Earlier quoted context omitted.
Could be a sensor problem, or a part of the startup mechanism has failed.
Printers are powered by spite and vengeance
Office Space has relevant scenes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9wsjroVlu8
Ask HN: Why is the printer industry so scammy?
151–160 of 213 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why is the printer industry so scammy?
#152Earlier quoted context omitted.
I need to refill the toner in my home laser printer. I looked at some of the clone cartridges on Amazon etc and >90% of the reviews are of the form, "The cartridges arrived broken, but the seller gave me a full refund! Five stars, excellent service." Like, every single review. So either they're really shoddy and these people are extraordinarily forgiving, or they're buying reviews trying to alleviate worries from peo…
I wonder if you should be reporting those types of reviews to Amazon as misleading. They're reviewing the seller, not the product.
Maybe, but you're talking thousands of reviews. (Also I closed my Amazon account years ago and don't shop there.)
Re: Ask HN: Why is the printer industry so scammy?
#153One "scam" that I realise HP is pulling: my OfficeJet 8710 printer seems to be cleaning its print heads every time it's turned on. I've gotten "please replace ink cartridges" messages when I've never even printed a single page since I replaced the previous cartridge — since I use the printer mostly for its ADF scanning function. Well, that's ~$100 I'll never get back. It's sad that the industry has moved in this dire…
I think inkjets have to do that or the ink dries inside the heads and they clog up. This is why if you print rarely, you should really go for a toner-based printer.
Re: Ask HN: Why is the printer industry so scammy?
#154Because mass-market customers by and large are cheap, stupid and easily parted from their money. If they weren't one of these companies would have figured out that producing quality printers/refillable ink cartridges makes more money, and consumers would avoid the scams. It clearly doesn't work that way. See also payday loans, sub-prime mortgages, most targeted credit cards (the cards are fine, but they target people they know have a higher chance to misuse them), food and alcohol in stadiums, the car rental company that tries to up-sell you from the Toyota Corolla to the more expensive convertible, etc. If you're in a mass-market business and not trying to scam people as much as possible you're leaving money on the table by definition. It's only when the scams are actually illegal that the risk becomes too great to tolerate, and even then some bet that they can get away with it.
Also people are printing less than they used to. So much single-use paper is now a QR code on your phone or completely digitized. I bought 10 reams of printer paper about 5 years ago for home use, my family has worked our way through three over the years. When the kids get old enough I imagine the bulk of it will be used for school papers. On the business side we've seen a mass digitization of most documents, my company is steadily getting rid of the last of the old file cabinets as any relevant info in them is scanned/archived. So volume is less, and existing printer companies need squeeze more to maintain profits.
Re: Ask HN: Why is the printer industry so scammy?
#155Printers are the most mechanically complex computer related product. Just think, fans are basically single bearing and motor. Pumps are pretty much same. Traditional spinning disk, nearly closed system with two motors. Printers have multiple times this complexity. And the products bought are bought for lowest price. Or at least reasonable price. You get what you pay for. And what is paid is often very little. Thus po…
> Printers are the most mechanically complex computer related product
1. Even more so than cars?
2. Printers are also one of the few devices that need to measure liquid by the picoliter.
> products bought are bought for lowest price. Or at least reasonable price. You get what you pay for. And what is paid is often very little. Thus poor quality and need for other revenue streams.
This reminds me of the perennial discussion on airline quality. People comparison-shop by the sticker price, so the entire industry evolved into nickel-and-dime scams instead of having honest all-inclusive pricing.
Re: Ask HN: Why is the printer industry so scammy?
#156Earlier quoted context omitted.
And all 11 of those will still be in landfill when your childrens children are old and dying. It's a pity they didn't make them out of metals that could be easily recycled.
Just curious what metals would be affordable and durable that would not bring the cost of cheap printers up too high?
There really aren't any sadly. Maybe cast magnesium, like in sewing machines. It'd be better if the printer was built out of some bio-polymer plastic so it just fell apart after 20 years. But we're rapidly getting to a paperless society so give it 10-20 years it'll be less of an issue.
Re: Ask HN: Why is the printer industry so scammy?
#157All industries are scummy if you dig in to them. Capitalism is unchecked and people have been trained not to say anything negative for fear of being ostracized. Time for the tech community to declare a code of ethics and refuse to participate in corporate sociopathy.
Who has been trained not to say anything negative about capitalism? I've heard and made many complaints. The number of people who complain about inflation profiteering is quite significant. If anything, unchecked capitalism is peaking. We may only be in for a plateau, but we may even be about to see another generational change about now.
Re: Ask HN: Why is the printer industry so scammy?
#158Same reason the airline industry has universally garbage quality: customers comparison-shopping by sticker price and sticker price alone.
Re: Ask HN: Why is the printer industry so scammy?
#159Earlier quoted context omitted.
I need to refill the toner in my home laser printer. I looked at some of the clone cartridges on Amazon etc and >90% of the reviews are of the form, "The cartridges arrived broken, but the seller gave me a full refund! Five stars, excellent service." Like, every single review. So either they're really shoddy and these people are extraordinarily forgiving, or they're buying reviews trying to alleviate worries from peo…
I wonder if you should be reporting those types of reviews to Amazon as misleading. They're reviewing the seller, not the product.
Amazon doesn't care.
Re: Ask HN: Why is the printer industry so scammy?
#160Bit off topic, but what printer would people recommend for someone who needs one every now and then, that is capable of color prints and scanning, that won't stop working when unused for several months? I'm getting the impression ink jet is not the way to go due to the long pauses, but the color lasers are all seem very expensive for such occasional use.
Consider looking for a used color laser. They tend to last long enough that it's worth buying and selling.