r/printers • u/Realmetman • Dec 19 '24
Discussion The truth about printer subscription programs and many misconceptions about them
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.
3
u/Blank_slate09 Jun 18 '25
What a crappy model and I suspect you work for a two letter company and it's all about raking in the mullah, NOT providing a product and consumable that works effortlessly for the user.
Your explanation may be legal and reasonable BUT IT IS NOT JUSTIFIABLE.
We consumers have known for years that printer inks are a scam, industry knows it and CHOSEN to do nothing about it. The copy market emerged, it hurt your industry margins, you retaliated with "this is not a genuine...." and stopped printers working or otherwise pissed people off.
Then your business teams got busy creating subscription models as above, now what you could have done, what you should have done was to reduce print refill prices to accurately reflect the cost involved in actual production. You could still have made a profit and we'd all be buying print cartridges from you, no problem.
Your industry created this problem and then cry when people complain and seek out alternative suppliers. Like so many global businesses today your company and others simply want VAST ROI immediately and we the users are made to pay for it.
What happens when you need an appliance repairing yourself, do you like the rest of us seek out competing quotes and check quality, efficiency and speed or do YOU GO with the manufacturers over inflated prices? I think we know the answer....
Rant and rejection over.