Disposable printers.
May. 2nd, 2006 04:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dsrtaoWhat was once fantasy, then science fiction, then mere prediction, is now true: we are living in the age of the disposable printer.
Just now I saw an ad from a reputable company offering to sell me an HP color inkjet for $30. Oh, and free shipping. Oh, and a $10 gift certificate to an unrelated business. Given that a set of new ink for said printer costs $20 for black or $30 for color... there is no point in buying more ink when it runs out. Just get a new printer for the same price.
Printer manufacturers ought to lease their printers to consumers on a price-per-page model. If the printer breaks, send a new one for shipping cost. Every year offer the option of replacing your current one with the new model for free, or upgrade to a higher-end printer for a one-time-cost. That way they could build recurring revenue and customer loyalty, and ensure proper (and probably cost-effective) recycling of the components.
Just now I saw an ad from a reputable company offering to sell me an HP color inkjet for $30. Oh, and free shipping. Oh, and a $10 gift certificate to an unrelated business. Given that a set of new ink for said printer costs $20 for black or $30 for color... there is no point in buying more ink when it runs out. Just get a new printer for the same price.
Printer manufacturers ought to lease their printers to consumers on a price-per-page model. If the printer breaks, send a new one for shipping cost. Every year offer the option of replacing your current one with the new model for free, or upgrade to a higher-end printer for a one-time-cost. That way they could build recurring revenue and customer loyalty, and ensure proper (and probably cost-effective) recycling of the components.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-02 08:52 pm (UTC)(ObTech: in the 60s, IBM had their ass beaten in court for making systems that third parties could not sell products for. They relented. With the DMCA, you put a little software encryption in the ink cartridge - and no one can sell compatible ink for it. So clever, those weasels.)
Recently, I dumped the "free printer" (which anyone can have, if they wish) and bought a decent, reliable, third party printer which prints twice the pages for half the price in ink, and which will work forever. Plus it has a few better features - like OCR software, and a feed table for up to 10 pages.