Digital exclusion and printing

[David Harrison]

Tony Baines expressed his displeasure with HP and their Instant Ink product. He had been sent an email requesting him to connect his printer to the internet (ie keep it switched on) so that HP could poll the printer and decide whether they should send him some more ink.

Here’s the letter he received.

Now while this idea is novel, and could be quite useful for some people, Tony felt that a) he’d been “tricked” into agreeing to sign-up for the service, and b) for older people this was a bit too “left-field” and they would struggle with understanding what was happening, and why (and even should) they use it.

It obviously ties a printer to the supplier, and means that alternative inks are not sourced, and even though HP say only a small amount of electricity is consumed, in these days of energy economics, he felt it was not showing a good lead.

What do you think?

 

• This topic was modified 3 years, 3 months ago by David Harrison.
• This topic was modified 3 years, 3 months ago by David Harrison.

[Margaret Lewis]

I am only just catching up with more recent posts on Thoughtgrazing.  I thought I would put the alternative view to using HP Print service.

I have been with the HP print service for many years.  I have always found that it worked well.

I did not feel coerced into signing up.  It was something that made sense to me in that I would get ink ahead of the need and not have the hassle of buying cartridges.  At the time it also seemed to be a cost effective scheme.  There are optional subscription levels according to average amount of printing.  I opted for 50 sheets a month.  10 was too few, 100s too many.  Some months I may use few or no pages but the extra are rolled over and used at busier times such as before travel or at Christmas.   That subscription was £1 99 a month for years.  Last year the monthly sub was raised to £2 99, a percentage increase that struck me as high but I did think well its been the same price for years.

I regularly get mails informing that the printer has not been connected but I ignore them and the system still works.  These mails also say that possibly the inactivity may be because I am on holiday, which is not a problem.

[David Harrison]

Thanks Margaret, that’s very helpful snd useful. I trust Tony has worked out now how he intends to play it. I have no experience of using the service, and am unlikely to now that I have an Epson Tank system.

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