Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

It looks like a product but is secretly a subscription

calpaterson.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 326 posts

Re: It looks like a product but is secretly a subscription

#41

Post by zizee »

ludocode wrote: post #29
NortySpock wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great advice, and I echo 95% of it. My observation is that I have found Wifi useful when I need the printer in an odd location in the house, and color is useful for non-professional usage like "the kids need to print out their report for school" and "the med school student needs anatomy diagrams in color" My trusty color Brother laser HL-3170CDW cost ~$300 at the time and has been trucking along for 7+ years now with…

Even for those non-professional uses it's probably better to put the PDF on a flash drive, walk into Staples and print it on their machines. For anyone who hasn't done it, it's incredibly streamlined. You don't have to talk to anyone and you don't have to wait in line. You just walk up to one of the many printers, put in your flash drive, tap your credit card and collect your printouts. I'm just not convinced that ha…

> Even for those non-professional uses it's probably better to put the PDF on a flash drive, walk into Staples and print it on their machines

I'm not trying to be argumentative, and what I'm going to say might be a "well obviously, duh" comment: This advice is really only applicable to those who have convenient access to a "staples", which is probably only 20% of us here. It is also only convienient if you don't have to regularly print things, and/or need things printed quickly.

Why am I bothering to write this? I guess I want you and others like you to not assume everyone is in the same situation as you. It's an easy trap to fall into, and especially dangerous if you are a builder wanting to take things to market (like so many people here on HN are).

Re: It looks like a product but is secretly a subscription

#42

Post by odux »

gordon_freeman wrote: post #36

This would sound strange but the biggest subscription I pay annually (which does not seem like a subscription) is my DMV registration renewal fees. It comes around $300+ every year out-of-the-blue in my mailbox and I realize then that is indeed a subscription for a product which is my Car that I never thought about.

So taxes are subscription to living in a city/country? Kind of, but you can opt out of subscriptions.

Re: It looks like a product but is secretly a subscription

#43

Post by pmoleri »

dsr_ wrote: post #16

Printers. Yeah. Herewith, my standard advice. Buy a Brother monochrome laser with duplex, an ethernet port, and BRScript/3 (their PostScript clone). Even if you're sure you will never need one or more of those features, get them all. Wifi and Bluetooth and NFC are strictly optional, and probably not worthwhile. If you need color printing, send it to a printing company. There might even be a local one. It will be done…

+1 for brother laser +1 for duplex

I actually find Wifi useful.

Question, what's the deal with the toner cartridges plastic? It looks like a lot of thick plastic. I get to buy a new one and throw the old one, or refill one with the "not recommended non-original toner".

Does the manufacturer offer some other environment friendly option?

Re: It looks like a product but is secretly a subscription

#44

Post by BLKNSLVR »

cletus wrote: post #26

Printers are just another example of how effective loss leaders are in selling products (or subscriptions if you want to call them that). Classic example: fast food burgers are typically sold at or near cost. It's the fries and drinks where they make all their money. It's also why accessory sales are so prevalent. I've heard of $800 cameras being sold for And then there's the whole extended warranty "scam". By the wa…

Got the extended warranty on a Samsung TV once. It was a relatively small percentage to add to the purchase price, so said 'yes' when I would normally say 'no'.

That warranty ended up being very worthwhile as the panel developed the vertical lines problem, after 18 - 24 months - got a full replacement TV as the purchased model was no longer 'current' or able to be serviced. The replacement eventually got the vertical lines as well, still inside the 5-year (I think) warranty period - got another replacement, which is still going strong.

The original TV, with extended warranty, was purchased probably ten years ago.

Another cost to factor in with an extended warranty is the time / hassle to actually make the claim. Claiming the warranty on the second TV failure required some argumentative firmness.

Re: It looks like a product but is secretly a subscription

#45

Post by singron »

chii wrote: post #39
NortySpock wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I plugged my flash drive into the printer station and all I got was my financial documents uploaded to a Russian server and 4 viruses written to the boot sector." -- my paranoid assumptions about public print stations with USB ports.

it'd be interesting to see if this flash drive transport for documents evolves into an email address you send via your phone instead (so no hardware on your end needed).

You can also print documents at staples that you email to an address. They reply with a 24 hour code that you can type into the printer.

I'd love a service that would mail you the documents back in an envelope and was still as cheap ($0.15/page).

Re: It looks like a product but is secretly a subscription

#46

Post by odux »

ludocode wrote: post #29
NortySpock wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great advice, and I echo 95% of it. My observation is that I have found Wifi useful when I need the printer in an odd location in the house, and color is useful for non-professional usage like "the kids need to print out their report for school" and "the med school student needs anatomy diagrams in color" My trusty color Brother laser HL-3170CDW cost ~$300 at the time and has been trucking along for 7+ years now with…

Even for those non-professional uses it's probably better to put the PDF on a flash drive, walk into Staples and print it on their machines. For anyone who hasn't done it, it's incredibly streamlined. You don't have to talk to anyone and you don't have to wait in line. You just walk up to one of the many printers, put in your flash drive, tap your credit card and collect your printouts. I'm just not convinced that ha…

This sounds awfully similar to 'why can't they eat cake'.

Re: It looks like a product but is secretly a subscription

#47

Post by tkgally »

ludocode wrote: post #29
NortySpock wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great advice, and I echo 95% of it. My observation is that I have found Wifi useful when I need the printer in an odd location in the house, and color is useful for non-professional usage like "the kids need to print out their report for school" and "the med school student needs anatomy diagrams in color" My trusty color Brother laser HL-3170CDW cost ~$300 at the time and has been trucking along for 7+ years now with…

Even for those non-professional uses it's probably better to put the PDF on a flash drive, walk into Staples and print it on their machines. For anyone who hasn't done it, it's incredibly streamlined. You don't have to talk to anyone and you don't have to wait in line. You just walk up to one of the many printers, put in your flash drive, tap your credit card and collect your printouts. I'm just not convinced that ha…

> ... put the PDF on a flash drive, walk into Staples and print it on their machines.

In Japan, you can do the same thing on the multifunction printer/copiers that most convenience stores have. You can also upload the files in advance, so you don’t even need a flash drive [1 (English), 2 (Japanese)]. There are several such stores within a five-minute walk from my home in Yokohama. I do most of my printing there, though I do avoid them for confidential documents.

[1] https://networkprint.ne.jp/Lite/start?lang=enus

[2] https://www.printing.ne.jp/index_p.html

Re: It looks like a product but is secretly a subscription

#48

Post by chmod600 »

leereeves wrote: post #23
Waterluvian wrote: post #2

A lot of good thoughts in here. The one I personally want everyone to take away is that most plastics are not recycled. Unless it’s glass, fibre, or aluminum, you are lying to yourself if it’s going into the blue bin. Glass-contained milk delivery seems great. Someone needs to start a company. Sure it won’t be sexy or use AI but it’s useful. I have a local co-op that delivers local produce. It’s amazing to see a pile…

> The one I personally want everyone to take away is that most plastics are not recycled. This seems likely, but the one thing I can't understand is: if they aren't recycling the plastic, why do they pay for it?

Not sure if this is what you mean, but redemption systems are where you are just getting your own money back. Nobody is really paying you.

Maybe there are some places that pay for the plastic itself, but I would imagine they are more picky. Or the government is paying them as part of some misguided scheme.

Re: It looks like a product but is secretly a subscription

#49

Post by em-bee »

odux wrote: post #42
gordon_freeman wrote: post #36

This would sound strange but the biggest subscription I pay annually (which does not seem like a subscription) is my DMV registration renewal fees. It comes around $300+ every year out-of-the-blue in my mailbox and I realize then that is indeed a subscription for a product which is my Car that I never thought about.

So taxes are subscription to living in a city/country? Kind of, but you can opt out of subscriptions.

well you can opt out of the DMV subscription by getting rid of the car and use public transport.

and just like ditching your printer, it does not work for everyone

Re: It looks like a product but is secretly a subscription

#50

Post by tfigment »

benesch wrote: post #24
dsr_ wrote: post #16

Printers. Yeah. Herewith, my standard advice. Buy a Brother monochrome laser with duplex, an ethernet port, and BRScript/3 (their PostScript clone). Even if you're sure you will never need one or more of those features, get them all. Wifi and Bluetooth and NFC are strictly optional, and probably not worthwhile. If you need color printing, send it to a printing company. There might even be a local one. It will be done…

Funny, I bought a Brother HL-1240 for $15 off of Craigslist five years ago and it’s still going strong. Couldn’t be happier. So much so that I bought a USB-Ethernet adapter ( https://www.iogear.com/product/GPSU21/ ) to avoid having to upgrade to a newer model with Ethernet/WiFi included. In the last five years I have printed a few hundred pages, experienced <5 paper jams, and spent $0 on ink. (The guy I bought the pr…

Thanks. For usb hint. Have a HL-1440 for 15+ years never replaced cartridge but usb only is kinda limiting but it's reliable when I need it.
Post reply on HN