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HP discontinues online-only LaserJet printers in response to backlash

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Re: HP discontinues online-only LaserJet printers in response to backlash

#101

Post by account42 »

cubefox wrote: post #84
denvrede wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No it's not. https://www.dm.de/services/services-im-markt/fotoservice/cop...

That's a supermarket though where they hope you buy other stuff. Though already colored pages cost 55 cents. In dedicated print shops it usually will be significantly more expensive.

Looked at one local print shop. It's 5 cents per page plus 1€ per order. Of course this is in an area with multiple competing print shops but your assertion is at least not true everywhere.

While dm might hope you buy other stuff from them you definitely don't have to. If you are suggesting that their print service is a loss leader then please show some evidence backing that up.

Re: HP discontinues online-only LaserJet printers in response to backlash

#102

Post by account42 »

4gotunameagain wrote: post #18
ogou wrote: post #9

I found one these all-in-one units out on sidewalk and thought I had scored a cool freebie. It was nearly new. Now I know why they threw it away. Total garbage and bricked without that HP+ subscription. Can't use the scanner because the ink is too low. The worst part is that I couldn't even reset the printer to use a new subscription! It was tied to the previous owner at a hardware level and support said I had to con…

Your opinions about these devices are valid, but I highly doubt that any other country is so stuck to physical mail as is Germany. To the point that I wonder how it is still functioning. Only one country away: Denmark. You are provided with a state issued secure email address for all official communication. No paper. Minimal environmental impact. No looking through the 2013 brief to find a paper from the finanzamt.

FWIW you can do your taxes online in Germany as well. That includes digital communications (even if they still send you a hardcopy).

Re: HP discontinues online-only LaserJet printers in response to backlash

#103

Post by account42 »

4gotunameagain wrote: post #61
ahartmetz wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> To the point I wonder how it is still functioning. It's a symptom of other dysfunction alright, but mail did and does work, so the superficial answer is: same as it always did? When I read about banking in the US involving checks and bills, I don't say "the system is collapsing", it's just... an aspect that sucks.

Of course mail did and does work. Horses did work, and would still work if we still used them. But for an official service to necessitate a physical form lettered to them, that is simply unnecessary overhead for the individual, for society, and for the environment.

I'd rather have to rely on physical mail than have to rely on a smartphone or other digital device for dealing with my government to be honest. Better to have the choice of course but if it would be only one then the former might be an inconvenience but the latter can turn into a real nightmare.

Re: HP discontinues online-only LaserJet printers in response to backlash

#104

Post by mrweasel »

michaelt wrote: post #87
mrweasel wrote: post #34

What I find extremely annoying is that no one is charge saw this coming. How stupid do you need to be to release an online-only subscription laser printer? Somewhere in the HP hierarchy reality is removed. I feel like at least one of the lower level people saw this coming. Somewhere in the management layers this became a good idea, an idea completely removed from reality. The only logic that makes sense is that you h…

> What I find extremely annoying is that no one is charge saw this coming. How stupid do you need to be to release an online-only subscription laser printer? Believe it or not, a lot of large organisations opt into systems like this. A cloud-based print queue lets you tie printing to your single-sign-on system, bill each print to the right department, and simplify sending the print to the right printer. If you can ha…

> Believe it or not, a lot of large organisations opt into systems like this.

The way you describe it, I can see that being a viable product. To some extend this could be HP so focused on a very niche segment, like Microsoft with Recall, that HP+ actually seems like a sensible idea. They then forget about the fact that this is just a small segment of they customer base, but they don't really communicate with the rest, so they just roll out this product to everyone and it fails.

However, HP isn't keeping this around, they are discontinuing the product line all together, and from the article it seems like they also forgot about the needs of those large organisations (can't assume that the printers are allowed online, for good reason).

It does seems like it could be a reasonable, but probably less profitable business, if it had been better designed and targeted.

Re: HP discontinues online-only LaserJet printers in response to backlash

#105

Post by darby_nine »

impendia wrote: post #65
mrweasel wrote: post #34

What I find extremely annoying is that no one is charge saw this coming. How stupid do you need to be to release an online-only subscription laser printer? Somewhere in the HP hierarchy reality is removed. I feel like at least one of the lower level people saw this coming. Somewhere in the management layers this became a good idea, an idea completely removed from reality. The only logic that makes sense is that you h…

> What I find extremely annoying is that no one is charge saw this coming. I remember when US airlines started charging for checked baggage. Many more people started carrying on their bags, resulting in slower boarding and deplaning, and therefore problems for the airlines. I read an interview with an executive at one of the airlines, saying that he didn't see this coming and was taken totally by surprise. I am bewil…

I truly believe that to most people the "market" is just a magic force that operates in unknowable ways that magically resolve problems and make you happier (if you're rich).

Re: HP discontinues online-only LaserJet printers in response to backlash

#106

Post by Larrikin »

blantonl wrote: post #98
impendia wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What I find extremely annoying is that no one is charge saw this coming. I remember when US airlines started charging for checked baggage. Many more people started carrying on their bags, resulting in slower boarding and deplaning, and therefore problems for the airlines. I read an interview with an executive at one of the airlines, saying that he didn't see this coming and was taken totally by surprise. I am bewil…

There is no way that behavioral psychologists aren't on staff at all of the major US airlines. Everything in the airlines is a massive study in consumer and employee psychology - from cockpit resource management between captains and first officers to how people board an airplane, to how they queue up in the terminals. You know damn well what happened - it was well known what was going to happen but the bean counters…

Bean counter to me always meant accountants looking through data to squeeze out an extra one or two cents by slightly making their product worse. Like Papa John's over the past twenty years using a slightly worse cheese, pepperoni, etc and iterating over that until the product is unrecognizable.

Forcing a massive change all at once to shock the market, gain short term profit, and then change jobs to wreck a different company or industry deserves a different word.

Re: HP discontinues online-only LaserJet printers in response to backlash

#107

Post by loloquwowndueo »

impendia wrote: post #65
mrweasel wrote: post #34

What I find extremely annoying is that no one is charge saw this coming. How stupid do you need to be to release an online-only subscription laser printer? Somewhere in the HP hierarchy reality is removed. I feel like at least one of the lower level people saw this coming. Somewhere in the management layers this became a good idea, an idea completely removed from reality. The only logic that makes sense is that you h…

> What I find extremely annoying is that no one is charge saw this coming. I remember when US airlines started charging for checked baggage. Many more people started carrying on their bags, resulting in slower boarding and deplaning, and therefore problems for the airlines. I read an interview with an executive at one of the airlines, saying that he didn't see this coming and was taken totally by surprise. I am bewil…

What’s amazing is that these days they always offer to gate-check bags for free to avoid fights for overhead bin space. So which is it, is checking luggage free or not?

All airlines suck!

Re: HP discontinues online-only LaserJet printers in response to backlash

#109

Post by reginald78 »

coldcode wrote: post #92
DeathArrow wrote: post #79

What's next? Online only toilet and kitchen sink with subscription?

I believe there is an internet-enabled toothbrush, so why not? I refuse to buy a new TV as they are all internet-connected and ad-ready. There are a few offline ones or simple displays, but not so easy to find any more.

Soon they'll all come with prepaid 5G cell modems to prevent you from just not connecting them to the internet.

Re: HP discontinues online-only LaserJet printers in response to backlash

#110

Post by bityard »

mrweasel wrote: post #34

What I find extremely annoying is that no one is charge saw this coming. How stupid do you need to be to release an online-only subscription laser printer? Somewhere in the HP hierarchy reality is removed. I feel like at least one of the lower level people saw this coming. Somewhere in the management layers this became a good idea, an idea completely removed from reality. The only logic that makes sense is that you h…

> How stupid do you need to be to release an online-only subscription laser printer?

Well, CAD software, smart TVs, and electric cars all get away with doing the same thing somehow.

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