HP's 'free ink for life' plan is over because home printers are a scam
It turns out HP's"free ink for life" planwasn't actually "for life."
HP recently informed Instant Ink plan customers that after just three years, it was ending its "free ink for life" deal,according toConsumer Reports. It becomes not-so-free as of Friday.
What was this deal? The company remotely monitored printer buyers' ink usage (creepy!), and sent a "free" cartridge when they were running low...with some caveats.
Printing (and ink) was not unlimited. Users were allowed to print 15 pages per month. Subscribers also had to have a credit card on file with HP. If you went over 15 pages, HP would charge you a dollar for 10 additional pages.
Oh, another fun component of the plan: Every five pages, HP would PRINT AN AD on your printer. Don't worry, the ad wouldn't count against your quota. Phew!
But now those halcyon days are gone. HP will charge participants in the program 99 cents per month for their 15 pages. Sure, nearly $12 a year doesn't sound like a lot, but, again, they signed up for FREE ink for life.
There are tiers that cost between 99 cents to $24.99/month for more pages, based on your printing needs. One positive change to the plan is that you can roll over your unused pages up to a cap.
The bait-and-switch "free ink for life" deal is just the latest trick pulled by HP (and other printer companies) to make as much money as possible from their machines. Writer Cory Doctorowbroke downhow HP has milked its customers dry with “security chips” in ink cartridges that stop your printer from working if you try to use (cheaper) ink from a third party.
Printer makers face the same challenge as every other hardware company: How to get people to keep spending money once they've made the initial investment. The winning formula is subscriptions, which is why you see tiered pricing plans for everything from fitness classes on Peloton to cloud storage from Apple. So, of course, Big Printer is in on the action.
原文：https://reurl.cc/MdK5Dn
感想：
好吧，連Canon都開始出連供放棄用墨水匣耗材榨乾消費者出連供後，HP想的這個想法跟中共商家模式『終身送XX』，結果原本的計畫每15張還要被強制安插一張廣告(說個笑話HP幫助環保)，怪不得High Price .
HP用安全為由韌體更新阻擋第三方墨水匣(副廠)好幾次了，在北美被告壟斷市場
新聞標題直接用『家用印表機就是個騙局』，確實買連供或改連供就知道這墨匣成本到底有多低
你說哪裡晶片保護消費者安全?
>沒影響，沒人受影響，你只是保護你廠商的收入借題發揮
投資研發成本很高?
>你說你那裡製造的，用哪個國家製造的色漿色粉?
(從淘寶製造上架拿散裝墨水偷賣你就知道這盈利根本就跟賣水一樣暴力)
連供產品EPSON真的是異軍突起，但是頁寬機(Pagewide)和繪圖大圖海報機(DesignJet) HP還是佔領了全球90%的市場，完全沒在怕的。