HP launched a subscription service today that rents people a printer, allots them a specific amount of printed pages, and sends them ink for a monthly fee. HP is framing its service as a way to simplify printing for families and small businesses, but the deal also comes with monitoring and a years-long commitment.
Prices range from $6.99 per month for a plan that includes an HP Envy printer (the current model is the 6020e) and 20 printed pages. The priciest plan includes an HP OfficeJet Pro rental and 700 printed pages for $35.99 per month.
HP is watching
HP calls this an All-In-Plan; if you subscribe, the tech company will be all in on your printing activities.
One of the most perturbing aspects of the subscription plan is that it requires subscribers to keep their printers connected to the Internet. In general, some users avoid connecting their printer to the Internet because it's the type of device that functions fine without web access.
A web connection can also concern users about security or HP-issued firmware updates that make printers stop functioning with non-HP ink.
But HP enforces an Internet connection by having its TOS also state that HP may disrupt the service—and continue to charge you for it—if your printer is not online.
HP says it enforces a constant connection so that the company can monitor things that make sense for the subscription, like ink cartridge statuses, page count, and "to prevent unauthorized use of Your account." However, HP will also remotely monitor the type of documents (for example, a PDF or JPEG) printed, the devices and software used to initiate the print job, "peripheral devices," and any other "metrics" that HP thinks are related to the subscription and decides to add to its remote monitoring.
The All-In-Plan privacy policy also says that HP may “transfer information about you to advertising partners” so that they can "recognize your devices," perform targeted advertising, and, potentially, "combine information about you with information from other companies in data sharing cooperatives" that HP participates in. The policy says that users can opt out of sharing personal data.
The All-In-Plan TOS reads:
"Subject to the terms of this Agreement, You hereby grant to HP a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free right to use, copy, store, transmit, modify, create derivative works of and display Your non-personal data for its business purposes."
So if your ISP goes down one day your printer rental will be "disrupted" so you won't be able to print anything. And they reserve the right to transmit and create derivative works of your personal data - if that includes anything you print you might not want to use this in a business.
No way in hell I'll be touching a HP printer until they pull their heads out of their arses on this. Won't be helping anyone else with problems with one, either. If they're stupid enough to buy one it's their problem.
I heard about their antics, first ink subscriptions and now this. The CEO actually said that if customers aren't buying their ink, they are a bad investment. (In other words they don't want you as a customer)
This house is HP free, there is not one thing here that bears their name. I hate their kit, all of it, and the bloated shitware that goes with it. We ditched their printers many years ago. We buy Brotherfuckers now. (Even the software is decent, useful scanning software that scans documents and can output to multi-page PDF)
I have a little Brother laser and a Canon colour inkjet that I mostly use as a scanner. I used to have a HP years ago but the stupid POS decided it wouldn't scan any more when the ink cartridges were empty. Arseholes. In the bin it went after that.
I have an old HP laser printer/scanner I got in the early 2000's, from before they started blocking 3rd party ink cartridges. It does complain about "unsupported" cartridges but still works with them. I also have a Brother laser/scanner from the same era.
My Canon on the other hand, while still pissy about ink (I fitted a big phat black tank but it refused to use that and insisted I replace the little tiny one or it wouldn't print plain black text, what a crock of bullshit!) it at least recognised that I don't need ink for the scanner to work. That's why I got the Brother laser working, it can be temperamental about the paper being a little damp but it doesn't flip me off for being out of "cyan". It's a mono laser, so just one toner cartridge. Simple change.
I don't use a printer at all (I hate them and don't want one) personally but we stopped buying colour lasers. We had a Samsung that was nice, but the colour toner was expensive. It didn't prevent us from printing black, or from printing with that colour missing from the blend, but it wasn't practical. The printer itself drew a lot of juice, too. The lights would flicker while the drum was charging. It used to trip their UPS sometimes, even.
Also, If I had my face close to it while watching output, I was reminded that ozone is not a pleasant gas in higher concentrations. At first I didn't clue in, but after a few times of having my sinuses get dry and inflamed every time I messed with that printer, I clued in.
They just print black and white now and the Brothers haven't been a pain in the ass. We've been using those for years now, I think it's the second Brother. They print a lot, everything... ridiculous.
In the 90's I had a little Cannon Bubblejet printer that you couldn't kill. It had two cartridges (with printheads on them) a black and a colour. It wouldn't stop you from printing, if both cartridges were empty it would still print... nothing. (as long as the little circuit board on them wasn't damaged). I used that fucking thing until 2001, when I inherited a newer Canon from my sister. That thing was a piece of shit in comparison, couldn't be made to work in Windows XP (didn't stick to APIs and frameworks) and... it was the last printer I ever owned.
I don't print a lot, but when I'm working on the bikes I like to print out a couple of pages from the service manuals to reference without risk of getting grease and oil on my phone or a tablet. Since my work life is sporadic I'm also often having to print out forms, sign them, and then scan them back in. Sometimes I can do it by editing pdfs but other times they insist I hand completed forms to my supervisor on the first day. It's bloody annoying.
I rarely do any printing or scanning anymore, mostly at tax time. Occasionally I'll have to print and scan something for work. I only print in B/W, I do have one old HP color printer but I don't use that anymore, it's a big industrial printer that's an energy hog with massive power spikes.
I have access to a printer if I really need it. It's on the network if I could be bothered to configure a printer. I used to print a few pages at income tax time, but I don't even need to do that anymore. I keep (and back up) text files for information.
Touchscreens aren't for greasy hands (or greasy hand cleaner for that matter), so yeah, dead trees are still useful
