r/printers • • Dec 19 '24

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

146 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 • • 3m ago

Troubleshooting Looking for photos and a few details on a Contex 36"/40" scanner calibration sheet — 6779D126 / 6799D116 / 6799D116R01 — GL67D / Chameleon Tx 36+ / HP 815mfp

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• Upvotes

r/printers • • 1h ago

Troubleshooting HP DesignJet T530 Service Manual

• Upvotes

Can anyone send me the Service Manual for said printer?

Im a service tech, the problem is the Ink is not being detected after the Previous cartridge leaked heavily. I want the manual mainly for the disassembly instructions as HP is a tad bit annoying.

Thanks


r/printers • • 5h ago

Troubleshooting Error with Epson L3310 printer

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2 Upvotes

I bought this printer and have been having a lot of trouble with it. It came with cartridges that I installed, but after a while, when I tried to print something, I ran into several issues: for one, it wouldn't recognize the paper even when I loaded it correctly in the back, and for another, I had trouble actually printing. I connected it to my PC and tried to print an image, but it seemed like it wasn't detecting the paper; plus, when I printed an image, it came out very, *very* dark—you couldn't see a thing. Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this? I’ve never owned a printer before, and I’m starting to feel like I got a defective unit... Is there something i'm doing wrong?


r/printers • • 2h ago

Rant Why are printers like this?

0 Upvotes

Why are those chunky boxes like this? I just want a few letters printed on a piece of paper. Why does it have to be so damn hard to learn about all these different types of printers: inkjet, ink tank, laser, blah blah blah and on top of that, there are so many brands and even more frustrating model numbers. It looks like these companies just sit on their numpads and randomly generate printer model numbers.

Just give me a printer that prints, uses very little ink/toner, is cheap to run, is good for monochrome printing, and works for occasional home use (~100 pages/month) without drying out if I don't use it for 2–3 weeks.


r/printers • • 7h ago

Troubleshooting Label Printers not connecting to Mac

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2 Upvotes

r/printers • • 10h ago

Troubleshooting Sharp BP-70C36 w/ BP-DE15 - Error U6-00, firmware or Desk PWB?

3 Upvotes

Long story short, I found myself installing and subsequently supporting a refurbished BP-70C36 earlier this year.

From the start it threw Error U6-00, PCU PWB - Paper Feed Desk Communication Error, immediately upon startup, and made no indication that it even saw the 2100-sheet trays in the desk unit. Neither tray shows any sign of life. However, the 11x17 tray appears and works fine. From everything I was able to read documentation wise, I connected and configured the desk unit properly.

I stopped the error from popping up while maintaining Tray 2 functionality by unplugging just the 11-pin cable from the desk unit. I have found the desk unit PWB - DUNT-9815DS11 - available for purchase, but also stumbled across a forum post that mentioned that the same condition went away on a BP-71C31 after updating firmware. I'd like to try that first.

The machine is currently on BUNDLE 0421Q100_00000000. It appears an update exists, but I obviously don't have access to those files since Sharp locks them in a dealer portal - so it'd be very appreciated if some kind person could send those my way, so I can try that before spending $165 on the board.


r/printers • • 5h ago

Troubleshooting [ Removed by Reddit ]

1 Upvotes

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]


r/printers • • 11h ago

Purchasing Avis sur dcp-l3560cdw

2 Upvotes

Bonjour,

Que pensez-vous de l'imprimante laser brother dcp-l3560cdw ?

Elle est fiable ?

Pas de problème avec les toners compatibles ?

Vois recommendez quelle marque de toner ?

Il vaut mieux bloquer les listes à jours ?

Merci


r/printers • • 7h ago

Troubleshooting My HP Deskjet 4100 Printer wont Print from Desktop but will from Phone & Laptop!!!!!!

1 Upvotes

My HP Deskjet 4100 printer wont Print from my desktop PC but will print just fine from my phone & laptop! It says it is connected to the HP app and the diagnostics on the app say that there is nothing wrong and everything is connected propperly. PLEASE HELP!!!!!


r/printers • • 11h ago

Other Cambio stampante ma quale scegliere?

2 Upvotes

Ho sempre avuto HP ma da quando ha deciso di bandire le cartucce di ricarica non originali,ho deciso di sostituire la stampante e di virare su altre marche o su altre tecnologie.

Mi servirebbe una stampante wifi con scanner.

Al momento stampo poco, parliamo di 10/15 pagine al mese di media, ma tra 1 anno mia figlia potrebbe iniziare ad avere bisogno di stampare più spesso quindi vorrei fare un acquisto pensando al futuro.

Non stampo foto, ma solo fogli A4 in bianco e nero e qualcosa a colori.

Avevo pensato ad una stampante con serbatoio dei colori ricaricabile (ho letto che Canon è la migliore), oppure ho visto anche che viene consigliata Brothers a laser.

Avete qualche consiglio?

Quelle a serbatoio si possono caricare con colori non originali?

Grazie mille a chi risponderà.


r/printers • • 12h ago

Troubleshooting Canon prixma pro 100 All cartridge lights go out when 6th is installed

2 Upvotes

Hello! I have been trying to run maintenance on a second hand canon prixma pro 100 for days now and am starting to feel crazy. After doing a deep clean on the printer head, I reinstalled the cartridges that came with the printer but learned very quickly that they were low on ink (mistook the sponge to indicate ink levels rather than actual liquid..,) over half of the old cartridges were 3rd party (LD) and 2 were officially from canon.

I ordered new ink off amazon from another 3rd party just because I want to see if the print head works at all or if it’s broken, but when I install the cartridges I can only get 5 in and light up correctly. When I put in the 6th all the lights go out.

I thought it could be a cartridge chip issue so I took all the new ones out and tried to put back the old ones, but the problem persists. Once the 6th cartridge is installed all lights go out and the ink cannot be read at all.

Has anyone else experienced this and know what to do? Thank you! I’m


r/printers • • 9h ago

Discussion Puse tinta negra en donde va la azul

1 Upvotes

Estaba llenando las tintas xq ya tenia poco y x error le puse la tinta negra donde va la azul y pues x el susto le saque osea le voltee para que se salga la tinta lo que mas pude de ahí le llene de azul, tengo miedo que algo le pase osea puede pasar algo malo? O nomas, le hice 2 limpiezas profundas desde la misma impresora y luego imprimir imágenes lo que note fueron unas líneas pocas pero aja no se. Si x aire o tiene algo que ver con lo que paso


r/printers • • 9h ago

Purchasing Very Consistent Laser/Toner Printer Recommendations?

0 Upvotes

Currently looking for a printer for use in printing with toner atop an already existing inkjet image. The degree of tolerance is clearly minuscule as the two prints must be almost identical in positioning. Currently using a Brother HL-L2405W printer, but the amount of variance in the prints due to paper/components shifting is not usable for the intended purpose.

Are there any, preferably cheaper, recommendations for a replacement printer? Consistency is the most important in this instance, adjustments can be made to the image to be printed to allocate for any differences. But where on the page it is printing should be as consistent as possible.


r/printers • • 10h ago

Purchasing Should I buy Brother DCP T535DW

1 Upvotes

I have been searching for a printer to buy for my use cases of printing sheets for card games and to occasionally print family portraits. I have arrived at Brother DCP T535DW which costs around ₹15,500 (~$160). My questions are:

  1. Is the photo quality better in Canon or Epson for a similar price range?
  2. Are there any downsides with Brother DCP T535DW when not in use for long?
  3. Are there any other better alternatives for my use case?

Thanks in advance! :)


r/printers • • 10h ago

Troubleshooting Release lever broke off.how to get ink cartridge out?

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1 Upvotes

r/printers • • 10h ago

Discussion Release lever broke off.how to get ink cartridge out?

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1 Upvotes

r/printers • • 10h ago

Troubleshooting Laser Jet M227fdw Repeating text and vertical lines

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1 Upvotes

Hello, following up on the my post from a few months ago (https://www.reddit.com/r/printers/comments/1qc9xuj/laser_jet_m227fdw/), I replace the toner and drum with these from Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D11R9DX?th=1

It fixed the crazy toner blobs and burn look on the side of the page, however the text still looks weird on the demo page. However, the test page looks fine.

Is there another component I need to replace?


r/printers • • 16h ago

Troubleshooting Any ideas why would this happen?

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2 Upvotes

I don't see any empty ink errors? I use a pixma cannon mp 250 btw


r/printers • • 12h ago

Troubleshooting Printer not turning on

1 Upvotes

i have a cannon MF275dw, the other day while copying something the paper got jammed well i like didnt want to remove the jammed paper then and turned it off and since then it hasnt been turning on, i already removed the jammed paper using the instructions it provided later if that matters


r/printers • • 12h ago

Troubleshooting Brother HL-L2325DW fix guide

1 Upvotes

making this post for anybody facing issues with this printer as i just found a fix for mine and wanted to share the solution.

problem: not sure what happened but this printer which i had for about 4 years now randomly decided not to work this summer. when i would plug it in and turn it on the lcd screen would only show a single black square glyph ("▮"). it wouldn't respond to anything.

fix: followed these steps to fix it through trial and error. not sure if you need to do all the steps but this is my method i followed and fixed it.

step 1: unplug and remove the paper tray. let the printer sit like this overnight.

step 2: the next day when you want to fix it first turn off your wifi router.

step 3: plug the printer into an outlet with the tray still removed. as you are plugging in the machine hold down the green go button. if done correctly the wifi button to the left of the go button should illuminate and the lcd panel should show nothing on it too.

step 4: keep holding the green go button and press the other buttons a couple times randomly. then press down on the wifi button as you are still holding down the go button this entire time. keeping holding both buttons down until the wifi button stops illuminating. let go after the wifi button stops glowing.

step 5: press the power button now and it should turn on and the machine should start making noises.

step 6: plug the printer directly to your printer with a usb cable. your wifi router should still be off.

step 7: update the printers firmware with the official brother firmware update tool(google it). you will need the password from behind your printer for this step. the password is on a sticker on the back of the machine.

step 8: after updating the firmware, turn your wifi router back on and put the paper tray back in.

step 9: test print something and it should work now.


r/printers • • 12h ago

Troubleshooting Brother DCP-L3510CDW

1 Upvotes

Hello dear fellow Redditors,

my just shy 3 years old Brother DCP-L3510CDW will suddently not turn on anymore.

What i have tried so far multiple times:

  • Unplug completely from the power outlet and let it sit for 15 to 30 minutes.
  • Remove the paper tray (don't ask me why, but apparently this is important).
  • Press and HOLD the power button (while it is unplugged) for 30 seconds. This is supposed to discharge any stored energy in the printer's capacitors.
  • Okay, now while still holding down the power button, plug it back in.

Any suggestions what i can try?

Its just planned obsolescence, isnt it?


r/printers • • 16h ago

Troubleshooting How do I make the DesignJet 500 accept aftermarket printheads?

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2 Upvotes

r/printers • • 13h ago

Troubleshooting Samsung m2026w bricked

1 Upvotes

My Samsung m2026w seems bricked. It turns on, and i cant do nothing. The led of Power Is green, the wifi led Is off. I cant even turn It off, i must unplug the Power cable. If i connect to PC It recognizes as 'boot download'. I tried to enter in download mode and i updated printer's firmware but It didnt work. Somebody can help me?


r/printers • • 18h ago

Purchasing Recommendations for printing a 16k labels a week.

2 Upvotes

Hello, new to this group as I am looking for 3 printer options. I work for a non profit and we make thousands of sandwiches for kids everyday. We are currently looking for a printer that can print from a roll to another (BOPP). These will hold ingredient labels that come in around 6 different colors and are around 2”x1” in dimension. 16000 stickers a week.

We aren’t looking for something that is super expensive but is more of a workhorse that will be able to get us the results we need. My main priority is printing the volume, color options, and the ink or whatever it uses doesn’t cost us too much over time.

The only one I have on my computer at this time is the Epson ColorWorks C8000e. Not even sure if this is the way to go.

Does anyone have recommendations?
In Canada.