From The Great Train Robbery (movie):
Judge: "Now, on the matter of motive, we ask you: Why did you conceive, plan and execute this dastardly and scandalous crime?"
Edward Pierce: "I wanted the money."
Ask HN: Why is the printer industry so scammy?
191–200 of 213 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why is the printer industry so scammy?
#192I think they're finally lightening up because of the environment.
Every big brand now has a range of models with ink tanks you can simply refill. Even the official ink is not overly expensive.
Of course the printers are more expensive but not crazily so. If it always had been like this we'd have had nothing to complain about IMO.
Re: Ask HN: Why is the printer industry so scammy?
#193Not trolling - but what are y'all still printing these days? I've literally printed 2 things this year, and one was a boarding pass (I like having a paper backup, call me old-fashioned). If anything, I've used the scan-to-email function on the printer about 10x more, and I could probably have gotten away with just taking a photo of the documents in extremis.
Kids homework
Schools don't offer a print service for that? Or allow kids to submit their homework electronically?
Re: Ask HN: Why is the printer industry so scammy?
#194Earlier quoted context omitted.
>>Detecting scammy behaviour could be a leading indicator of an inflection point in a market or company where its growth phase is behind it. Agree this would seem like a good indicator. The counterpoint is entire VC-backed industries that unnecessarily use scammy biz models from the start, e.g., requiring everything to be an internet-based "service", exfiltrating data and requiring subscription funding when it obviou…
This could be co-opted as evidence for the theory as well, where all these products that are converting to services models are economic "inferior goods," where you switch away from them when you can afford something better. Month-to-month subscriptions are what you have when the product isn't good enough to buy an annual one, or just buy it outright. The companies position themselves that way because they want to tak…
>>because they want to take advantage of peoples indifference to small subscriptions
Hmmm. I may be odd, but I and everyone I know have a very high resistance to subscriptions, even small ones, because they are maintenance and just a general budget leak. My impression of the reason that companies want subscriptions is that they tend to extract much more revenue from the customer; of course they don't get it all up front, but recurring revenue streams and especially that continue even when the product provides no value (e.g., the customer forgets about the ongoing charges), can be ridiculously profitable.
Re: Ask HN: Why is the printer industry so scammy?
#195Earlier quoted context omitted.
My dad ran a pet grooming business, and he went through probably a printer a year. I always figured it died because of the amount of pet fur in the air clogging up the printer, so at one point I asked him why he didn't put a door on the office to keep the fur out so his printer wouldn't get jammed up with pet fur. He told me they weren't replaced because the fur killed them, it just wasn't worth replacing the inks si…
They sell you printers with half empty cartridges to prevent [people buying new printers for the cartridges.
They do, but in over a decade that I remember him buying and replacing printers for the groom shop, I think he only ended up buying replacement ink (because he actually used all of it in under a year) maybe twice.
I think that was when the local print shop either shut down or was too backlogged for my dad to get his business cards done in reasonable time so he used print-at-home business card sheets for a bit to tide him over.
Re: Ask HN: Why is the printer industry so scammy?
#196I used to work for Lexmark, back when they were in the inkjet business. They are perhaps most notable for starting and fueling the race to the bottom in printer price. The theory was that if you could lock the users in, the customer lifetime value would be made on selling profitably prices supplies (i.e. the ink cartridge). There were a few big problems with this: - People often could buy a new printer, with supplies…
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Re: Ask HN: Why is the printer industry so scammy?
#197Printers 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 disc…
Cars don’t require a computer to function. You literally can’t print off a computer without a computer.
Re: Ask HN: Why is the printer industry so scammy?
#198The genius of the printer business is printers can be programmed to fail and become unrepairable without breaking the law.
Once the warranty period of the printer expires, it is not illegal withhold the service manual for a printer. It is not illegal to withhold the electrical schematic or operating temperature specification of the fuser. It is not illegal to withhold the details of the toner chemistry. It is not illegal to withhold the printer programming language specification.
It appears to me that what is going on in the printer business (and the automobile industry too) is a deliberate push to make cars and printers consumer items.
The other side of the printer business is a inkjet or laser printer ought to be able to work for 40 years. A little distilled water soak ought to fix any clogged inkjet. A couple rollers ought to fix any paper feed problem.
One answer to Why is the printer industry so scammy is Consumerism in America is now in decline. Many commentors here, just like me have thrown a pile of printers in the trash.
The last 30 years of printers that turn in to garbage is an irretrievable waste of potentially beautiful machinery.
Re: Ask HN: Why is the printer industry so scammy?
#199Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just an anecdote: my grandfather passed away a few years ago and he was always into new technology. After he passed when we were cleaning up his home we found no fewer than 11 inkjet printers in his basement. Every time one stopped working (probably ran out of ink, or printed poorly because of long delays between printing) he would go to Best Buy, get talked up by a salesperson about a nice new printer, and buy it. I…
>> he would go to Best Buy, get talked up by a salesperson about a nice new printer, and buy it. In a past life I worked at Best Buy, and the standard printer sales tactics were nuts. If a customer wanted to buy a printer, you were supposed to sell them: 2 packs of color ink (remind the customer that the included cartridges are only half-full) 2 packs of black ink 4 reams of regular paper 2 packages of photo paper GO…
This kind of thing is one item in the long list of reasons why I stopped shopping at Best Buy.
Re: Ask HN: Why is the printer industry so scammy?
#200Not trolling - but what are y'all still printing these days? I've literally printed 2 things this year, and one was a boarding pass (I like having a paper backup, call me old-fashioned). If anything, I've used the scan-to-email function on the printer about 10x more, and I could probably have gotten away with just taking a photo of the documents in extremis.
I mostly print topo maps of wilderness areas I'll be backpacking in.