The Hidden Costs of Your New Printer.

My new printer will keep track of how many pages I print per month and send me new ink accordingly. Sounded like a good idea, right?

Here’s what’s actually happening:

In order to provide the above, your subscription-based printer must perform the following: It has to check your ink usage, phone home, authenticate, verify your subscription, charge your credit card and send you the new ink.

Turn the printer off?

It complains.

Disconnect it from the internet?

It refuses to print.

Try a different type of identical-yet-cheaper ink?

It can record this and void your warranty.

Miss a payment?

The printer may stop working, even if there’s ink and paper physically inside it.

With subscription-based printing, you don't even have to break anything anymore, you just violated its rules.

Most subscription-based printers expect:

• always-on power
• always-on internet
• approved ink cartridges
• approved usage patterns

Change your Wi-Fi provider?

Travel for a bit?

Don’t print for a while?

Suddenly the printer needs “attention.”

Which usually means:

• printing ink-heavy test pages
• running cleaning cycles
• demanding updates
• or simply refusing to cooperate

It’s excellent at printing diagnostics.

It’s unreliable at printing the thing you actually need.

The printer’s primary job is no longer “print documents.” It’s job is now to:

• enforce subscriptions
• track usage
• protect revenue models

Printing comes second.

That’s why it feels hostile. Because it kind of is.

If you print occasionally, you don’t need a device that requires obedience.

Upload your file. We print it. It gets mailed. You move on. Have it Printed!