4 ms·

Thats exactly how it works, except you are paying ahead of time for a bundle of pages and then there is a cost to add more if you need them. https://www.hp.com

Thats exactly how it works, except you are paying ahead of time for a bundle of pages and then there is a cost to add more if you need them. https://www.hp.com/us-en/printers/instant-ink/plans.html https://www.hp.com/us-en/printers/instant-ink/plans.html You are paying $6 for 100 pages. Then you can add 10 pages for $1 (that amount changes based on the subscription). We can argue that the program has some scummy aspects but if we are going to argue about this we should at least look up how it actually works here.

JohnFen 3y ago
> You are paying $6 for 100 pages. WHAT?! That's insanely expensive. You'd think they'd have to beat the prices to print things out at the local copy shop, at least.
- Wowfunhappy 3y ago
  I think that's more-or-less in line with the cost of HP ink cartridges. The real moral of this story is that people should stop buying HP printers, or at least HP inkjet printers. (For a laugh, see also The Verge's 2023 Printer Buying Guide: https://www.theverge.com/23642073/best-printer-2023-brother-laser-wi-fi-its-fine https://www.theverge.com/23642073/best-printer-2023-brother-...)
- nerdjon 3y ago
  Are you are that is expensive? Where I am printing a black and white document is around $0.20. A color print is $0.60. So 100 black and white pages would be $20 and color would be $60. Sure you have to add paper to that calculation but considering that is a 500 count for $10-15 thats still makes it cheaper wether you are doing black and white or color. Now yes you do have to take into account the cost of the machine.
  - JohnFen 3y ago
    Well, it's expensive compare to copy shops around here. Color prints in very low quantities start at 5 cents per page. If you are printing a lot of pages, the per page price starts to drop.
    - nerdjon 3y ago
      From what I can tell I can't find anything like that near me. I justified buying a brother laser printer about a year ago after running the numbers for low to mid levels of printing and it just didn't make sense to spend as much as the places around me were charging. It would be an interesting thing to look at what the pricing for things like this actually is around the country to see if something like this actually makes sense. If I was doing a super low volume (but consistent) of prints I could see how the math on one of these lower plans makes sense given the options around me.
    - trogdor 3y ago
      If you're willing to share, I am curious to know where you can get color copies starting at 5 cents per page. Although I don't spend much time looking at copy shop prices, I have never seen prices even close to that low.
      - JohnFen 3y ago
        It's a mom & pop copy shop near me. I'm sorry, I don't want to identify them because I don't want to publicize my location that precisely. It's the only copy shop I use, so I have no idea if their pricing is unusually low or not. I assumed it isn't that different in other shops, but it might be.
        astura 3y ago
        It's very low - Staples starts at 20 cents a page for B&W.
    - toast0 3y ago
      HP's plan also drops prices when you subscribe to more pages. $1/month -> 10 pages $4/month -> 50 pages $6/month -> 100 pages $12/month -> 300 pages $25/month -> 700 pages In my mind, the value for the consumer is at the lower prices, where it's nice to have a printer for a few pages a month, but you know the ink is going to dry in the cartridge before you use it. I'd think HP's program will send you a new cartridge when you need it in that case, but I don't know. At higher volumes, it's probably less expensive to buy cartridges as needed, unless all your prints are full page coverage. But then ink jet has a weird niche; it's cheap, but it's worse for low volume printing because the ink can dry and foul the machine, and it's worse at high volume because the print speed isn't near laser (or highvolume impact!) and the supplies are expensive. It's great if you print a few pages a week to a few pages a day. Warm up time can be better or worse, depending on how long it takes to squirt all the ink into the sponge before it prints.
- jsmith99 3y ago
  It's actually pretty competitive. The 100 pages plan is £4.49/month in UK. If you use them all that's 4.5p a page. They can all be full colour photos if you like. My multifunction printer cost £50 and a ream of paper (500 sheets) is about £6. Commercial printers charge 10-30p a sheet. I even have an acquaintance with a pay per click service contract on his huge Konica Minolta photocopier who seems to pay the same per click as I do.

JohnFen 3y ago

> You are paying $6 for 100 pages. WHAT?! That's insanely expensive. You'd think they'd have to beat the prices to print things out at the local copy shop, at least.

Wowfunhappy 3y ago
I think that's more-or-less in line with the cost of HP ink cartridges. The real moral of this story is that people should stop buying HP printers, or at least HP inkjet printers. (For a laugh, see also The Verge's 2023 Printer Buying Guide: https://www.theverge.com/23642073/best-printer-2023-brother-laser-wi-fi-its-fine https://www.theverge.com/23642073/best-printer-2023-brother-...)
nerdjon 3y ago
Are you are that is expensive? Where I am printing a black and white document is around $0.20. A color print is $0.60. So 100 black and white pages would be $20 and color would be $60. Sure you have to add paper to that calculation but considering that is a 500 count for $10-15 thats still makes it cheaper wether you are doing black and white or color. Now yes you do have to take into account the cost of the machine.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  Well, it's expensive compare to copy shops around here. Color prints in very low quantities start at 5 cents per page. If you are printing a lot of pages, the per page price starts to drop.
  - nerdjon 3y ago
    From what I can tell I can't find anything like that near me. I justified buying a brother laser printer about a year ago after running the numbers for low to mid levels of printing and it just didn't make sense to spend as much as the places around me were charging. It would be an interesting thing to look at what the pricing for things like this actually is around the country to see if something like this actually makes sense. If I was doing a super low volume (but consistent) of prints I could see how the math on one of these lower plans makes sense given the options around me.
  - trogdor 3y ago
    If you're willing to share, I am curious to know where you can get color copies starting at 5 cents per page. Although I don't spend much time looking at copy shop prices, I have never seen prices even close to that low.
    - JohnFen 3y ago
      It's a mom & pop copy shop near me. I'm sorry, I don't want to identify them because I don't want to publicize my location that precisely. It's the only copy shop I use, so I have no idea if their pricing is unusually low or not. I assumed it isn't that different in other shops, but it might be.
      - astura 3y ago
        It's very low - Staples starts at 20 cents a page for B&W.
  - toast0 3y ago
    HP's plan also drops prices when you subscribe to more pages. $1/month -> 10 pages $4/month -> 50 pages $6/month -> 100 pages $12/month -> 300 pages $25/month -> 700 pages In my mind, the value for the consumer is at the lower prices, where it's nice to have a printer for a few pages a month, but you know the ink is going to dry in the cartridge before you use it. I'd think HP's program will send you a new cartridge when you need it in that case, but I don't know. At higher volumes, it's probably less expensive to buy cartridges as needed, unless all your prints are full page coverage. But then ink jet has a weird niche; it's cheap, but it's worse for low volume printing because the ink can dry and foul the machine, and it's worse at high volume because the print speed isn't near laser (or highvolume impact!) and the supplies are expensive. It's great if you print a few pages a week to a few pages a day. Warm up time can be better or worse, depending on how long it takes to squirt all the ink into the sponge before it prints.
jsmith99 3y ago
It's actually pretty competitive. The 100 pages plan is £4.49/month in UK. If you use them all that's 4.5p a page. They can all be full colour photos if you like. My multifunction printer cost £50 and a ream of paper (500 sheets) is about £6. Commercial printers charge 10-30p a sheet. I even have an acquaintance with a pay per click service contract on his huge Konica Minolta photocopier who seems to pay the same per click as I do.