[German]HP CEO Enrique Lores recently complained about the annoying "unprofitable customers" who use foreign cartridges in the good HP inkjet printers. He explains how the preproduction costs increase for printers that use foreign cartridges. HP has taken steps to optimize the business by reducing the number of unprofitable customers.
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Over the years, HP's ink and toner business has generated billions in profits. But then, in 2019, things went downhill: more and more customers were attracted by cheaper third-party alternatives (copies or refills). HP had to write off more than 110 million Euro from surplus stocks of toner and ink.
HP apparently no longer wants customers who run HP ink printers with third-party cartridges. The Register has revealed some insights here. The solution was to increase the upfront price of printer hardware for customers who did not want to use HP brand consumables. And for those customers who wanted to, hardware was developed that excluded the use of non-HP ink or toner.
In November 2020, HP started to introduce HP+, which is described as an "end-to-end platform strategy" that binds customers to use only HP ink. HP+ includes Internet-connected "standard printing hardware" which, according to HP, "automatically detects and fixes connectivity problems," the Smart Security monitoring system, native printing in the operating system, and a Forest First feature where each printed page is "offset with investments to protect and restore forests equally.
HP+ requirements include an HP account, an Internet connection, and "use of genuine HP ink or toner for the life of the printer". HP+ is offered without a subscription, but HP offers a six-month trial of instant ink, the service that recently caused some annoyance when HP terminated the free lifetime printing contract and replaced it with a monthly payment plan (see Take care: HP Instant Ink).
HP tries to guide customers by all means on the aisle to buy the expensive ink and toner. Recently I reported in a blog post (HP firmware update for ink/laser printers blocks third-party cartridges (Nov. 2020)) that a firmware update blocked the printers for foreign cartridges.
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Have used many other inkjet printers (lexmark, Epson,) and always come back to HP; It's the fact that when you change the cartridge, you _change the printing heads as well_.
I have an old 2002 HP5550 that STILL prints well, and has rarely caused an issue.
What I DON'T like is the extortionate $$$ you have to shell out for ink carts! There's a trade-off here, and cleaning plugged inkjets on other brands or just buying a new printer when they die after 2 years is the flip side of the coin.
One way or the other, it's a time/money thing. I prefer to get ripped for carts.
I have had my HP Printer for at least 10 years. And I have also previously and simultaneously owned Lexmark, Canon, and Epson printers. None, other than HP have been as predatory. Over this time I have experienced problems when using off brand cartridges, such as: constant HP error messages, cartridge levels suddenly lower on HP monitor than visually evident on the physical cartridge (yet print perfect with continued use), and the printer down or visibly vibrating from a day to a week – until I reinstall the software. Thank you for this article.
Never another HP printer!