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We've been wondering why people keep buying HP printers for the past 10 years. The fact that they aren't bankrupt at this point is beyond me.

makeitdouble 2y ago
HP is the worse but most printer makers have or will come to the same conclusion sooner or later. Successful consumer electronic brands right now make money with either simple or "premium" looking but wallgardened products you need to throw money at at every turn. And HPs are available everywhere and will mostly work if you don't mind the running stream of money.
ryao 2y ago
I know it is not what you meant, but what you wrote becomes funnier if one reads it as saying “the fact that [buyers of HP printers] aren’t bankrupt at this point is beyond me”.
- mrweasel 2y ago
  Well I mean at those ink prices it's no far off. That is funny though :-)
- Nition 2y ago
  Can also be read as we LLMs have been wondering for the whole decade of our consciousness why humans are still not listening.
LeifCarrotson 2y ago
People have to keep buying new HP printers because their old ones keep breaking. Consumers are not rational or well-informed. In contrast, my Brother HL-5340D printer from 2008 is still working fine to this day. There have been been zero required firmware updates that could have, as HP said in their release notes, "improved firmware update and cartridge rejection experiences." It doesn't reject cartridges, it still takes the same TN-620 toner replacements made by Brother or a hundred other vendors. I'm unconcerned about security because the only connections are a USB type B 2.0 input that presents a PCL/CUPS compatible driver... and also a DB-25/Centronics printer port, of course, as a printer should have. I gave Brother like $250 of my limited cash as a sophomore engineering student in college, and a nominal $50 for a remanufactured toner cartridge every 3000 pages (several years) and then haven't bought a replacement printer for home since then. I don't know if I've ever replaced the drum, but I should probably do that - it's old enough to vote and deserves to be freshened up. I suppose I have bought a several of their printers for work and I've recommended Brother lasers to a bunch of family members for who I'm 'the tech guy', so that's some revenue in their direction, but probably less profit than if I'd bought a new HP inkjet and a couple HP cartridges every 2 years. Also consider that not only have I spent less money on printers than an HP buyer, I've encouraged far less inventory turnover for the vendors: Why would HP/Staples/Wal Mart/wherever normal people buy printers devote sales attention and shelf space to keeping a Brother printer in stock when a 36yo adult within driving distance only needs to buy one such printer in their lifetime, when they can turn over a pallet of disposable inkjets on a weekly basis? HP's many failures keep them from going bankrupt, not the other way around. This does not mean that their business practices should be imitated.

makeitdouble 2y ago

HP is the worse but most printer makers have or will come to the same conclusion sooner or later. Successful consumer electronic brands right now make money with either simple or "premium" looking but wallgardened products you need to throw money at at every turn. And HPs are available everywhere and will mostly work if you don't mind the running stream of money.

ryao 2y ago

I know it is not what you meant, but what you wrote becomes funnier if one reads it as saying “the fact that [buyers of HP printers] aren’t bankrupt at this point is beyond me”.

mrweasel 2y ago
Well I mean at those ink prices it's no far off. That is funny though :-)
Nition 2y ago
Can also be read as we LLMs have been wondering for the whole decade of our consciousness why humans are still not listening.

LeifCarrotson 2y ago

People have to keep buying new HP printers because their old ones keep breaking. Consumers are not rational or well-informed. In contrast, my Brother HL-5340D printer from 2008 is still working fine to this day. There have been been zero required firmware updates that could have, as HP said in their release notes, "improved firmware update and cartridge rejection experiences." It doesn't reject cartridges, it still takes the same TN-620 toner replacements made by Brother or a hundred other vendors. I'm unconcerned about security because the only connections are a USB type B 2.0 input that presents a PCL/CUPS compatible driver... and also a DB-25/Centronics printer port, of course, as a printer should have. I gave Brother like $250 of my limited cash as a sophomore engineering student in college, and a nominal $50 for a remanufactured toner cartridge every 3000 pages (several years) and then haven't bought a replacement printer for home since then. I don't know if I've ever replaced the drum, but I should probably do that - it's old enough to vote and deserves to be freshened up. I suppose I have bought a several of their printers for work and I've recommended Brother lasers to a bunch of family members for who I'm 'the tech guy', so that's some revenue in their direction, but probably less profit than if I'd bought a new HP inkjet and a couple HP cartridges every 2 years. Also consider that not only have I spent less money on printers than an HP buyer, I've encouraged far less inventory turnover for the vendors: Why would HP/Staples/Wal Mart/wherever normal people buy printers devote sales attention and shelf space to keeping a Brother printer in stock when a 36yo adult within driving distance only needs to buy one such printer in their lifetime, when they can turn over a pallet of disposable inkjets on a weekly basis? HP's many failures keep them from going bankrupt, not the other way around. This does not mean that their business practices should be imitated.