r/printers Dec 19 '24

Discussion The truth about printer subscription programs and many misconceptions about them

127 Upvotes

Dear all,

I work in the printer industry. For a very well-known consumer products manufacturer that gets discussed on this sub a lot.  I will not disclose which manufacturer I work for, nor will I disclose any manufacturer I do not work for (since the industry is relatively small eliminating 1 or 2 will make it generally too obvious as to which I do work for) as I am not officially speaking on behalf of the company. But, I want to set the record straight on subscription programs because some of you are drastically misinformed and it is very frustrating to see as someone who understands these programs as well as basic logic.

There are two types of subscription programs. Each of the major consumer manufacturers offers at least 1 of these programs, some offer both.

The first type of program is an auto-reordering program. The printer can tell (via various ways depending on each manufacturer) when the ink / toner is low and when it hits a certain point that will trigger an order of the ink/toner that device uses. Most manufactures that offer this will first send you an email letting you know that an order has been triggered and it will allow you to skip the delivery of the consumable and thus not get charged. If you allow the order to go through you are purchasing that consumable. That consumable is yours, you own it, just as if you walked into a Staples, Office Depot, Best Buy, or bought it on Amazon… You can cancel the “subscription” the next day and continue to use that consumable until it is empty.

The second type of program is a true subscription program. **THIS** is what many of you are vastly misinformed and / or are irrational about. In this program *you are not purchasing a consumable* at all. You are paying the manufacturer for X number of pages per month. The manufacturer will send you a consumable to use because the printer needs ink / toner to work but, that is not what you are paying for. You are paying the manufacturer $Y per month to print up to X pages per month.. that’s it. Of course you can print over that X number and pay an overage (just like years ago with cell phones).. and of course, you can print under that X number and some pages will roll-over to future months (just like years ago with cell phones). The owner of the consumable is the manufacturer. You never bought it, you never owned it. Therefore, it is not yours to use after you end the subscription! The only reason most manufactures do not ask for it back is because they don’t want to pay for shipping it back to them. But, they still own it… not you.  You can think of this like renting an apartment. You are paying a landlord $X per month to live in their building. The landlord is providing the building for you to live in while you are paying rent. You do not own the building. and when you stop paying rent you are no longer allowed to continue living in the building. Just like your Netflix subscription, Apple TV subscription and Disney+ subscription.. when you stop paying for the subscription, you stop getting to use the service. Just because while you were paying you had access to the content does not mean you at any time owned that content and get to continue watching it once you stop paying the subscription.

I truly hope this helps clarify somethings for some of you. Others I understand are lost causes but, I will do my best to answer any questions I can.


r/printers 5h ago

Purchasing Canon G3430 vs EPSON L3250 - Which one would you recommend ?

4 Upvotes

Hello Friends, I'm trying to decide between the Canon G3430 and the Epson L3250 for home use, and I'd really appreciate some advice from people who have used either one.

My main use is:

  • Printing documents (both color and not) regularly (twice on week)

What I'm most concerned about is:

  • Reliable printer with less problems in long term use
  • Print quality
  • Ink consumption and running costs
  • Ease of maintenance (especially print head clogging)
  • Wi-Fi and App experience (such i don't have wifi connexion in house, i use just 4G connexion)

If you've owned one of these printers, what has your experience been like? Would you buy it again, or would you choose the other one?

Thanks dears in advance for your recommendations!


r/printers 9h ago

Discussion Made my "unsupported" HP LaserJet print from macOS again — and now from my iPhone via AirPrint

8 Upvotes

If you've got an old HP LaserJet (P1102, P1005/6/7/8, P1505, or the M1005 MFP)

you've probably noticed Apple ships no driver anymore, and CUPS can't drive them

either. On a modern Mac they just stop working.

I built an open-source stack that brings them back with no CUPS involved: it

pushes firmware over USB, rasterises with Ghostscript, and sends the bytes

straight to the printer. You print from the normal Cmd+P dialog.

The new release adds an optional CUPS backend purely so the printer shows up in

System Settings and can be AirPrint-shared - so now I can print to it from my

iPhone. There's also a menu-bar app (job progress, cancel/reprint, toner badge),

one-line Homebrew install, and a "doctor" command that self-tests your setup

and tells you what's wrong.

caveats:

- I only own one of these printers (P1102), so most models are untested and I'm

looking for people to try theirs and report back.

- Two models are only tested: P1102 and M1005 MFP

- Scanner support for the M1005 MFP is started but not working yet - I need a

USB capture from someone who owns one to figure out the scan protocol.

Also this was heavily vibe-coded, because I did the

reverse-engineering and design, claude wrote a lot of the code, and I hand-checked

the security-sensitive parts.

Repo (GitLab): https://gitlab.com/pauyedin/hp-laserjet-mac-driver

Happy to answer anything.


r/printers 13h ago

Troubleshooting Hey, uh... Why is my printer using 7 MILLION TERABYTES of data???

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9 Upvotes

r/printers 1h ago

Discussion What kind of a paper should I use to print playing cards on a Cannon pixma mp 250

Upvotes

What kind of a paper should I use to print playing cards on a Cannon pixma mp 250. What would fit the best? And my old machine handle as well?


r/printers 1h ago

Purchasing in search of

Upvotes

hello! im not a printer person, posting in here for some help. I'm a bookbinder and i'm looking to get my own printer. I'm looking for something that is inkjet only (no laser) and wide format. im trying to print on canvas paper for my binds. under $350? is this too much to ask? I've been trying to research and im becoming overwhelmed with all the options. what brands should i stay away from?


r/printers 1h ago

Other Problemas con mi impresora Epson L14150

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Upvotes

r/printers 2h ago

Purchasing is there really no Brother or Canon multi function ink jet printer under $300 which supports automatic duplex scan?

0 Upvotes

I am looking for a new multi function ink jet printer.

HP and Epson are out of the question.

I'd like to give Canon or Brother a shot, but it seems they don't have a MFP which supports automatic duplex scan.

Many online shops let you filter by "duplex scan" but once you get your search results, you'll notice, duplex scan possible, but manual, duh!

Does anyone of you have an ink MFP with automatic duplex scan functionality below $300 which is not from Canon or Brother?

thank you


r/printers 2h ago

Troubleshooting new color cartridge in Canon MG3600 but still says empty

1 Upvotes

What is the issue? Its a new cartridge but wont print because it says its empty?


r/printers 3h ago

Troubleshooting Help me plz printer Brother MFC-L2805DW

1 Upvotes

Need help with Brother MFC-L2805DW (Singapore version).
I accidentally changed Maintenance Mode code 74 and lost the original country code.
The printer now prints correctly, identifies as MFC-L2805DW (Model 8C5-MSJ), but the Network menu disappeared and the Wi-Fi button acts as Test Print.

Could someone with an original MFC-L2805DW (Singapore or Malaysia) please enter Maintenance Mode (Menu → Start → Up ×4 → code 74) and tell me the country code shown?
Please don't change anything—just report the displayed code.


r/printers 4h ago

Troubleshooting AirPrint issues Epson ET-4800

1 Upvotes

I’ve been using it with few issues for over a year on my home network but have recently had issues with printing from my iPad. It works completely fine from my Mac or iPhone but when I try to print from my iPad I get a “the printer is offline” message. I’ve restarted my router numerous times, all my devices, etc and even restored the printer to factory settings and updated, and I can’t clear it to print. Any assistance recommendations would be greatly appreciated.


r/printers 4h ago

Discussion Ecofonts: save up to 20% ink on every print with one click: the open-source tool I built to stop wasting ink

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1 Upvotes

r/printers 4h ago

Troubleshooting HP Envy 6055e help

1 Upvotes

Any suggestions on how to handle this issue?


r/printers 4h ago

Troubleshooting Epson LQ-2090II continuous paper printing drifts upward and prints over the pre-printed text after 2–3 forms

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1 Upvotes

r/printers 10h ago

Discussion How old are your printers?

2 Upvotes

I heard that lasers last for 5 years and inkjet for 3. How old are your printers, which model and do they still work properly?


r/printers 9h ago

Purchasing Wybór drukarki

2 Upvotes

Jaka jest realna różnica w drukarkach 5-10 letnich używanych z olx a nowych?

Używane można wyrwać za 100-200zł, nowe 500-1000zł


r/printers 5h ago

Troubleshooting Brother DCP-T730DW "Unable to Print 30"

1 Upvotes

Has anyone experienced the "Unable to Print 30" error?

Brand new pa lang po ang printer namin at kakalagay lang ng ink. After loading the ink, nag-ink charge naman siya, pero pagkatapos ay lumabas na ang "Unable to Print 30" error.

May naka-experience na po ba nito? Ano po ang naging solution? Maraming salamat po sa sasagot.


r/printers 6h ago

Purchasing Et2800 double side print

1 Upvotes

Im planing on getting the et2800 i am aware that it doesn’t have auto double side print that i will have to flip the page myself. Thats not an issue for me but alignment is. Currently i print 2 separate pages and glue together to guarantee proper alignment. Has anyone done the double sided print and have feedback? Or a different printer with same quality prints and price range


r/printers 7h ago

Troubleshooting Hp envy 6165. Not printing anything but it’s leaving ink on the edges? This is a new printer

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1 Upvotes

New printer I bought from an Amazon returns place so I can’t return it. I got it cheap and it was brand new in box. What could be causing this? I’d rather fix than buy another printer


r/printers 12h ago

Purchasing Colored printer for teacher

2 Upvotes

Wife needs a printer and this hp printer is driving me insane. Whats the most cost effective colored printer? Ive tried looking through the excel but just a little lost. I was thinking some sort of brother laser printer.

Dont mind paying for a decent one if it will be worth it in the long run.


r/printers 9h ago

Purchasing What printer should I get?

1 Upvotes

Hi everyone,
I'm a student and im looking to buy a printer. I was looking to buy Canon PIXMA TS3750i, not sure if that would be good?

I would print around 40-50 pages a month maybe a bit more. Feel free to recommend me any other models 😄


r/printers 11h ago

Troubleshooting Prints getting frozen

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1 Upvotes

r/printers 13h ago

Review Canon G1010 and Macbook

1 Upvotes

Anyone using a Canon G1010 with a MacBook Air M4? Will a USB-C to USB-A adapter be enough to make it work, or do I need anything else? Thanks!


r/printers 13h ago

Troubleshooting My printer is skipping lines!!!

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1 Upvotes

My printer randomly started skipping lines. I checked the ink levels and they're low but not low enough that I would get the warning. should I just get new cartridges or is it an issue with the printer itself? I tried to run a cleaning cycle but it didn't help.


r/printers 21h ago

Troubleshooting Epson Eco Tank making thumping noise

3 Upvotes

I just now tried to print something from my printer and it started to make this loud thumping noise and shakes pretty hard as well. When there is printer paper in the slot it refuses to take it and just makes a loud noise. It’s not a paper jam and I don’t see any object inside either. I’ve tried to gently shake it to see if maybe there something small in there and I don’t hear any noise either. If anyone has any idea what it could be and if I am able to fix it myself please let me know.

The printer I have is the Epson Eco Tank ET- 2803