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HP wants you to pay up to $36/month to rent a printer that it monitors
(arstechnica.com)
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this post was submitted on 01 Mar 2024
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People don't seem to realize this kind of thing will be really popular. If you have a small office or you don't do your own tech support, these deals sound awesome. Small fee and thing is always working when you need it. They don't think about how better laser is and how longer toner can last without being used, etc. They don't care, what they see is 36$ a month not to deal with any printer related issues. Kind of a brilliant move on HPs side. Make printers evil, then offer solution to evil via subscription. And you can bet your ass this one will magically have significantly better drivers and lower maintenance than others because those would bite into all that sweet income.
this is already a thing in the corporate world though and has been for over a decade, probably longer. what we don't want is this shit in our houses
I'd totally go for such a deal for a fridge or washing machine. It would also have the nice side-effect that suddenly the company is interested in making products that actually last decades, if they don't, they have to come and fix or replace it on their dime and the money I give them I would've had to set aside for replacements, anyway.
Not for a printer, though: I use that thing very rarely, doesn't make sense to pay a monthly fee, and if it breaks down I can just go to the post office with an USB stick. Which btw is the perfect place for a public printer because letters is practically the only thing I print and while I'm there I can also buy postage because buying stamps doesn't make sense because they appear to change postage more frequently than I send letters.
I'd expect that if HP goes that way they'll use even more home customers to Brother, people just don't print enough these days to make subscriptions make sense. Also let fucking inkjets fucking die, already.
You can go to Rent-a-center if you want to rent appliances.
Yes and HP is kind of the king in those circles.
We FOSS users may not like it, but it is kind of a good deal for small businesses.
Something tells me it will go the same way as with other less user friendly services. Us tech-savy users will avoid this and advise people against it, and yet many will buy thinking it's great they don't have to deal with their printers not realizing they were forced into such position.