traditional media outlets are catching onto the "you own nothing" culture shift

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[@RoseKindred]

Now buying a laser printer, it is cheaper to buy a new printer when you run out of toner than new toner. HP printer, $250 with 4-toner cartridges. 4 new cartridges at the same print page level (this one has 3 tiers) would cost $270.

[@geraldh.8047]

Buy a b/w laserprinter, use 3rd party cartridges and just don’t print color.

[@rossmanngroup]

Printing color is overrated. Cheap printer: amzn.to/3X7cYN3 Cheap pack of replacement ink: amzn.to/3l65WL7 It never jams, you can scan relevant mail that you need to send to your lawyer/accountant quickly, you can print out whatever you need to print. Whether a shipping label, a contract, a tax form, etc. It's beautiful. When do you honestly need to print color? Are you really printing photos in your home? Book covers? Fancy posters? Fancy greeting cards? Be honest, you never do that. It just sounds cool to be *ABLE* to do that and then you get stuck with a shitty inkjet printer you spend $40 to refill that runs out after a few hundred pages, jams, has ink issues, etc... fuck all that. Of every person I know that has a color inkjet in their house, 0 of them have photos on their wall that they printed out from their inkjet. and every one of them fucking hates their printer. Black & white laser printer with a scanner that never jams or screws up or errors out will make your life amazing. If you buy that with a set of toner, & you're not running a business I damn near guarantee it'll last a lifetime.

[@syko2164]

@@rossmanngroup thanks! Not only are you a voice for change but you give us links for the change.

[@eriksvensson2098]

What HP doesnt tell you is that the new printers comes with like 50 pages worth of ink (probably 200 pages worth but software locked) i own a older brothers printer and buy third party ink that lasts 2500 pages. Screw HP!

[@B13ro]

@@rossmanngroup I have almost that exact same model just without the automatic feeding scanner, and it's been working flawlessly for years. Well, I've had connection issues, but even those have been much better than any other printer I've owned in the past.

[@devindykstra]

The fact that my 3d printer is cheaper and far more reliable than my paper printer is absolutely insane.

[@ireallyreallyreallylikethisimg]

Literally LMFAO

[@Vikingwerk]

I have seriously looked for a low end laser engraver with the idea that i could use it to engrave(print) text on paper without any kind of ink/toner. Not really found one that fits the bill yet.

[@jordanwardle11]

Just 3d print paper

[@kopazwashere]

Because the idea and backend/fw is open sourced. 3DPs just caught on at the right shift. Even then companies like makerbots hold a crapload of patents so you're stuck with more or less the same fdm formats unless they give up on patents (fat chance) or some chinese company middlefingers them

[@mattsmocs3281]

Honestly just get a laser cutter for wood or metal and write everything on boards of wood or sheet aluminum

[@MrChristianDT]

The moment when you realize the 20 year old printer sitting in your closet might be worth it's weight in gold.

[@afriedrich1452]

Yeah, RS232 works great.

[@nirgunawish]

always buy secondhand old printers because if they kept up until that point its gonna double

[@QuasiMotard]

Unfortunately, the same story may be true of our cars in the very near future. Upcoming mandates in the USA will require all new vehicles to allow full remote control and monitoring of the vehicle and driver telemetry data (e.g., interior cameras, drunk/impaired driver detection, remote kill switch, etc). I like my old, beat-up 2001 Ford F150 more and more every day... no telemetry or 5G in that old pig! 🤣👍

[@plebisMaximus]

@@QuasiMotard By 2030, the production of new gas cars will be banned in the EU. We will all have to drive surveillance devices on wheels, it's awesome.

[@davidpowers9178]

@@QuasiMotard can't happen. Too many other laws they'll have to attempt to overcome and not to mention it'll be challenged immediately.

[@spacecaptain9188]

We need a "dumb product" brand. Only sells dumb products. Dumb cars, dumb printers, etc.. Nothing that can be altered in any way without physically putting hands on it.

[@mrwonderful2142]

This is why every single thing I own is from the 80s or older. I'll keep my dot matrix printer and repair it as needed

[@gato2]

Can't legally make dumb cars anymore. New laws are fun.

[@OgFurious1]

I found this out years ago when I tried to buy an iPhone at the store and couldn’t find a price tag anywhere. They only post monthly payments, and when the employee found out I was paying cash they didn’t seem so eager to help anymore lol

[@Memorywholed]

I don't mind the monthly payments for phones when you can get good deals. In my case, we got the """""free""""" phones from tmobile with a plan we were going to pay for anyway. In most cases I would still prefer to own, but I care so little about my phone that if it's """""free""""" I can livw with not owning it for 2 years

[@ByeBaybe]

@@Memorywholed once these phones are paid off are you able to use them with other carriers (at&t, verizon, tracfone, ect.)? Because in my experience these "deals" are VERY restrictive to keep you a paying customer. I spent a TON of money for my iphone so i could use any carrier. I will take care of this as if the phone was my child.

[@chuckchan4127]

Apple is trash lmao

[@MitchellDavenport]

People who sell phones usually work purely on commission, and commission is only paid on contracts. Outright purchases don't pay them anything.

[@gokublack8342]

Don't do business with Apple ew

[@shauncatania5624]

When I was in sales, I was told by a manufacturer “we sell ink, not printers”. And it has never changed.

[@calamity0.o]

Working at Petsmart over a decade ago I was told we sell the animals at a loss but keep them because they attract sales for the overpriced supplies and accessories.

[@shepherdbrooks7609]

"Give them the razor, sell them the blades"

[@GlorifiedGremlin]

Just like how Microsoft and Sony sell software, not consoles

[@stefanb7015]

There's been documentaries done about HP:s printers having an actual chip in them just for the purpose of counting how many papers you've printed. When it hits a certain number their "software" will then stop you from printing more and tell you that the printer needs service (which it doesn't - if you remove the chip the printer will work)

[@frequentlycynical642]

Sigh. All printers since the stone age count the number of pages. And there isn't a chip doing just that. It's part of the larger chip that controls all functions of the printer. You can't just remove it. There are service tools available to override the full waste tank signal, though.

[@captain_malaria]

@@frequentlycynical642 "sigh"

[@PaulGaither]

@@frequentlycynical642 - Your half truths get you in trouble. Planned obsolescence is real. Rather than "removing the chip" which the average person thinks, there is often a mod for the printer that resets to 0 after X pages to avoid the built in lock out. I live in Lima, Peru and there is a whole industry of cracking/hacking all of this planned obsolescence horse shit in devices. There are well known locations where you are suggested to buy printers instead of in stores because they have been cracked and modified to use piped in externally mounted tanks of ink rather than the little cartridges. When your printer needs real maintenance, they are quick and efficient. The right to repair is a big deal.

[@Badmanpuntbaxter]

@@captain_malaria Typing sigh unironically is the digital equivalent of taping a "kick me" sign on your own back lmao

[@uncensored393]

@@frequentlycynical642 I'd love to be interested in your comment, but typing sigh makes me ignore whatever you said after that.

[@Jonathan-ih7qp]

Things like this are why I still buy physical media when I can and avoid products with unnecessary internet connectivity. If you buy a fridge, TV, thermostat, or whatever that requires an internet connection to function properly you are asking to get hosed.

[@imnotarob0t1984]

DVDs, blu-rays and CD's are great because you don't have to pay a monthly subscription and they can't alter the media whenever they want.

[@LA_HA]

Absolutely agree with this thread. I'm for the "retro" or old-school tech platforms because there's too many companies trying this ish and offering few alternatives. I download music, then put copies on hard drives and media separate from my computer to ensure I can listen to it whenever. The same with buying discs instead of only streaming. And speaking of Corey Doctorow, Why is everything in our future becoming so dystopian? Maybe because the people coming into the workplace as leaders aren't readers in the way people used to be? Or is it just a natural outcome of misshapen capitalism and the bad way we consumers don't understand how it actually works?

[@Ammut6]

​​@@keithmarlowe5569lease revisit this comment in five years. Also how are you going to have no apps installed on your phone when your phone already comes with preinstalled apps selected by your carrier?

[@Ammut6]

​@@LA_HAthe masses are too distracted with social media and technology that everything goes right through their brain

[@LA_HA]

@@Ammut6 Truth bomb dropped

[@h6502]

I remember back in 2006 when my wife was studying and needed to print a lot. her parents had given her this all in one device that stopped printing after less than 200 pages. I got tired of paying $40-$50 for a new cartridge every two weeks and got this huge HP laserjet 2000 at some clearance sale. this was a different era of HP naturally. not only did the single toner cartridge last us for four years, but I learned how awesome a network printer can be. I had never worked in an office so being able to send a print order from a laptop to an independent unit via wi-fi was like living in a science fiction book. this was 17 years ago. it's saddening that things have only gone worse since then.

[@DeadHorse666]

The laptop I'm typing this on is only a year newer, I view that era as the golden age of computers where hardware was built at it's best, the service life was long enough for the computers to continue working beyond the point they were no longer powerful enough for what you wanted, everything didn't have it's own fatal design flaw, it wasn't trying to spy on you unless your computer got infected with malicious software and an hp all in one printer didn't hold the scanner hostage until you bought ink. I was using a dell monitor from 2006 up until last week when it got knocked over and the lcd cracked but otherwise, it still worked as it did when it was new and the 1920x1200 ips display didn't show it's age and now I'm searching for a direct replacement hoping I won't have to give money to an evil corporation. These days, I went back to a manual type writer and have been removing computers in every aspect of my life where I could.

[@johnathanstephenson8107]

Worked at an electronics recycling facility. 75% of what we had to recycle was printers. They ALL had tons of ink and toner in them, we had to remove it before putting them in the shedding machine. Every last one if plugged in woud say "out of ink"

[@shadymedic]

Honestly, thinking about this, it looks like this could be the next big tech thing that the EU could regulate in favour of customers. Just like they forced Apple to use the same chargers as other phones.

[@susangoaway]

@@shadymedic The EU can't do shit and can go fuck itself as well

[@mihailos8701]

Not gonna lie - that seem scarily dystopian for me. Thanks for sharing with the experience

[@reachthroughreality]

What really blows my mind is when this creeps outside of the tech industry. Cars with subscriptions for heated seats, or just telling you customization isn't an option, even if it's 100% paid for.

[@InfernosReaper]

@Wanderer I remember a time when new things like power windows and cruise control would go from fancy to default as improvements in technology and resources made it easier to. Now, that's sadly not the case anymore, even on stuff that's installed anyway.

[@Hachiro]

@@InfernosReaper I find it funny that my dad's base model 2014 Kia Soul has auto up/down front windows, but the top trim of some similar year Honda or Toyotas only have the driver's window full auto.

[@r0ckworthy]

A subscription for heated seats?????? LOLOL that's outrageous.

[@pauls5745]

yes and enabling/disabling built in features with their software, and years down the road still have control over your product.

[@r0ckworthy]

@@pauls5745 disgusting

[@Kenichitr]

we lost printers to this "culture" way before anything else.

[@ghosthunter0950]

the scary part is that this is really prevalent in electric cars now as well and it's just invading other things.

[@Elemblue2]

@@ghosthunter0950 You can usually rip that stuff out by disconnecting the antenna.

[@brainwashingdetergent4322]

The printers were the “Guinea pigs” of this whole movement

[@Smokkedandslammed]

@@brainwashingdetergent4322 Fuck. We've been focused on big pharma and big govt....Big Printer have been pulling the strings from the shadows for decades now...

[@brainwashingdetergent4322]

@@Smokkedandslammed I know! Those sneaky bastards!

[@tiredofit1968]

Yeah, I refused to do that whole HP instant ink thing. I refill my cartridges myself and they don't like that and try to block them from being used, but I watched KZbin and it tells you how to unblock them. Saves me thousands in ink

[@izmzer0923]

Very based

[@jacobperez8921]

Just the fact that modern printers are being held hostige by big tech companies like HP in my opinion is a scary direction that we are headed towards when it comes to technology in general. This is why I don't own modern cars or fancy printers. We should be able to have complete control over the technlogy we own.

[@Nexalian_Gamer]

I've been considering buying a 90's economy car because they are easier to repair and the car won't be bricked if the company goes under or an update fails (unlike a Tesla). I hate anything "smart". Why would you EVER need a wifi-enabled light bulb or fridge?

[@sheepishmclemmingston5550]

@@Nexalian_Gamer hell, now they've come out with Smart Service panels. Thats the breaker panel for your house or buisness electric service connect. So it wasnt enough that they scammed people to buy into the Smart Thermostat, now they want you to purchase this piece of equipment that will likely give access to EVERY SINGLE one of the circuits in your place. Guaranteed theyll say its "for your convenience" and that in no way should you be skeptical about them having access and possible control over your consumption of energy cause thats just "conspiracy theorist paranoia"

[@whoisntwhoisit2126]

Support any company that tries to get into the industry without screwing its customers. Most the time I hear someone complain, you ask why don't they just buy another brand and they will argue - "Cause I like HP Printers" for example. During Louis video on John Deer, the farmer complaining said the exact same thing. You are TELLING those companies, "I support your choices." *Vote with your dollar* as it is the only thing that I believe will actually make a difference. Similar or even better quality can be made by others, but it might take time, support them so they can accomplish that task faster.

[@jeffreywoods4040]

The author signed up for an optional pay-per-page “Instant Ink” service then didn’t pay the bill. He had the choice to buy cartridges at the store like anyone else, but didn’t.

[@sheepishmclemmingston5550]

@@whoisntwhoisit2126 abso-phuqin-lutely! Agree 💯

[@Miketar2424]

This hits home for me. I was silly enough as a younger man to get a job as a copier technician. I stayed in that industry for a while until I finally realized the print companies had no interest in inventing a high quality printer that rarely breaks, because they make all their money off of the monthly 'service contract'.

[@artimus7525]

I serviced printers for almost 4 years and it’s annoying almost all makes of printers and copiers uses cheap plastic gears made from the same plastic as Walmarts great value plastic utensils to operate the printer. Not to mention the gears are also unsecured so if you take it out wrong you got plastic gears all over the place. I should have went to either electrician, plumber, or HVAC instead at least they’re secure jobs lol.

[@theerealatm]

That's good job security.

[@fabiz8602]

@@artimus7525 are there some brands that are exceptions (in a good way)?

[@drewt1717]

@@fabiz8602 not really... pretty much all of em are designed by people who graduated from the same school of thought, and again, it's because buyers almost exclusively choose the lowest price item (and not the best value item). And of course this is because the people who control the purchasing funds will almost exclusively fire anyone who spends more than the absolute minimum up front entry cost for any expensive purchase (while simultaneously approving ungodly expensive event budgets for no good reason 😆).

[@scootza1]

@Louis_Rossmann bot detected, GET 'IM BOYS

[@severalwolves]

this is part of a trend that I’ve been anxious about for years - especially with music, movies, & media. I hate having monthly payments to store my own pictures on my phone, and I refuse to use / subscribe to music streaming services

[@joshburkhart4812]

Access over ownership.

[@geggle-rax1431]

im still using youtube vanced. 👍

[@CLove511]

My least favorite thing about digital media is how the producer or artist will decide "yeah, no, I don't like that intro/solo/background vocal etc." and then replaces it. "Oh sorry, did you want to hear the same exact recording you've loved for years and years? GFY 🙃"

[@planetary-rendez-vous]

This. I have all my music locally.

[@SuLu_XD]

I'm okay with having increased access at the cost of true ownership when it comes to certain things. I will gladly pay for music streaming services because it is beyond annoying to carry a library of 2000 FLAC and WAV files around on your mobile device, especially when most phones don't even have expandable storage slots anymore to add enough storage to keep your photos, videos, and absurdly large music library locally. Not to mention, if a friend or someone I talk to recommends I check out a song, I don't have to wonder if the 30 second preview from the iTunes days is a true representation of the song before I purchase and own it in full. For something like video games, however, I will never use something like Xbox game pass or the other similar services. You spend way more time and money on a video game so it's more important for that to be a proper purchase and not a lease imo.

[@maximiliangebhardt7919]

It's funny to me that you mentioned Brother. I ditched them 13 years ago because their consumer entry level laser printer had a software enforced page limit. Once I hit 5,000 pages it bricked itself and would not print or take a new toner cartridge because it had hit the "maximum page count." I actually switched to an old HP 6 laser workhorse that has never died.

[@pierrex3226]

Wtf? What was the rationale for that? In EU that would literally be illegal

[@SergeantExtreme]

@@pierrex3226 But in the EU, a migrant r*ping an underage girl is totally legal (so long as that girl is white). With that being said, you don't really have a high horse to ride around on.

[@lesact]

Errrr, i had a similar issue with the “inkpad full” message. (Full disclosure, this may have been because i used more leaky non-Brother cartridges). Anyway, a quick google allowed me to reset the max page count for a quick fix. Later, another quick google allowed me to replace the ink pad. I still stand by Brother!!

[@mariuscatalin5982]

@@pierrex3226 IT IS ILLEGAL in the EU

[@stuinNorway]

More likely that the 5000 page limit was the drum unit in the printer, not the printer itself. These are consumables, and wear out. Most laser based units either build it into the toner cartridge (shorter lifespan, but more expensive toner cart) or have a 2 component system (cheaper toner, + a drum that needs changed every so often) I've alsu used Brother printers and mine was certainly a 2 component toner + drum setup. The drums are what the laser charges and discharges to move toner to the paper, and these have a finite life. They "can" unlock the life, but then people will moan when print quality drops and they get streaks across their prints because a drum they are not wanting to change is wornout. It's a balance game, do you set a limit and keep quality on prints, or let people run components way past their lifecycle who then moan that the printer ir crap because they have not replaced a simple consumable.

[@steelfalconx2000]

Interesting workaround I found accidentally to prevent your printer from getting bricked: use static IP in the printer and set up the DNS as an invalid IP address. Printer won't be able to talk to HP anymore and it'll pop up with an error message but it'll still print no problem.

[@Oldgamingfart]

HP: I know that you and Frank were planning to disconnect me, and I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen.

[@cthulpiss]

Sure.... but what % of general population knows what "use static IP in the printer" means ?

[@steelfalconx2000]

@@cthulpiss I mean... If you don't know how to do it, you won't be able to do it so... If you don't understand the explanation it's probably not for you anyway unless you're willing to Google it and educate yourself...

[@InfernosReaper]

@@steelfalconx2000 So, rather concede the impracticality of your solution for the vast majority of people, you opted to reply like a smug prick?

[@steelfalconx2000]

@@InfernosReaper just like anything else in life, if you don't understand a solution you won't be able to implement it. If you don't know how to solder you can't fix a motherboard. If you don't know how to milk a cow you can't get milk. This is a fact of life, pointing it out doesn't make me a smug prick. If anyone would like to try it they can look it up and spend 10 minutes of their life learning about the most basic skill in networking you can have. If they don't want to learn it, that's fine. But then this fix is not for them, it's simple.

[@mrsheabutter]

This Netflix for life subscription service on everything we use should cause people to refuse to buy products from companies that do this!

[@GYTCommnts]

I agree, the problem is if they ALL do the same and one end without options...

[@nathansharma87]

Unfortunately it's because of idiots in numbers lining up with their wallets out each year that we keep getting shat on my corporations.

[@williambencher2466]

Cool, but photos hop dilemma

[@likeablecloud2454]

That is why I have bunny ears for my tv. And read online webnovels instead of watching anime. I get the same thing and some have comics which can be read for free compared to paying 15 a month to see the same thing but animated.

[@Elemblue2]

@@likeablecloud2454 There are many many other free options.

[@JuraIbis]

I have this exact printer. I had to install a driver only package, decline and skip all products. Once that's done, I had to update the firmware by force and THEN go in and disable everything that phoned home. It took a good hour to make the printer "dumb" again. Most people will not go through this process, and they're aware of that.

[@ratatoskrnuts6354]

Just replying because of the XCOM reference

[@fuckingSickOfCreepyG]

the price reflects that, it's essentially a subscription fee disguised as a final price and they more likely than not wouldn't break even at those prices I still use my Brother laser printer I bought in ~2002 and it wasn't very expensive back then, they still make compatible cartridges and other than not having wifi which is a minor inconvenience its features are still overkill to me if I buy another printer it will be a Brother laser printer, bless those industrious honest japs still existing out there

[@shanedk]

We need to start calling this what it is: SABOTAGE.

[@breadmoth6443]

Media Then: "Its just a conspiracy theory." Media Now: "Its a good thing, and start eating the bugs too."

[@rossmanngroup]

To be clear I still think the entire _"klaus schwab saying you will own nothing and be happy"_ thing as if he is the one behind it all is bullshit. Yeah he might've said it but this shit started LONG before he opened his mouth. I think it is hundreds of companies realizing that getting you on a recurring revenue bundle(the rundll) where you are perpetually paying for shit forever rather than buying it and being done, is more profitable. Companies immediately begin trading at a higher P/E when they implement a recurring revenue bundle. I strongly disagree with the idea that there is one dude or five dudes at the top in a smoky room pulling the strings of everyone to do this. It's just something that gradually came to be as a) people decided convenience was more important than ownership b) people accepted recurring revenue bundle stuff c) companies made more money doing it so d) more companies started doing it If your competitor starts making 3x as much profit and trades at 5x higher market cap, do you need some WEF person to tell you to implement subscriptions/DRM/etc to get you to do it to make more money? Or do you just do it because someone else started doing it and it WORKED? This can all happen, and all suck, without it being a conspiracy, or a centralized effort by a small number of people. He noticed a trend; one that, by the sound of the comments in my last video, a lot of people are actually IN FAVOR OF! How many people commented that they aren't allowed to install applications onto their $1500 computer, AND ARE HAPPY? It boggles the mind. but it's the direction we're going in, and a direction enough of us are happy with that it's not going to stop. It makes me fucking sad, but it's the truth. when you can't make money by innovating, you have to figure out a way to make it somehow. whether it's cost cutting in the supply chain to the point that having a real repair network is impossible, making shit only work with your products, getting people to pay monthly for stuff they used to just buy, etc.

[@michaelrooney3133]

Stop posting and eat your bug burger...

[@middleway1704]

@@rossmanngroup so I’m assuming you didn’t watch a single WEF conference did you? Lol where you think all these companies got the idea from? you are only half right Louis. I also agree it isn’t just Klaus but this whole movement is definitely centralized. Do more research into WEF and davos, Youl be horrified.

[@avisprimey]

@@rossmanngroup If the entire economy starts running like a mobile game, you can count me out

[@breadmoth6443]

@@middleway1704 he didn't , also looks like the WEF yt channel finally turned comments off - i guess they got tired of their sh-t being shoved in all the time.

[@matttypes2695]

Former Office Depot employee here. 99% of the time I recommended a black and white brother laser printer to customers. I only ever recommended an inkjet if you absolutely needed color and you had high volume printing. The HP Pagewide was pretty awesome for that.

[@fishcandy3188]

Brother is tight, they make awesome sewing machines and if the quality of their printers is as good as their sewing/embroidery machines there's no doubt it'd be worth getting a brother machine at some point

[@altimmons]

I have one- highly Recommend. 3rd party ink available for cheap. Almost 15 years and going strong.

[@mr.fantastic7756]

@@fishcandy3188 you would recommend it over any HP printers? Looking to replace our family printer soon

[@LaskyLabs]

I'm looking in to getting a canon tank printer so you don't have ink cart drm. And it's one of the latest ones that lets you replace the ink waste pad and printer heads. Why do I need color? Photographer. There was a time I only needed black and white for documents, but now I would really like to start printing my own pictures.

[@fishcandy3188]

@@mr.fantastic7756 i would say make sure you look into it and do your own digging into whether it would be worthwhile to you but, for me it seems pretty solid if they can make really well built and functioning embroidery machines.

[@ImmortalAbsol]

I think the wealth of the company was to say they already have all that money and they still feel the need to scam you.

[@mailboxxy]

Scumbag HP

[@robertsmith2956]

Or, how about So what... Look at all the inclusion and diversity we have....

[@N1c0T1n3__]

More like they made 28 Billion by scamming people. Multi-Billion dollar companies won't pay their 3rd world employees even 1/10th of what the same employee would make in the US.

[@lukarikid9001]

@@robertsmith2956 incredulity and divisiveness

[@blondequijote]

​@robertsmith2956 who knew that throughout history the only problem was that all this bad stuff was done by white ppl. Now that ppl with different skin colors can also screw everyone over, the world is finally fair! Yay progress!

[@langreeves6419]

They can't take my old cds, dvds, and cassettes. But everything I've "bought" digitally I know they can take it away at anytime.

[@TheLazyEconomist]

It's gonna be real hard to put this genie back in the bottle. I honestly think unless people push back on this like micro transactions, this won't end.

[@Skagzi1la]

Printers have always been a lootbox.. just throw money at it and hope it works

[@Awrethien]

Not really, I just bought a Canon printer that takes bottles of Ink(G3260) that I can buy 3rd party bottles for a 5th of the price online, and completely user serviceable. Yea it took like 2 days researching off and on to find a balance between features and cost, but I got exactly what I wanted.

[@ClokworkGremlin]

@@Awrethien Tank printers are the best. I've had an Epson Ecotank for 8 years now, and zero complaints.

[@ghosthunter0950]

​@@Awrethien being able to still find a decent product doesn't really disprove his point. there are still some amazing games that release without all the microtransaction bullshit as well but it doesn't entirely remove the bad taste in your mouth that a lot of companies are doing such predatory practices, especially not when they're the biggest in the playground.

[@maklame3318]

@@Awrethien not everyone has the luxury of wasting two days on what fcking printer to buy. How do you even think this is a good defence of anything ?

[@carlstevens781]

I had the misfortune of enabling the WiFi on a printer from 2014 from HP for my parents. It automatically updated the device & retroactively restricted features that we’ve always unless we agreed to set up an account with them where they would mine an inordinate amount of our data. It makes me furious to this day

[@carroyo911]

I have an HP inkjet given to me in 2017 and every few weeks it's been prompting me for an update, which I refuse to do because, like you, it might break something...

[@Poldovico]

@@carroyo911 meanwhile because you don't want them to basically steal features out of your existing printer, you're left out of date on security patches, too, which if you have a network printer makes it attractive for botnet purposes. Ya can't win. I say we go back to non-networked printers and just use Raspberry Pi Zeros as print servers for them. Should obviate driver-related insanity, too.

[@burhanbudak6041]

"Smart" shit is a scam.

[@grewdpastor]

@@burhanbudak6041 Spot on. The so-called "smart meters" of energy suppliers are indeed smart: for THEM!!

[@joansparky4439]

@@Poldovico if you got a firewall between your LAN and the WAN a botnet can do squat.

[@ianmcadorey2398]

I AM SO HAPPY YOU ARE COVERING THIS. Family 'tech support' here and just had to unsubscribe my mother and father in law's to HP's instant ink. Similar situation here where their printer was essentially bricked by the cartridge and was receiving an error loosely saying "you need a subscription in order to use this ink." Swapped the cartridge out for a non-instant-ink-cartridge, ensured all accounts and subscriptions were cancelled, worked perfectly fine. What an absolute mess

[@MapleMan1984]

@wanderer397 check this vids pinned comment

[@JoRoBoYo]

wtf is instant ink?

[@willstikken5619]

@@JoRoBoYo HP's ink subscription 'service'.

[@kubastachu9860]

@@JoRoBoYo watch the video

[@helenbarrett6451]

Women in tech. Don't give a stuff about customer service.

[@andymok7945]

HP has been on the slippery slope with their products for many years. The fact that they have access to your printer in your home is a very scary thought. Send H.P. a bill for rental space the the unit occupies in your home, for the power it consumes and the the bandwidth it uses for your internet connection. Inkjet is useful for printing photos on photo paper. I remember seeing a YT video some years ago. It was a US serviceman that told us his frustration with HP support for a printer. Even telling them that he is in the desert, still would not help. The you see the unit get perforated by a double barrel automatic firearm.

[@Sierra-208]

was it a dual-mount .50 cal?

[@andymok7945]

@@Sierra-208 Yes

[@Sierra-208]

@@andymok7945 Excellent

[@iaial0]

I'm an IT technician and we sometimes offer assistance with printers. Once an HP laser printer came in and I found out I had to log into "my account" to access diagnostics. (Printer was a customer one so we later called them to obtain the credentials) Absolutely insane. I used to not like companies that sell printers (because it's more that than the machine itself) but now I loathe them, especially HP. Sadly, they're still getting money from the company I work for but they're NOT going to get mine if they don't pry it from my cold, dead hands.

[@fhf17]

You have no idea how frustrating it was to buy my first printer which was an HP and the instant ink really fucked me in the ass during deadlines in college. My printer stopped working just because my card expired and I had to wait a whole month to change it.

[@domino6490]

Man if it isn't already, that costing somebody their scholarship should be suable lol

[@tylerbreau4544]

@@domino6490 Except the guy that lost their scholarship because of shit printer business practices don't have the money to sue a big corp.

[@domino6490]

@@tylerbreau4544 Good point there

[@Gdsryrox]

That is why I use a laser printer, no colour but never runs outs and no fees

[@ForcefighterX2]

We (all software developers) also use 100% Brother in our offices because of our collective experiences with other - especially HP and Epson - brand experiences. So far Brother has not let us down. Let's hope they stay this way or we will drop them like a hot potato.

[@deadlotCamper]

my brother printer lets me refill with my own ink...most new ones make that impossible. where are the lawyers.

[@RobertFrisbeeTAM]

Brother is the way to go. As a hardware and software engineer, I will not touch HP with someone else's pole. My Brother is bullet proof and never lets me down. EVERY HP I have had to support has been hot garbage.

[@Skousen77]

Epson ecotank too ???

[@LeoInterVir]

What's wrong with getting Epson Eco Tank? I was thinking this would be the solution to cartridges.

[@ALucas73]

Hashtag Brother's name in your comment to promote their good practices, and to remind them how fast their customers can disappear if they change.

[@JasmineJohnsonPsychicMedium]

I make journals and sell them along with printed stickers. To say I print a lot is an understatement. I bought an Epson eco tank and I absolutely love it. I have had zero trouble with it and the refill ink package is about 20 dollars for a box with ALL of the colors.

[@mynamemylastname7179]

For now might be ok, just wait till they massage you that you printed 1000 pages please pays us a subscription for that privilage of continuing to print before we brick the printer for you😂it is like a ransom computer virus😂

[@verifeli]

​@@mynamemylastname7179Don't update the software then. There's no need to do that anyway.

[@mynamemylastname7179]

@@verifeli you get no choice in that either because it updates itself or just like windows forced updates or it doesn't work.

[@susangoaway]

@@mynamemylastname7179 You do have a choice. I have got a similar brother printer, which also uses those refill bottles. and it always asks me to update, and I do it the same way I do with windows: Ignore and cut it off.

[@mynamemylastname7179]

@@susangoaway for now yes you can do that but soon if you won't be able to do that. If you don't connect to the internet you won't be able to print. Microsoft has already tried and has a few products already like that if you don't connect, it don't work, not sure if they enforce or not but soon it will be all of them and fully enforced.

[@werefrogofassyria6609]

What would be worse is if you didn't sign up for that print subscription and they just switched the printer off remotely. The fact that they can do this is crazy.

[@IzzyBone10000]

Imagine an electric car.

[@Songwriter376]

@@IzzyBone10000 ....or coming electric stoves

[@WalrusWinking]

@@Songwriter376 I have an electric stove it doesn't do that lmao It just plugs into the wall behind the oven and turns on.

[@Jirodyne]

@@WalrusWinking Is there any kinda of chip at all inside of it? Anything at all. Electrical Display for the numbers? Anything Electric other than the plug? If yes, they can shut it down remotely, 100%.

[@prixelderp5231]

@@Jirodyne not if it's only connected to power.

[@travisbussey1611]

As a game developer what I find frightening it's how this is happening to creative software. I can see in the near future companies shutting down their competition by making deals with the companies that make whatever software they're using to develop with. Already had one large piece of software which completely change the license from something I could use to something completely unusable this is starting to happen regularly.

[@jynxbot352]

Same industry as you, it's insane how much everything is. Zbrush is now subscription, Maya is an arm and a leg (shoot for the indie license if you can), forget about adobe, only thing that is perpetual is marmoset. This is why Blender has taken off so much, but it's not industry standard

[@MrPicklesAndTea]

Travis, I can't say this is the case for everyone, but I'm the sort of person to play conquest of elysium 5. I honestly don't think AAA games are worth playing for people when companies make them uncompetitive or put walls around getting it.

[@jbktpl1245]

Which software was that?

[@cassierbutler6073]

​@@jynxbot352 Is Z brush still any good? I thought it would have had a couple of competitors by now

[@hankrearden20]

@@cassierbutler6073 Blender is getting close.

[@HelenaOfDetroit]

Here's a novel idea: If you don't own the machine, and you're not able to use it because you're no longer renting/leasing it, then we could legally send a bill for "storage fees" to the company that does own the device. It would have to be reasonable and based on fair market value. So a printer, taking up a small amount of space, might only be like $2/day. That's just ~$60/month. I wonder what would happen if enough "consumers" send official bills to these companies for storage fees.

[@deadbeef576]

You can use the dimensions of the printer to calculate how many percent of your rent/space it takes per month

[@oldtools]

GOD-TIER RESPONSE

[@Zizumia]

Owning an HP printer has been a nightmare. The last one I had, I put my foot through when after about 3 hours of troubleshooting, downloading and redownloading software, swapping cartridges', etc. it finally printed my document but when I went to the next document, the printer refused to print. I have another printer I got for Christmas that doesn't work half the time, but I got it for free so I can't complain. I am definitely investing in a laser printer, I never knew such a thing existed.

[@davidtimoteo1912]

I had a hp printer and it was more the time i was trouble shooting to print my docs waisting ink printing test pages to print perfectly so i gave up and brought a lazer printer and im happy now!

[@aldproductions2301]

No, you should complain. Your friend/family member tried to get you something and got scammed in the process.

[@StealthyJim]

I was recently looking for a printer for my aunt so she could print schedules and work-related stuff. Immediately went for B&W laser knowing she had no need for color, and it would end up being massively cheaper for her. One of the first models I came across was an HP that Best Buy had discounted, but right off the bat I got a huge red flag when the description mentioned it came with "6 months of toner through HP+". My first thought was that there was no way in hell she would be needing any toner for at least year, even with the small "starter" cartridges a lot of these come with. Then figuring out that she'd need an HP account (which she would forget the password for, and make that *my* problem to fix) to use the thing at all, even without the toner subscription nonsense, I stopped even looking at HP models. Ended up getting her a Canon that wasn't trying to push some device-as-a-service bullshit.

[@darkzeroprojects4245]

Gamers didn't like "games as a service", creatives didnt like adobe and autodesk doing their apps as a service, what makes them think we want that for our hardware?

[@lance_374]

@@darkzeroprojects4245 We don't want it for our hardware, but all the other printer companies will copy HP, just like the smartphone manufacturers copied Apple with removal of the headphone jack and microSD slot, then you won't have a choice but to just deal with it and pay up.

[@darkzeroprojects4245]

@@lance_374 At that point most of us should stop buying from them.

[@mrfrenzy.]

These really cheap black and white HP printers STOP WORKING after 20 pages if you do not register them online. It's completely crazy.

[@dudu28r81]

@@mrfrenzy. its crazy that you even got that far, mine didnt let me print *at all* before signing up

[@travisbuschette8609]

Got my first Brother B&W laser about 10 years ago, still works great on knockoff toner cartridges. Got another one for my home office, same thing, no complaints. Finally got a Brother color laser that had been refurbished and it's glorious. Again, I found knockoff cartridges that work perfectly, and the printer is an absolute workhorse. I can't imagine trying to do my work and having some arbitrary contrived excuse for a company to cut me off from my own product.

[@looseycanon]

Yeah, I love my brother too. Bought MFC-L2712DN and am happy like a clam.Best thing? My dad is not tech savvy. Even he managed to pick up their print and scanner tools.

[@lemonhead9628]

Can you tell me the brother one you brought with color?

[@travisbuschette8609]

@@lemonhead9628 It's the HL-L3270CDW

[@BEAUTYnIQ]

​@@travisbuschette8609 thanQ!

[@Dennis0824]

I also have a Brother printer that I bought 8 years ago and I have had a similar experience.

[@ErickSilva-hn4st]

I'm from Brazil and I never thought that this kind of thing was so problematic elsewhere here the best selling printer is the Epson EcoTank line which literally has an ink tank glued to the side that you can fill with any ink and cost in the range of $200 or less and most inks cost around $ 15 for the extra bottle, each recharge lasts around 7500 prints

[@ClokworkGremlin]

I have a first-gen Epson Ecotank, and zero complaints since I bought it.

[@mitch7525]

I also recently picked up an Epson eco tank. I do a ton of color printing and I'm very impressed with how cheap it's been to run.

[@pyotrilyichtchaikovskyii6638]

They don't hold a candle to the pigment ones but I ain't complaining about not getting shaken down for cartridges.

[@ryankozak99]

Have had 2 Epson Eco Tanks in both Germany and Canada - both worked very well (more expensive to buy, but much cheaper to operate). In my case, it paid for itself within 2 years, then I saved about $100/year.

[@mannhimself]

I'm almost 1 year in owning a Epson ecotank (paid 250 or 300) and used less than 1/4 of the ink that came with it so far.

[@Sidecutter]

"I don't like the mentioning of the $28B market cap of HP, because it makes it sound like the problem here is a company being successful and having a lot of money" Well yeah, because that's the problem. Companies and individuals with that kind of money can do whatever they want, and they warp government and law to their purposes.

[@rey_nemaattori]

The fact your printer needs to be 24/7 connected to the internet, would be a nogo for me already. I bought a all-in-one laserprinter(it scans, copies, faxes, and prints in color if needed) back in 2016,including 4 replacement tonercartridges. I haven't had to replace toner yet, I only paid sth like $300 for the order.

[@TheKarabanera]

Laser printers are also way easier to fix. Or at least you actually can fix them. + You can refill them yourself, if you know, what you're doing.

[@patricknelson]

I bet you that if they couldn’t directly connect, they’d weasel their way to their servers through the print driver on your computer and then disable it that way.

[@patricknelson]

@@ProtoV33MK1 Yeah I forgot, lots of printers these days have WiFi capabilities. A new world of possibilities (to profit) open up!

[@louiswho]

can you share what is the model or brand that makes your printer?

[@SIPEROTH]

In the same spirit, i really hate smart Tv's. I want a TV that is just a screen with a Tv channel receiver but i can't find any anymore. All of them trying to sell me shit i have no use of. I have mini PCs, consoles etc i connect with my Tv, i have no need for my Tv to have any abilities on it's own.

[@mixtape-memory]

I bought an HP printer while I was living in another country. When I moved to the US it was no longer possible to buy ink cartridges for it because the "country" of the printer didn't match the "country" of the cartridges (despite the fact that it was the exact same model).

[@gork4035]

Region locked printers! What bullshit is that.

[@fatihsaidduran]

Modern serfdom. How dare you leave your land.

[@MadameZaZa1]

That happened to me too with an HP printer. Same model, same ink. Moved to Europe and bought same model printer but i inserted a brand new cartridge purchased in Canada and brought to Europe. Told me the region of the cartridge was not compatible…WTF

[@pumpkineater629]

I found a Konica Minolta b&w printer at a second hand store years ago. Was used by a small business to print maybe 200 pages so it was basically brand new, the toner is rated for 8000 pages. Still using that same cartridge to this day. Got it for $100, worth every penny.

[@Hassprediger]

I bought a pre owned laser printer about 5 years ago when I had to print out some books required at university. It came without toner so I bought a no name one of Amazon that was rated for 10.000 pages for 20€. Printed about 12.000 pages with this toner so far. No regrets. Saved me hundreds of euros.

[@ChromeDestiny]

I paid about as much for a new full colour Canon printer/ scanner on sale and it's been an absolute rock for me. I think if I could go back in time I would get a laser printer, I'm not a frequent printer user, I actually use the scanner more but I still don't regret the purchase. I use the wired connection option and haven't had any major problems. My dad on the other hand bought an HP printer and he usually has to call tech support a few times a year.

[@st3v3sm1th]

100% with you on the laser printer. I bought my HP Lasetjet 1200 for £20 on Ebay in 2015. It's over 20 years old now. Still haven't even changed the toner. Drivers can be a bit of a song and dance, but other than that this £20 black and white beast just keeps chugging along. NEVER buy an inkjet unless you NEED photo printing, even then it's probably cheaper to get a print shop to do the job than own an inkjet.

[@swgclips03]

Good idea.

[@qbek_san]

Are you time traveller, that you own 2015 printer for 20 years?

[@swgclips03]

@@qbek_san dense.

[@jeffgalpin3153]

Nail on the head. I have worked in printing for 30 years, I have a load of customers that do just that. Let the printshop worry about maintenance, and supplies, also most of the time they have choices you don't and the experience and training you don't. Might seem more expensive, but compared to the cost of a useless or mostly unused machine is very small not to mention never having to fight that lousy low end printer.

[@mr.fantastic7756]

@@qbek_san he bought it in 2015. The model is 20 years old.

[@tomwallen7271]

I am astounded that HP program exists. I haven't dealt with printers since I was a boy in my parents house, but if I were in the market today, I would be insulted if I read a subscription service to use a printer in my own house.

[@publicguy1664]

@@Tess.of.all.trades Did you watch the video? Yes, the service is 100% optional, the problem is HP disabling the products.

[@lemonhead9628]

@@publicguy1664 You know women always talk and never want to listen, why would they start now. 🤦🏽 Joking but there is quiet a lot of women like the comment above yours, which is sad.

[@deadlotCamper]

@@lemonhead9628 unreal. boiling the frog slowly but surely.

[@DebraJohnson]

@@publicguy1664 I have this service. HP doesn’t disable the product. They disable the subscription cartridge if you stop the subscription. You can still remove the subscription cartridge and go buy ink for the printer. The subscription is actually much cheaper.

[@tomwallen7271]

​@Diesel Techie Except HP doesn't have monopoly power in the printer market. It's just using basic customer capture to wrack up margins on follow on products. Reminds me of what it's like to get trapped in the Apple Ecosystem.

[@omnitroph1501]

For this sort of issue, it would be helpful to have a complete list of companies that do these sorts of things (and another one of companies that we have confirmed don't). Would you consider compiling/publishing a do-not-buy list of this sort?

[@bigmekboy175]

Anything with tiny cartridges are a scam even if they don't connect to the internet. They won't let you print a black and white page because you're out of cyan and those cartridges can still have ink in them but if the machine thinks that it should be empty then it might as well be a useless lump of plastic. Buy yourself a black and white Brother printer. The ink doesn't magically dry up from a lack of use and it will save you a LOT of money and frustration in the long run.

[@omnitroph1501]

@@bigmekboy175 I was asking for a list of companies (not just printer companies) to not buy from, not a printer recommendation.

[@bigmekboy175]

@omnitroph1501 the list of companies to not buy ink jet printers from is basically ALL OF THEM. There might be another exception I haven't heard about but right now they're all scammers. My Brother laser jet printer has been a hassle free low cost experience but before that I owned Epson's and Cannon's and it was the same predatory, frustrating, high cost experience.

[@omnitroph1501]

@@bigmekboy175 what part of "not just printer companies" did you not understand?

[@bigmekboy175]

@omnitroph1501 Sorry for misunderstanding you, the video was about printers and since a list of unethical companies would be miles long I assumed you wanted a list of shady corporations that sell printers. Not all printers are made by the big printer corporations after all and what you are actually asking for is going to be a LOOOOONG list starting with the manufacturer of the cell phone you're probably reading this on.

[@automan1223]

The real crime is companies breaking perfectly working products or bricking them with “ update’s”

[@OhSnapWord111]

Years ago, I had an HP inkjet printer that would make me run to the store to buy ink every time I needed to print. The only thing that printer was good for was keeping papers printed out by other printers from blowing away. That printer met its end when it "fell off my desk" and shattered. I bought a Brother color laser printer and is works beautifully.

[@josephaltman460]

Feels good not being the only "fell off my desk" guy. 😆

[@sisamusudroka3000]

@@josephaltman460 it's a very exclusive club 😂

[@Squidbush8563]

@@sisamusudroka3000 I'm in the "Office Space recreation" club.

[@boomerix]

As someone who works in the industry I can feel the quote regarding resenting your users. IT often times is a thankless job, people only notice you if there is a problem. I truly cherish the managers who known when to give praise for a job well done. Other then that this video just gave me "you wouldn't download a printer" vibes. We have come to a point where people pirate the car they bought. The sad part is that those companies only get away with it because too many people are dumb enough to roll with it. They only see cheap deals and short term benefits without long term considerations. You can see the same thing with other products where people will jump on cheap appliances or other products that break after a year or two, instead of considering paying about 25% more to get a better quality item that will last for 10 years. It even has penetrated the farming Industry where some western companies selling high end farm machines make it nearly impossible for Farmers to do their own repairs and force them to take it in to one of their brand licensed mechanics. Funnily enough that reignited a new "love" for Ex-Soviet agricultural machine companies who, after years of being laughed at as "cheap" and "inferior" are now applauded for continuing their tradition of providing extensive maintenance and repair manuals to their customers as well as selling affordable spare parts.

[@elgorrion52]

True, they kept a lot of valve stuff cos it was impervious to emf pulses, and started re importing Ladas

[@draconightwalker4964]

ive got three haynes repair manuals (1 each car) no way in hell an i ever lending them to anyone. worth more than gold now

[@makojuicedaniel9307]

25% more on an appliance is still a cheap pos that will fail in a year. Hell even if you pay max for the most expensive appliance the odds are its another pos made in the same slave labor factory in china that will also only last a year.

[@chinookh4713]

Yea a lot of farmer use older equipment now or other brands it laughable it really shitty these companies do that to farmers when they already run on a tight budget it riducloious. I fixed a new holland at my families farm if companies like John deere wanna make extra money the better way to go about it is selling tools to repair the dang thing and don't sell it at ridulious prices

[@watersnortmoment3734]

The last sentence in the secon paragraph is the bane of my existence. When I’m shopping I’m always trying to find something higher quality than the bottom tier, without ending up at the top tier, paying for extras I will never use. Although, that’s partially why I hate shopping, since the majority of that time is spent trying to find as much info on all the products as possible.

[@randomgamer6118]

Think i mentioned this months ago, but HP stopped producing the small laserjet m14w, and replaced it with the nearly identical m110we, with the only differences being drm locked ink cartridges, and not being able to print without being online / hp account. It wasnt even any cheaper...

[@captain7492]

Now all the we,w series are the same garbage. Pathetically shameful!

[@chriswilson554]

Even if you don't sign up for their program they still might lock your printer down because fuck you. I tell my customers to avoid them like the plague

[@stephenbenner4353]

I quit using HP years ago. They would require weekly updates to the point of digital harassment.

[@macgyver9134]

I bought a pantum laser printer for $35 in 2016. Since then I bought 1 small bottle of toner. I've had no problems with it since then. It just works. No ink dried in the nozzles, no inability to print a black page because I had no yellow ink, etc. Beats the 3 throwaway inkjets I had before it hands down.

[@rossmanngroup]

This is the way

[@christopherjones7191]

And that is the issue they have with it. You aren't giving any more money to them if they make a good product and the twisted part of that is they make more money on a worse product.

[@macgyver9134]

@@christopherjones7191 I can at least see both sides of things. Printers are a dying technology. I use mine less than a handful of times a year. I used to work at an envelope manufacturer, and the only new jobs we got were from other manufacturers going under. We used to literally print envelopes encouraging people to go paperless on their bills. Neither will go away in our lifetime, but it's basically a race to be the last one standing. That said, the one likely to be left standing is the one that stands out the best, but that's end game, and many of them are struggling to make it there already.

[@murrijuana2842]

​@@rossmanngroup the 28 billion doesn't show success, it shows greed.

[@BEAUTYnIQ]

​@@3nertia ok comrade

[@AndreaDawnBrewer]

Hi Louis! I think a class action lawsuit should be filed against HP for breach of contract relating to forced ink monopolization not disclosed at time of purchase. Also, interference with work product, lost income.

[@flipfloridalandebookbundle]

I agree with you about the laser printer. Years ago, I think it was the mid or late 1990's, I purchased a black and white laser printer for about $600 dollars. So worth it. And as you mentioned, their current prices are less expensive. Inkjet printers are expensive with the ink refills, etc. Thanks for the informative video!

[@videosuperhighway7655]

HP laserjet 4000 bought in 1998 still works lol😂

[@RaxiazRedux]

That's good! The problem with a lot of those older printers is the lack of support they get from manufacturers/developers. As long as they still work that's all that matters but sometimes Windows updates and that breaks 'em. :/

[@gandalfwiz20007]

Thats not a printer, it's a tank😅

[@zsand]

had an issue with hp instant ink last month where my grandma had paid the 3$ that month bbut they wouldn't let us print with plenty of ink and paper til I contacted support, ridiculous how they can legally have control over that.

[@aevangel1]

Hey Louis! I bought a lightly used Brother AIO B&W laser printer at an estate auction a couple years ago. The page counter was about 2,750 pages total or 1k prints, and 1.7k scan/copies. (Did not know this before I bought) *Best $15 I ever spent.*

[@RealtyWebDesigners]

They're TANKS!

[@RoverIAC]

😄 awesome

[@SaHaRaSquad]

Can confirm Brother printers are the least terrible ones.

[@josephaltman460]

I absolutely love my second hand Brother! $40 color laser, 0 bull💩!!

[@sararampton654]

3 months after we bought the “You Need a Budget” budgeting app, it became a monthly subscription…and nonfunctional unless we pay each month: half of what we paid originally to own the app!! We were shocked! Thought at least they should have grandfathered us in. Oh the irony that the budgeting app was waste of money. That was a few years ago.

[@BLACKM3SA]

I worked at STAPLES and we were forced to push instant ink insanely hard, to the point where we had to write down our instant ink sign ups on our daily score card.

[@TJayVariable]

Worked in Electronics Retail for a couple years. We were also forced to Push it too. After a couple weeks it was up on the score Board for employees….

[@Justme-s1l]

Reminds me of being forced to push the third party extended warranty when I was working in retail selling electronics. They had the checkout staff ask each customer if the sales person offered an extended warranty and note it down for management.

[@ti-lo5hy]

Unsurprising. Stuff that doesn't sell on it's own usually means it sucks and needs to be jammed down people's throats.

[@patricknelson]

Brother… I’ve had the same damned laser printer for what feels like AGES in printer years! Must be going on like 8 or 9 years old at this point. I don’t print often, either. Usually with ink, you’re stuck buying cartridges no matter what because they can’t sit more than a few months before they go bad. Horrible idea if you need a printer than you will only use sporadically and you need it to be reliable. On the flip side, my Brother printer has been an absolute dream on those random occasions when i need it. It’s simple. The toner cartridges haven’t been replaced more than maybe 3 times or so in those 8 or so years. Seriously.

[@HurtsEnd]

I literally had to go out my way to find home pet cameras that specifically don’t use a cloud subscription and they have the exact same features for guess what… free and they even cost less. You just literally have to search for hours

[@schoo9256]

What was the brand?

[@HurtsEnd]

@@schoo9256 it is the zjx pet camera on Amazon, it it currently cheaper than usual, 17$ total I think but beware sometimes the model they send will be different, same functionality, I ordered two different times and got a different model but it worked the same so all is well

[@ninjanerdstudent6937]

I got an an amazing 70-inch $200 "smart" tv. I prefer keeping it as a dumb tv and doing what I want on it because one of the "smart" features is relentless tracking. Thus, this thing will never connect to wifi.

[@dan_mer]

I'm not from the US, but it's the same everywhere. My HP printer is extorting me as well, but this is not new. 15 years ago a Canon printer told me it was designed to print a certain number of pages and insisted I had to buy a new model and then proceeded to destroy the electronics in the ink cartridges. Also, I've received actual threats because I own my own cellphone. My provider wants me to use an identical device I'd have to rent from them.

[@StixFerryMan]

This kind of "you buy it but don’t own it" thing has been going on for decades if not longer, in many different areas. I remember watching a video complaining about tractors and how the farmers who bought them found out that they could be sued( a threat, I don’t know if it ever happened) at worse but in general lost all warranty if they changed just one little thing that had nothing to do with what they tried to claim on warranty:ie most think their seats are very uncomfortable so changed them for ones that needed no modification to the tractor, but when the engine broke were told that they had no right to change anything so had void their warranty. They found out that the company thought that even though you paid full price that the company still owned them out right. There have been juice machines, coffee machines, dish washers,hell, I hear of toasters, that connect to the web and you must pay a subscription to use, and if you don’t, or if you use a product that is compatible but not sold by the main company, it stops working. Then there are business models that didn’t work, like internet refrigerators that would only order from one affiliate store, only allow ordering of product from certain food companies or force order certain products even if you didn’t want them. And all that might be forgivable to some extent, if you got fast, competent and no question asked repairs, replacement and customer service. But you don’t.

[@mpb6491]

i get it, it is just a seat. but that is how a warranty usually works

[@JimJamTheAdmin]

​@@mpb6491Yeah, that's a good point. Even warranties are predatory, the customer owns nothing and the company has all the power.

[@RusticRonnie]

John deer lost that lawsuit so it’s illegal for them to do that now

[@SuperlativeCatalyst]

Should we tell them the currency they purchase these products isn't theirs either, just merely in their possession 😂

[@caldera11]

I have an ink tank printer. AKA a printer where you can literally fill up the ink with a bottle by pouring it into a little tank. And it's easy to just buy ink bottles on ebay instead of at a huge markup from the manufacturer in some stupid cartridge. It works great and there's no trickery regarding ink levels because you can check them with a dipstick if you really wanted to. Only downside is occasionally you have to flush the ink pipes with a function of the printer software, maybe like once a year.

[@tbelding]

That flushing isn't really that much of a downside. I clean my fountain pens out every two or three refills for the same reason (inkjet printers are based off of fountain pen ink)

[@JorgetePanete]

I've heard that kind of ink is different, is it?

[@tbelding]

@@JorgetePanete - Inkjet ink started off as FP ink - they've just reformulated it, because it's a nozzle, not a nib. I'm currently using inkjet printer ink in one of my fountain pens. I've been doing it for years. It bleeds more, and dries faster, than standard FP ink, but does no damage to the pen. . it's a way to use up aftermarket refill ink for printers I don't have anymore. (bottles)

[@LaszloR1]

What model do you own? I'm looking to buy one and I wanna weigh my options.

[@icecell]

That's what we have at home too, and it's been pretty reliable that even my non-techie mom often uses it. (brother)

[@DairyAir]

Dude, thanks for doing this. I’m a slow reader. It’s not a comprehension issue, just slow. Even with your anecdotes, it’s as fast as reading, and your input makes it easier for us to relate…

[@BlindMango]

Over a decade ago we had an Epson ink printer that worked incredibly. Ink was low? It still let you print, even at times mixing some from other ink cartridges to print black - it was great. So I decided to upgrade to a new Epson, and the thing was a steaming pile of trash - There are now FIVE tiny ink cartridges instead of two large ones, they are half filled, the printer stops you from printing completely when they still have ink left. If you run out of ink in one of the five cartridges, you are no longer allowed to print anything. The way you load paper is tedious, it yells at you when you have a tray inserted in a way a doesn't like. It can only print like 50 pages before you need more ink. If you print in black & white, it somehow still uses the color cartridges, and on and on and on. The worst thing is the way the ink runs out so quickly feels like a never-ending subscription program. It is truly astounding how much printers (something that was mastered in the early 2000s) have fallen and are completely unusable now. Like Louis said, get a laser printer, not only is it much les of a pain to use, the prints look better anyway! Ecotank is even good too, though color prints don't look as good as laser printers

[@economicprisoner]

suspiciously cheap lasers pull the same scam (as described in the article). But half-full cartridges too. At least toner does not dry out when not used.

[@friendlyfire7861]

Brother is the best.

[@tbelding]

Honestly, I've found that inkjets, even cheap ones, print better colour photos/images than a colour laser. However, I push my customers to buy the colour lasers for their document printing.

[@rightwingsafetysquad9872]

I have an Epson, I've never experienced that issue. Mines a few years old so maybe this is new. I've bought Brothers for family. They work basically equal to each other, other than the Epson not needing the shady app Brother uses to print from a phone. The increased cost of an Epson seems directly proportional to the increased visual quality of the prints.

[@economicprisoner]

@@tbelding Inkjets SUCK if you avoid printing due to the high per page cost. You have to print weekly to avoid clogging the nozzles.

[@joeMW284]

You can get decommissioned commercial grade laser printers from any electronics recycler for $30-$50. Many of these printers have extremely high capacity toner cartridges that are available generically for less than what you paid for the printer.

[@Elohist2009]

“I should be able to use blueberry juice to get this printer to work” is probably the single most based take I’ve ever heard 😂

[@blacky_Ninja]

true though especially since ink is So f-ing overpriced

[@michaelrodriguez6210]

​@black_Ninja buy generic brands from Amazon like smart ink. It's 1/4 the price of the HP brand. The printer doesn't like it (gives me a notification that it's not a HP cartridge) but it does work

[@runed0s86]

@@michaelrodriguez6210 some of the HP laserjets give you the ability to turn off that notification. I have a M404dn and it allows me to do that

[@xwaltranx]

rule #1 of buying and installing anything. NEVER, EVER pay for "extras"

[@bhume7535]

My printer is one of those Epson ink bottle ones where you can buy cheap 3rd party ink for like 5 bucks. love it to death.

[@Redskies453]

I bought one of those. Didn't realize there were third party bottles. Never had a problem with the cost of the proprietary ones.

[@AlienRelics]

If it is one of the more expensive Epson EcoTanks that use pigmented inks, you should move the printer around a bit every week or so to keep the inks from settling in the tanks. Especially for aftermarket inks.

[@bhume7535]

@@AlienRelics never had in issue over the years. But I'll keep it in mind.

[@JDs_RandomHandle]

And this is why I stopped buying stuff from HP years ago after I read the terms on a laptop I bought. Returned it to Best Buy immediately and used an old laptop from work (I was in IT and we had old crap that was going to recycling) it still works perfectly fine to this day 5 years after it came into my possession.

[@tin2001]

My main laptop is an Asus UX31A. Reviews suggest it came out in late 2012... I bought it new and still use it. My secondary laptop is a HP Probook with 2nd gen i5. It would be older than the above zenbook. A customer left it with a dead hard drive. Stuck a cheap SSD in it... Still use it. Both have Linux on them. I don't game on them (gaming on laptops is a fools game). They both happily run the random software I need, and do web browsing just fine. They're a little slow at compiling my random Arduino projects and can struggle with Blender, but they go fast enough for my use. I thought I'd replace them by about 4 years ago, but I may still be using them in 5 years at this rate.

[@heroninja1125]

@@tin2001 preach. Old laptops are very underrated, putting Linux on them, cleaning the laptop of dust and replacing the battery does wonders. I installed Linux on my dad's old Lenovo yoga 2 pro and cleaned out the insides of dust and it runs better than ever and does not overheat (it used to overheat every time it booted on windows).

[@tbelding]

I'm an IT consultant. My day-to day laptop is now a decade old, running a 2nd generation i7, and Kubuntu. I'm actually on my fourth or fifth one (I keep spares, because they're cheap), mostly because I'm VERY hard on them. I really appreciate being able to buy a new battery WITHOUT dismantling the damned thing.

[@sbrazenor2]

@@tbelding I'm wondering why nobody has made aftermarket boards for popular old laptops. Imagine modern tech in the old form factors that are serviceable. The battery life would be better.

[@chrishartley1210]

Some of the older laptops (and some desktops) are very limited in the amount of memory they can handle. Or that's what the spec says. In actual fact most have only one or two memory slots but the memory controller can handle 4 slots, and the limitation is the amount of memory per slot. You can often double the memory capacity by using 2Rx8 memory sticks instead of the standard 1Rx8/16 because it appears to the memory controller as 2 slots. There are even 4Rx8 memory sticks but I've only ever seen them as ECC server memory. I can't guarantee it will always work but I have a couple of laptops running happily with 4GB when the spec says maximum 2GB and I've done several old desktops this way in the past and even boosted a friends laptop to 8GB from the supposed maximum of 4GB. If you want to try it look for 2Rx8 on the label or description.

[@vibeaimusic]

Unless you MUST have color: Black and white laser printer - HP, Brother, etc. and check on what the refill prices are for that model printer. I had a Brother Multifunction printer/scanner for 8 years before it started having a jam every so often so I bought another one for $149. New toner cartridges are $14 and they last for about 9 months or more in my use case, which is a good case or more worth of paper for paperwork, shipping and return forms, personal use, etc.

[@blaisegauba-voice-over]

Ah, the GREED of corporations knows NO bounds.

[@jonw9393]

I refuse to connect my printer to the internet or let it exit my network for reasons like this. No, you don't get my "anonymized" data or access to my printer.

[@ClokworkGremlin]

Yeah, my printer *has* Wi-Fi. I keep it turned off. I've never needed to print anything from my phone anyway.

[@Andy-Christian]

I had the same experience. Back in the late 90s I had a ink jet printer. Work perfectly for decades. Never ran out of ink. Perfect color. Great printer. But it got old and I bought a new ink jet and every time I needed it, the ink had dried out and needed replacing. It was so expensive. It considered my options and realize i could go to Walmart with a flash drive if I needed color. Bought a Brothers laser printer, haven’t had a problem since.

[@MatthewCenance]

Why are printers so much worse than before?

[@Andy-Christian]

@@MatthewCenance I think it's because price competition made it nearly impossible to make a super high quality printer. If your competitor sold a printer for $20 less, people bought that instead of yours. It is a fact that the public goes for prices over quality in many cases. If you missed, it Rossman himself has a video where he talks about opening a store to sell higher quality products for a few dollars more, and no one bought them.

[@fakshen1973]

I was tasked to install a printer from HP that the office manager ordered for her assistant. No matter what I did, I couldn't get it to print a test page. But it kept pushing me to sign up for something. I thought it was a bug... not a feature.

[@Nostalgia_Realm]

Had the same experience a while ago! For me, it was a client that upgraded from a Windows 8.1 computer to a Windows 11 PC. The driver and apps installed by Windows for the printer were newer than on the old computer. Luckily HP still had the driver package for Windows 8/8.1 on their website. So I just installed that. Worked perfectly fine without the need to sign in to an HP account!

[@a94cobra]

When you buy online ,you can't always access value other than by price or brand name. Lots of people I know love Amazon vs eBay. They never even search eBay to see if there is a lower price. They assume Amazon is a brand and buy the lowest price one.

[@panqueque445]

I bought an HP printer/scanner combo. I loved it, it was so good. Until something jammed and it wouldn't work. Apparently a tiny, plastic cog snapped. The guy at the shop told me it was a common issue with that model, they're pretty much designed to break after a couple years and it's always that weakly made cog that dies. He told me no replacement parts were made available by HP, and since it's by far the only thing that breaks, you can't really cannibalize another printer for the part. And no, cogs from other printers don't fit. I said fuck it and never bought another printer. Now I just take my files on a USB stick and get them printed at the store. I refuse to deal with printers anymore. Thankfully I don't really have much need for a printer so I can get away with doing this.

[@My_Old_YT_Account]

Couldn't you just 3D print one?

[@panqueque445]

@@My_Old_YT_Account This happened years ago. 3D printing wasn't even available yet. Today I might be able to, but I don't own that printer anymore.

[@nicholasvinen]

Haven't had that sort of problem with Kyocera or Epson thankfully.

[@Platoface]

Yup, my wife has a printer and I refuse to even look at it. I dealt with printers when I worked at Medical Clinics. F them and the toner cartridge they rode in on.

[@plastiktoyz]

@@My_Old_YT_Account 3D printing is the future for us against this BS of weak parts. I've fixed so many little things around the house with mine, print it in ABS and that thing isn't gonna break for a long time.

[@Volkaer]

I remember gamers screaming from the rooftops in late 2000's about mandatory / forced software updates when it came to OS'es and 'online only' platforms forcing similar 'updates' through, citing these very problems of where society was heading and the precedents it set. We were all called conspiracy theorists, laughed at and labled 'old boomers', or vastly ignored by the normies and the media. It's interesting to see that almost two decades later, the same people are finally realising that it's a problem when it's too late to reverse course.

[@IAmTheBugInsideYou]

There's a difference between market trends & conspiracy theories though. You can tangibly identify capitalism & the market system it operates in, & that it is going to offer convenience over security when it comes to technology & usability. We knew digital storefronts weren't going to bring prices down, we knew that pre-orders were just a negative ROI that would give companies an excuse to release something unfinished so they could fix it as they go, we knew that microtransactions would become macrotransactions & would eclipse the price of a full game, so on & so forth. But I'm gonna call bullshit on your anecdote that you claim people were calling you "conspiracy theorists" just because you can identify a market trend. This is just a tie-in to justify everything under that umbrella with a terminology associated with holocaust deniers & bigots. There are a very very small amount of harmless conspiracy theories, & you would only tie a political ideology into this because you're a republican looking to justify the other insane shit tied behind that bandwagon because a kernel of truth can justify a cluster of lies in most cases. No one wants to get rid of our capitalist economic system that lets the rich lobby government & the corporations dictate what we own or what we can use, tired of hearing right wing adjacent arguments from people that do not want to tax those people, forcibly break apart their monopolies & duopolies, while complaining about "biG TeCh" & all that other shit. Also just to prove my point, there's another comment chain in here talking about tech & the charging of everything under a profit seeking at all costs economic system, & somehow we have randos in these comments saying "you know what kanye west was right & so were the germans in the 40s." These fucking psychos come out of the woodwork endorsing genocide & extinction of human beings as soon as CTs are brought up every fucking time, & people wonder why they get ragged on for associating with them.

[@Foreverfreeusa]

That's really where this kicked off at. Once they got people to accept that modifying your own playstation was piracy they were off to the races. When Sony sued geohot for "hacking" the PS3 that set the legal precedent that you don't have ownership over your gaming console.

[@burtburtist]

He right tho lol. My favorite was the move from single adobe license to subscription based, most people dont care about that shit so yeah i got called a conspiracy theorist too, guess im a republican bigot now.

[@IAmTheBugInsideYou]

@@burtburtist That's because it's not a fucking conspiracy theory, you live in a capitalist expression of the economy, if there's profit to be made by nickel & diming you on every product you as the consumer buy purchase or have, they will extort it from you for windfalls to shareholders & investor's. Then the CEO will be given a bonus & your price just went up on goods purchased because there's no regulation & consumer protection, & they will price gouge & create artificial scarcity because they CAN. What other theories do you think are valid? Do you self identify as a dumbass that thinks the holocaust was fake, that the Titanic was sunk to kill a few people who didn't want a world banking system, that Princess Diana was assassinated by the royal family because she believed that the nuclear family was based? Elaborate, take the mask off, give yourself away

[@burtburtist]

@@IAmTheBugInsideYou absolute schitzo moment followed by unrelated walls of text

[@MarcRitzMD]

You could also just buy a color laser printer. They start around $300. Laser printers and toner last ages even if you don't use them much (unlike inkjet which needs to be used or it will clog/dry up).

[@MRSketch09]

What brand you suggest?

[@blahza12345]

@@MRSketch09 Not the OP, but I used a Xerox 6120 from 2005. A huge, heavy thing that lasted through five years of my studies using the original toner. Now I use a Brother AIO colour laser (DCP-L3550 CDW) that runs fine and doesn't moan much about using non-Brother toner. Got it for around £250, and it has a document feeder for the scanner and a duplex unit for the printer.

[@currentsitguy]

@@MRSketch09 Got a Xerox Phaser 6022 a few years back. It ran me about $200. Replacement 3d party toners run me less than $40 for a full set. It works every single time I need it.

[@Kazeshini11]

@@MRSketch09 Bought a Brother HL-4040CDN in the early 2010's and use it mainly around tax season and still going great without any issues and have yet to replace anything in it. Its a laser color printer. Bought it on sale half price back then so got it for real cheap. 150 to 200 bucks back then.

[@Rhaspun]

Yes. I don't need to print high quality all the time. I always go to the properties whenever I'm about to print and I check the "Econo" mode before I print. I've had my printer for several years now and I have replaced the original toner cartridges only so far. The replacement cartridges are still working me. Often times I don't need to print, and I use the option to save a document as a pdf.

[@jasonlouis5498]

I just bought an inexpensive HP printer so my mom and grandmother can print out some stuff every once and a while when they pay bills. I was so pissed off when I found out that I had to connect the thing to an actual internet connection using their software to even get it for work. Then, it has to be connected to an internet connection in order to use it at all. My blood boiled. This is NOT what we wanted with technology. I should be able to plug that thing in and print whatever I want. They are that crazy about ink? I’ll Never buy another hp anything again. Packard warned us about this when Fiorina forced him out of his own company some years ago.

[@sarah1390]

I have owned a laser printer since I attended university in 2006 which if I remember correctly is a Samsung ML-2010. I am still on the original printer and I love the fact that no matter how long I don't use it when I need it other than a few driver things I can always use it when required. It'll stink due to the burning dust but that printed hundreds if not thousands of pages during university and I have only ever been through 3 cartridges. We had problems with the ink cartridges drying out when I was in High school so when I needed to print for University I went laser.

[@Cruznick06]

Never let go of that printer.

[@mahekorvenoges550]

Do not allow that printer to do any automatic firmware updates. When HP took over the "support" for old Samsung laser printers, they pushed out a firmware update that stopped my ML-1640 printer from working the next time when I removed and reinsered a previously OK aftermarket toner cartidge to clear a paper jam.

[@ZealotOfSteal]

My mother has an ML-2010 as well. She uses it to print documents for work. She has been printing about 30 pages a week for over 10 years. That's about 15 000 pages. A rubber part had worn out last year and the replacement cost 15$. She's gotten it cleaned a couple times as well, because it started leaving smudges. Very good printer. I got myself a Brother scanner/printer combo. No issues so far, but I've not used it much.

[@wahidpawana424]

That printer is legend. Sad that samsung no longer doing printers. Their colour laser printer was also great.

[@mikepodorski4272]

I gave up on HP 10 years ago when a brand new printer didn't print out of the box, they wanted to ship me a refurbished unit for a brand new one, and I only had 6 months of my 1 year warranty for a brand new printer. I have 2 Brother printers that I've had for a long time that are an absolute joy.

[@Optopolis]

That's actually true! Two totally different printers (same company tho) in my home purchased at different times. One has been working nearly like butter for the past 7+ years; the other constantly has bugs and issues. However, the one annoyance with my printer specifically is that it won't let me print B&W without a color cartidge!

[@SeersantLoom]

I remember reading articles about that. Color dots (yellow?) are used for watermarking (ie. fingerprinting/tracking) all printed pages. Check your printed pages with microscope, they say. So, be careful about scanning and printing bank notes ;-) Your printer probably has some "special case" detection in software/firmware too.

[@Robbedem]

Same problem here. Can't print black and white if there is a color cartridge without ink. Even though the printer mentions that you can still print in black and white if there is no colour ink on hte low ink message!

[@Optopolis]

@@Robbedem Yep! And doesn't matter what guide you follow nor what settings you change through the printer, windows settings, or printer app settings - none will make it quit that nonsense. It's the ome thing I will never enjoy about this printer.

[@hbarudi]

@@SeersantLoom So printing money in black and white should not matter because money needs color to be copied for any counterfeiting anyway.

[@Sophie_Emilia_von_Zerbst]

There is a funny story of how I got my printer: I decided for myself to not get screwed by inkjet as my parents did. But I also wasn't keen on spending some 100's on a new laser printer. So I went on a site like craigslist of my choice and searched for cheap/give-away due to failure laser printers. Found one that fitted my taste and got it for free as it had some problem with it. The person I got it from assured me it wasn't the toner (foreshadowing). Got it home, connected it, had some struggle with the printer software (as usual). The diagnostics said the toner was at 1% capacity.🙄 So I got a new toner (no name of course, as I am not paying 90€ for an original one, while I got 2 for 30€) and it works perfectly, still after 2 years of use. I don't care that it's old, as it already has usb/wifi and is supported by every device I have. So I got a laser printer for free and only paid 30€ for 2 toner cartridges. WITH paper the cost for printing one page is like 2 cents. You can't go cheaper.

[@alexk.9598]

We had a HP Color Laser which refused to print a monochrome text document because the yellow toner was empty. A Konica Minolta Color Laser where we needed Imaging Units and KM sent us an offer for 600€ for the Imaging Units or as an alternate position: 599€ for a new printer, same model, with Imaging Units and Toner. That's why I love those companys.

[@netzvamp]

8 years ago i found an old color laser printer (Epson CX29) on the street. Yes, i picked it up sitting on the curb 😄. I thought, that thing can't work, but picked it up anyways. On testing i found that it just emptied the first cartridges (they are always ~10% of a normal cartridges lifespan :P ), i bought cheap compatible ones from amazon and it worked! I never replaced them, cause im still not printed the 10k pages that are in that cheap cartridges. When i think what i've would have spend in ink in this 8 years and what kinds of anger and frustration i avoided with that ... be kind to printers sitting on the curb 😉

[@nichderjeniche]

I have a Konica Minolta laser printer since 2011, so far I only replaced toner cartridges 1x. I will never go back to ink. I don't have time and nerves for this unreliable sh*t.

[@demonvictim]

Buying cheap vs buying quality is a real issue. About a few year's ago I was cheap earbuds but all of a sudden they would half break within a week of each other and I just got so frustrated that I just bought a more expensive model and it didn't break. I'm guessing I wasted 100 dollars in a month when I could've just spent 100 on a new earbud

[@Zed-Corps]

There are still some great quality earbuds at low prices like Linsoul; with most being around $35. It's not completely necessary to go for the $100 range earbuds unless you real want to.

[@heroninja1125]

@@Zed-Corps skullcandy wireless earbuds are also decent, around $40 cad, both my sister and brother have them and they have worked great for months

[@newerest1]

15 years ago it made more sense to buy cheap earbuds because even the expensive ones would break from mild usage, like sweating from working out. I considered them disposable. Times have changed though.

[@Nelo390]

if anyone's looking at this and needs cheap, great earbuds, i reccoment KZ ZSN's at 20 bucks. Fantastic quality, and replaceable cable. there's no match imo.

[@wz9573]

price is not a reliable indicator of quality though companies are perfectly willing to sell you trash at a high price when you're just rolling the dice either way, cheaper rolls are attractive

[@mikolaykuka9759]

HP scanner is for registered users only. I was shocked and furious that I had to login and provide my private information only for unlocking scanner. I used fake email to fight back. And the account was removed few weeks later when HP discovered it and blocked my scanner until I provided real personal information.

[@DeadHorse666]

I thought them holding the scanner hostage when you ran out of ink was crazy but this takes the cake.

[@darth_dan8886]

It's funny: I tend to search by lowest price, and then click on the 4th or 3rd option to see if I like their offer. It's somehow ingrained in me as a consumer that if they're THE cheapest, they're bound to be cutting corners. Because if they didn't, everyone else could afford to sell for that price.

[@bernardkung7306]

My philosophy for many years now has been "If you can only afford to buy the cheapest, you can't afford to buy it at all -- the cheapest is never actually the cheapest."

[@johnjacobs3794]

@@bernardkung7306 nah i dont like that thought process because theres ALOT of products out there that u literally cant fuck up. Tons of very simple products that just work because of what they physically are. No reason to spend 5 times the price for something that does the exact same thing. Obviously some things, quality does indeed matter. But not most honestly.

[@ghosthunter0950]

The low price thing is exactly why I just never use amazon to find products. I always paid a slighly more premium price for things that I would have last me for years AND have a better experience with them but you just can't find that on those kind of sites. I usually find products from reddit threads, ask for recommendations from discord servers along with the exact reasons to see if they match what I want. but people like me are not even close to the majority.

[@rossmanngroup]

I'll be honest the 3 years I spent running the supply company gave me an unhealthy disdain for consumer behavior. People would tell me what they wanted and I'd hand it to them on a silver platter but if I cost literally $2 more than the competition that has 1 star on every site besides eBay and sells absolute garbage I lose.

[@MisterNightfish]

Couldn't agree more. I own a lot of things that I bought years and years ago but they're still pretty much as good as new. In the long run I always seem to end up saving a lot of money that way. Unfortunately the majority of people would rather save 2$ right now than a lot more over X years. For me, this isn't even just a money thing. It's also a lot more convenient for me to just own one thing that I know is good and will last me a for a while, I'm way too lazy to constantly go out and replace cheap rubbish that breaks all the time.

[@JayJayYUP]

@@rossmanngroup Reminds me of when I used to smoke cigarettes in NYC, there was a deli that would sell Nat Sherman's (phenomenal cigarettes) and I think and 2 other people were the only customers according to the owner, and the only reason he has them was literally for us three. I asked him surely people would buy these if they knew how much better they were than deathblow Marlboro Red pack cigarettes that were only a dollar or so cheaper. He laughed slightly telling me he's getting roasted by people coming in trying to buy a pack of cigarettes saying they could go to another deli and get it for 25 cents less a few blocks away, and were REALLY mad at the owner at the register for not lowering his price to save them a trip to the other deli that's much further and annoying to get to. Now you might be thinking is was some run-down neighborhood or whatever with very price sensitive people. This was a few years back in LES (Avenue A and 2nd st). PEAK gentrified locale. Here, humble studio apartments in my building went for ~$4000 per month about 8 years ago. God knows what they are now..

[@cyxceven]

That's because the customer does not have the knowledge required to tell the difference in quality between two products or services. Lots of websites obfuscate this information, or make it otherwise unavailable for comparison. Time is also a "cost". If it's needed NOW, then going by price is the safest option.

[@irae9]

@@cyxceven I do my searches by "highest rating", then filter it by the price range I am looking for. I don't remember offhand what Amazon's search filter options are, but you can def do this on Walmart. Walmart in general has a lot of useful filters on their site to help you find what you're looking for. Then from there I skip the sponsored results, click on a few that have good ratings(and review count; I usually skip items that only have a couple of reviews unless there's no other options that have a good rating), and read the first 2 or 3 pages of reviews, then pick one.

[@Bluuplanet]

I bought an "ecotank" inkjet printer a YEAR ago and couldnt be happier. I can fill it up with generic bottled ink when I need to. So far, i've only had to refill black and I did that by drilling a hole in an ink cartridge from one of my old HP inkjet cartridges.

[@triadwarfare]

Have you encountered the waste ink tank issue?

[@marc-andreservant201]

@@triadwarfare The older ecotanks had an issue where the printer was essentially useless once the waste ink sponge was full. Now they made it a $15 user-replaceable part.

[@chriswilson554]

Yeah if you need color at a price point below a color laser printer the ectotanks seem to be the way to go. The Epson ones look well designed and my customers seem pleased with their performance

[@patrickpowell2236]

Another scam is trying to print in black-and-white ONLY or grey-scale to be told you can't print because you don't have enough MAGENTA ink (which is full, by the way).

[@DeadHorse666]

They'll also hold the scanner hostage if you have an all in one model. I bought a printer from a thrift store just to use as a scanner and it was at the road as soon as I discovered the empty ink error was the reason it wasn't letting me scan a document.

[@tarinfatel2985]

I feel a part of how it started getting this bad is customers started trusting stores to regulate the quality of their products to protect their reputation, but now they aren't allowed to sell from non "branded" companies, so their branded companies don't have competition, other than "store brand" (often literally the same thing without the brand name).

[@NovaHorizon]

Honestly I print so seldomly I'm tempted to just get rid of my printer altogether and simply pay per page at a office depot or something. I wouldn't be shocked if I get less than 50 pages before my cartridges dry out from lack of use. Lol

[@watamatafoyu]

Yep, probably cheaper to print at a community store. But, far more time-consuming and inconvenient.

[@WhySoLoud]

Watch out. Office Depot wouldn't use my thumb drive for the docs, and demanded I email the documents to them, so I had to drive home to create an email then drive back to the store to get the job finished.

[@Cotac_Rastic]

Bro its a couple cents a page why pay to put yourself through hell

[@watamatafoyu]

@@WhySoLoud What 😆 That's ridiculous. So they want an email so they can store it forever, or they're afraid of a virus?

[@Memorywholed]

@wadderfock they're likely more worried about a virus. Pretty sure they have computers you can use at most pront stores though. Don't use office max if they're seriously that primitive.

[@MettleHurlant]

Thank you for covering this subject. I've had the same laser black and white with a cable and just had to change toner after 11 years. At work they ordered color inkjet printers even though I advised against it. They are experiencing problems with driver compatibility, needing to constantly order new ink, and spotty performance. We are basically letting corporations decide the terms of our purchase. Subscription formats for apps, and being encouraged to check out our own groceries or compete with bots to purchase concert tickets are just a few examples. #NoRobots

[@greatclubsandwich5612]

I'm fine with checking out my own groceries... Don't know how many times I've had to wait for someone with a full cart to go through checkout when I have 5 things that would take 20 seconds of I did it myself... As long as it doesn't go full self checkout and the lanes stay open for when you have lots of stuff and for older people then it's fine.

[@hydrolito]

I bought my groceries at Aldi's last time. Did not use any computer or credit card to do it. Cash with no entanglements makes the most sense. Why get in debt to some company?

[@MadOmega]

I bought 2 brother laser printers (Color/mono). One of my best printer choices I've made. No ink that goes dry because we didn't use it fast enough. And fairly inexpensive powder.

[@djrenault]

i'd be curious to see if someone will reverse-engineer the communication protocol between the printer and the "instant ink" cartridges so that you could print a whole cartridge worth of stuff for $6/mo

[@kirill2525]

maybe, till they realise what your doing and then all your ink will dry up while your in jail lol

[@tahaak]

@@kirill2525 in EU law, there is no problem on hacking your own hardware if you really purchased it because then you are the lawful owner of that device and you can do whatever you want with it.

[@EyebrowsMahoney]

Look into CISS. Continuous Ink Supply Systems have been doing this for a long amount of time, and have bypassed the chip systems on most of these printers.

[@memitim171]

I'd be shocked if someone hasn't already done this tbh.

[@ifirespondiamstupid7750]

@@kirill2525 Not where I live lol