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，连Canon都开始出连供放弃用墨水匣耗材榨乾消费者出连供後，HP想的这个想法跟中共商家模式『终身送XX』，结果原本的计画每15张还要被强制安插一张广告(说个笑话HP帮助环保)，怪不得High Price . HP用安全为由韧体更新阻挡第三方墨水匣(副厂)好几次了，在北美被告垄断市场 新闻标题直接用『家用印表机就是个骗局』，确实买连供或改连供就知道这墨匣成本到底有多低 你说哪里晶片保护消费者安全? >没影响，没人受影响，你只是保护你厂商的收入借题发挥 投资研发成本很高? >你说你那里制造的，用哪个国家制造的色浆色粉? (从淘宝制造上架拿散装墨水偷卖你就知道这盈利根本就跟卖水一样暴力) 连供产品EPSON真的是异军突起，但是页宽机(Pagewide)和绘图大图海报机(DesignJet) HP还是占领了全球90%的市场，完全没在怕的。 --

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