... I hate subscriptions.

 

[hotaru251]

Never buy HP printer.

 

[palladin9479]

Never buy HP printer.

This is the sad thing, their InkJets are horrible with quasi IRM (Ink Rights Management) lol. HP Laser Jets on the other hand are awesome and built like tanks. HP is a perfect example of malicious market segmentation.

 

[rluker5]

Maybe I'm missing something,but this just seems like a plan to rent printing capacity from HP and not an additional charge for those who buy their stuff.

If that is all it is I don't have a problem with it.

 

[RandomWan]

This is the sad thing, their InkJets are horrible with quasi IRM (Ink Rights Management) lol. HP Laser Jets on the other hand are awesome and built like tanks. HP is a perfect example of malicious market segmentation.

Their lasers are just as bad too. They have 3rd party blocking circuitry in those and they have at least some of the models that require you to create an online account to activate the printer and I've periodically had that revert and require you to activate it again (activation prevents printing or even accessing the built-in webserver).

I would never recommend HP printers in any capacity.

Maybe I'm missing something,but this just seems like a plan to rent printing capacity from HP and not an additional charge for those who buy their stuff.

If that is all it is I don't have a problem with it.

There's been reports of printers getting essentially bricked because people have canceled subscriptions at a later date. I've not dealt with anyone actively using a subscription to confirm, but they'll definitely sell you a subscription like it is a must have just to rope in the people who don't know any better and with the above mentioned activation requirement, I am inclined to believe they would operate as the reports have indicated.

 

[Math Geek]

pretty sure this is supposed to be maximum

"The minimum number of pages you can print is up to 20 pages per month and goes up to 100 pages per month for $10.99 per month on Envy."

don't think i have printed 10 pages in the last 5 years. if you do actively print for a small home office or something, no way even 100 a month would be enough. i can just go to my local library and print the one page a year i need for 10 cents i guess

 

[pjmelect]

I recomend that no one buys HP printers they are simply to expensive.

 

[LolaGT]

ultimate convenience
I have a different term for what this is called, but that is breaking the coc.
I guarantee I'll never touch anything HP

 

[vijosef]

This is the sad thing, their InkJets are horrible with quasi IRM (Ink Rights Management) lol. HP Laser Jets on the other hand are awesome and built like tanks. HP is a perfect example of malicious market segmentation.

I had the terrible misfortune of being exposed to the same models of HP laserjet 1100x series on different places. It's a network printer.

It's an horrible experience. It frequently goes to sleep, and refuses to wake again. It is normal that windows stops recognizing the printer. It's normal and frequent that Windows sends a print job, and it not only doesn't prints, but gets blocked from further printing, (and resetting the printer pool and even restarting the service does nothing) Then it prints from some networked PCs, but not from others with exactly the same configuration, frequently requiring to reinstall the drivers. It's frequent that the printer refuses to work claiming that it needs "user attention", when it doesn't requires any "user attention" at all, and is simultaneously printing for other PCs.

I know a dude who had PTSD caused by uncertainty about the printer working. He was traumatically scared about the printer blocking him from completing a job on time for no reason.

 

[salgado18]

I don't get one thing: who changes the cartridge?

- If it's HP, can they replace it in like 30 minutes as I need to be somewhere with a printed report/resumee/work?
- If it's me, what's the point in the subscription?

Do they guarantee full ink? when it is at 20% they already replace so you're never out?

And is it cheaper or more convenient than going down the road and printing at the local store? Or better than owning the printer and purchasing the cartridges myself?

This sounds more like a way to force subscriptions down the throats of people (looking at you, Microsoft and Adobe) than a good deal.

 

[USAFRet]

And some people DO have need of such a continuing supply.

A friend of ours makes and sells home made soap. Lots and lots of shipping labels.
Where I buy my small batch mustard jars, from upstate NY...again, lots of labels.

Such a service might not be for thee and me, but some people might find this handy AND actually cheaper.

 

[logainofhades]

Note to self, when current HP dies, do not buy another.

 

[bigdragon]

I don't see the point in purchasing any cartridge-based printer now that we have ink tank printers. HP's business model is both wasteful and obsolete. The upper levels of what HP is charging per month are enough to buy ink containers capable of lasting all year or longer.

 

[DavidLejdar]

To be fair, $0.35 per colour page is cheaper than what they charge around here (in Berlin). And if all one needs a colour printer for is e.g. to print some pie charts as classical handouts for the monthly upper management meeting, then that may be interesting for such company.

 

[Amdlova]

It's a clear sight of a dying company... subcription model

 

[daleheller]

Does HP really think their customer base is this stupid? They overcharge their loyal customer base for decades for toner and ink, and now they want to reward them by invoicing them for 100 pages a month!! Such arrogance is unbelievable

 

[drtweak]

the fact that they start to make you Register the printer Online before you could ever print to it made me stop buying them. Brother all the way now unless we need something older for PCL printing then I'd be getting my clients a 20 year old 4000 series refurb.

 

[palladin9479]

I had the terrible misfortune of being exposed to the same models of HP laserjet 1100x series on different places. It's a network printer.

It's an horrible experience. It frequently goes to sleep, and refuses to wake again. It is normal that windows stops recognizing the printer. It's normal and frequent that Windows sends a print job, and it not only doesn't prints, but gets blocked from further printing, (and resetting the printer pool and even restarting the service does nothing) Then it prints from some networked PCs, but not from others with exactly the same configuration, frequently requiring to reinstall the drivers. It's frequent that the printer refuses to work claiming that it needs "user attention", when it doesn't requires any "user attention" at all, and is simultaneously printing for other PCs.

I know a dude who had PTSD caused by uncertainty about the printer working. He was traumatically scared about the printer blocking him from completing a job on time for no reason.

That is 100% your administrator who set it up.

HPLJ's can all use the Jet Direct protocol and can be communicated with via a generic PCL or PS driver.

If it's a heavily used printer, then it's best to share it out from a central print queue rather then having everyone pointing to it directly.

 

[Sluggotg]

I bought one of the Epson Ecotank printers when they first came out. It seemed like it was too good of a deal. Just squirt bottles of ink into the tank and boom good to go. Cheap ink, no cartridges what could possibly go wrong. Then it clogged over and over. I had to do numerous cleaing cycles. I found out that, at that time, the only way to change out the cleaning pads was through an "Authorized dealer" and at that time I was getting quotes of $150-200 to change it out. (Obviously I would void the warranty and use a third party kit). Point being, Epson is no angle either.

HP going to the old Columbia Records model. It was a complete ripoff in the 80's. I think HP needs to back off on that.

 

[Neilbob]

I've not had a printer for many years now, but it's good to be made aware of things like this so I know what to stay clear of in the future.

I find it a shame that Hewlett Packard have become like this. Their printers, particularly the DeskJets, way back in the 1990s and early 2000s used to be so good. My last one, a DeskJet 960C, went to my parents and managed to keep going for close to a decade. The only reason they couldn't use it any more was because it stopped working properly with some version of Windows or other. Meanwhile the next one they bought (I forget the model) gave up the ghost after less than 2 years.

When a printer was just a printer...

 

[Math Geek]

And some people DO have need of such a continuing supply.

A friend of ours makes and sells home made soap. Lots and lots of shipping labels.
Where I buy my small batch mustard jars, from upstate NY...again, lots of labels.

Such a service might not be for thee and me, but some people might find this handy AND actually cheaper.

that is my point from earlier. needing lots and lots of labels will very quickly exceed such low max prints before paying more and more.

would be interesting to see a breakdown of what such a person pays now buying the ink themselves, vs projected costs from this new sub plan.

i can name plenty of people who ship 75-100 packages a day every day myself. that's roughly 2250- 3000 prints per month on average. at the stated cost "The most expensive plan is the OfficeJet Pro, which restricts you to up to 700 pages per month for $35.99. You will be charged $1 per 15 pages if you print more than your limit, and this does not include taxes."

that's $103 - $160 extra per month once the 700 prints have been used. at the lower plans, that's much much more in extra fees. again i don't know what they pay now for ink, but approaching $200 a month sure seems like they won't be saving anything and likely will be paying more.

edit: the other thing about those making tons of shipping labels is that they don't use a normal printer for them. all the ones i know have specialty ones that are designed to only print the labels. does not seem like this is even part of the sub plans as described in the article. so may not even be a relevant thing for them anyway.

 

[USAFRet]

that is my point from earlier. needing lots and lots of labels will very quickly exceed such low max prints before paying more and more.

would be interesting to see a breakdown of what such a person pays now buying the ink themselves, vs projected costs from this new sub plan.

i can name plenty of people who ship 75-100 packages a day every day myself. that's roughly 2250- 3000 prints per month on average. at the stated cost "The most expensive plan is the OfficeJet Pro, which restricts you to up to 700 pages per month for $35.99. You will be charged $1 per 15 pages if you print more than your limit, and this does not include taxes."

that's $103 - $160 extra per month once the 700 prints have been used. at the lower plans, that's much much more in extra fees. again i don't know what they pay now for ink, but approaching $200 a month sure seems like they won't be saving anything and likely will be paying more.

Right.

It would be up to each customer to determine the specifics, and whether it might be beneficial to them and their print volume.

But a subscription thing is not necessarily a "bad idea".

 

[Math Geek]

it's a bad idea in the sense that HP has already done the math and KNOWS it will make more money this way vs simply price gouging on the ink costs itself

the network connected printers have been feeding them plenty of data for many years now and they have already made sure any such plan is advantageous to only one side of the transaction. i believe the saying goes "the house ALWAYS wins"

so for them it's a pretty good idea, but for everyone else it is most likely not going to be a very good thing.