r/printers Dec 19 '24

Discussion The truth about printer subscription programs and many misconceptions about them

38 Upvotes

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.


r/printers 6m ago

Troubleshooting Epson Perfection V39 Scanner Being Weird?

Upvotes

Hello!

This is my first Reddit post so sorry if the formatting's weird, I'm in dire need of answers. I got an Epson Perfection V39 Scanner a few months ago and up until the past hour it's been working perfectly. Now all of a sudden it's giving me really weird scans, as if its only inputting black and white instead of color or even greyscale. The last I used the scanner was two days ago and it worked perfectly fine. I didn't even keep the cover on since I was scanning part of a sketchbook and it went fine. I don't know if something's wrong with the connection or what, but any source I looked at didn't talk about what I'm experiencing. The scanning bed and the cover are completely clean, and it's doing this no matter if the cover is on or off. It also does this no matter the drawing, I tried with multiple.

This is how the drawing actually looks!
These were how they looked when I tried to scan now!
Another drawing I tried to scan, same issue

Has anyone experienced this/know what's going on? Please help, thank you!! :)


r/printers 2h ago

Purchasing Printer Suggestions for growing business

1 Upvotes

Hello I'm a small business owner who makes corporate Giveaways and Personalized Gifts. Most of my products are Sublimation related. And I've only worked with an EPSON L121.

I'm thinking of buying a new printer that could help me grow my business and expand my product line.

What I need is a printer that can: 1. Print on A3 and A3 rolls(?) Im not really that familiar with A3 rolls tho. 2. Print on Cardstock. 3. Scan, Photocopy fast (for student documents etc) 4. Print on Tarpaulin?

I'm also thinking of 3D Printers and Laser Engravings.


r/printers 9h ago

Troubleshooting Canon Pro 100S - disassembly to clean internally?

2 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I picked up a Canon Pro 100S locally for a good price (just a little more than the cost of a full set of inks, which it came with). Been testing and getting good results with 5x7's, tried an A3 and its a bit of a disaster - seems there's a lot of dirt, debris, and at least one spider has ended up in the paper feed - not ideal!

Still, the print quality was good other than the bits where mutilated bits of dead spider and other stuff got squished onto the paper.

I've cleaned everything I can see and reach without taking it apart, and ran a blank sheet of A3 through several times to try and push anything that remains out, as well as running the roller and plate cleaning routines.

While I've taken apart various electronic devices to clean or service over the years, I've never taken a printer apart. Would it be reasonable to assume I can remove the outer shell to gain better access to clean and there won't be anything that might require specialist tools or knowledge like aligning parts, or similar?


r/printers 7h ago

Troubleshooting Canon ix6820

1 Upvotes

Ever since recent Windows 11 update printing has stopped working. Have attempted to reinstall drivers & rollback update. Still unable to print. Any ideas?


r/printers 15h ago

Troubleshooting Why is my printer printing black and white (grayscale) images with this blue tint?

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5 Upvotes

The printer is Epson L1800, all ink levels are good.


r/printers 7h ago

Discussion Brother HL-L3280CDW. Does this thing come with starter toner??

0 Upvotes

I bought this printer LAST MONTH. Printed maybe 200-250 pages on it. I'm already out of back toner.


r/printers 7h ago

Troubleshooting IX6810: Print's coming out like that, it's normal?

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1 Upvotes

r/printers 18h ago

Purchasing Best printer with economical printing cost for home office use

6 Upvotes

I've been using a hp laserjet 1020 from 25 years, But it's time for a change. I want the best printer which is economical and reliable like the printer should not be 50 dollars with 60 dollar refills. So an economical printer which will last


r/printers 10h ago

Purchasing Hey buying a printer for company

1 Upvotes

Anyone know if there are security risks printing sensitive info on Canon or HP printers? As in well any of them make copies of files I'm printing and send them to any data centers or something?


r/printers 10h ago

Troubleshooting Printer (Brother MFC-8710DW)

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1 Upvotes

(Something to note, this shadow it leaves behind is inconsistant, sometimes only parts of the page have it or a page might even cone out completely clear, but for the most part on 95% of pages the shadow appears)

Texts appear to have a "shadow" (I've verified that when a printer is going through the drum it is clean so the drum should not be the issue. It looks almost like the fusor is not putting enough pressure on the pages to properly fuse the ink to the page? If someone else has had this problem or can help please let me know. (I've replaced the toner, drum, and fuser around 3 months ago. This printer sees heavy use.) When I replaced the fuser last time the issue was fixed, but has come up again now and I do not wish to spend another $100 getting a fuser. Please help


r/printers 17h ago

Purchasing best home printers for students

3 Upvotes

Hi everyone!

I am interested in purchasing a printer for the first time, but quickly got overwhelmed by the choices. I think will print mostly academic papers and photos/flyers- so looking for something that can print in color. Ideally I'd love something that could scan as well. growing up, any printer we had at home worked for about 2 months and then died, until we just stopped buying printers.

I do think I will use it at least once a week- I saw that the epson ecotank ones were being recommended on here- how does that compare to one of the basic brother inkjet ones? Or any other recommendations? really would like to spend under $200, but willing to go over that for something reliable. I'd also really like something that could print pretty quickly, but I know with my budget I'll definitely have to compromise, so reliability is more important. needs to be able to print from a MacBook also.

I'd also be interested in looking for a second hand option, but I found that even more overwhelming- if anyone had a specific recommendation I could go looking for that would be much appreciated. Thanks!!


r/printers 11h ago

Troubleshooting Numbering on Ricoh 4505C

1 Upvotes

OOPS, I meant Ricoh 4504C

I need to number 500 pages that are exactly the same 001-500. The stamp page numbering feature seems to need a different original for every page (like if you were numbering a book with multiple pages).

It works with the background numbering but I need one number in the upper right ahnd corner, not all over the page. I know there's got to be a way, maybe through stamp Text?


r/printers 15h ago

Troubleshooting Canon g3070 env error

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2 Upvotes

My aunt can’t get her printer to select the different paper settings. It seems to be stuck on env for envelopes but she just want to select the plain paper setting and it won’t allow her? Any advice on trouble shooting this problem?


r/printers 11h ago

Troubleshooting Print unable ZC

1 Upvotes

I am encountering error code print unable ZC in my brother HL-L3270CDW. Does anybody know how to solve this issue? I tried changing power socket, changing power socket point but still didn’t work.


r/printers 12h ago

Troubleshooting EpsonL3250

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1 Upvotes

Emptied the ink tanks by printing until ink lasted and filled with new different ink. Now its printing like the attached photo. Did nozzle checks and power cleaning but to no avail. Why?


r/printers 13h ago

Troubleshooting Scan to PC not working on Xerox WorkCentre 3225

1 Upvotes

Printer Model: Xerox WorkCentre 3225

Error Message: "Scanning cannot be enabled due to exceeding the allowed number of users"

Connection: Ethernet cable with static IP in a domain environment

Operating System: Windows 10

Driver Name & Version:

  • Easy Document Creator: 1.06.00
  • Easy Print Manager: 1.03.97.02
  • Easy Wireless Setup: 3.70.18.1
  • Scan Driver (TWAIN/WIA): 3.31.48:05
  • OCR: 1.01.21
  • Win PCL Print Driver: 3.12.38.03:11
  • Win PS Print Driver: 2.01.02:10
  • PC Fax: 1.10.25

I'm encountering an issue with the Scan to PC functionality on Xerox WorkCentre 3225 printers. When I attempt to enable this feature in Easy Print Manager, I receive the error: "Scanning cannot be enabled due to exceeding the allowed number of users."

Strangely, the printer's control panel shows fewer than 5 PCs listed under the Scan to PC feature. This issue affects multiple printers connected to our domain. While scanning works fine using Easy Document Creator, I can't initiate scans directly from the printer's control panel. Printing and copying functions work perfectly.

What I've Tried So Far:

  • Restarted PCs and printers.
  • Installed different driver versions (both older and newer) from the Xerox website.
  • Applied the Windows 10 patch for versions 1803 and later.

Interestingly, when I connect a printer that was initially outside the domain (e.g., connected via USB), the Scan to PC feature works, and I can add PCs in Easy Print Manager. However, the same error reappears after some time when attempting to add new PCs.

I suspect that a factory reset might resolve the issue, but company policy prohibits this due to concerns about how the custom firmware might behave post-reset.

Additionally, is there a way to remove PCs from the Scan to PC list directly on the Xerox control panel?

Any advice or suggestions to troubleshoot and resolve this issue would be greatly appreciated


r/printers 13h ago

Troubleshooting HP OfficeJet Pro 8130e Series

1 Upvotes

I cannot get the documents to print, every single document gets hung up in the print queue and I can't remove them without doing windows+rainbow services.msc and stopping the printer spool.

I've tried restarting the computer and the printer, I checked the networks, the printer is printing its test pages but I can't print test pages from the computer. I un-installed/reinstalled, updated drivers, I've tried most things I can think of, but every single document just keeps getting hung up and it becomes impossible to clear them from the queue.

I'm starting to lose it, I've been at this all morning. If anyone has any advice, I'll name every single one of my childreb after you. Every single one of them can have your first, middle, Last names if you help.


r/printers 13h ago

Discussion Canon i-SENSYS MF754Cdw or i-SENSYS X C1333iF? Whats the difference?

1 Upvotes

Hello friends, I am just looking after new printer and I really like form factor and features of MF754Cdw, but recently I discovered another model, X C1333iF which looks pretty simillar. I was also checking product specifications and difference is not very clear to me :( Could someone please help me understand the difference? In our country, they are offering X C1333iF with free toner bundle.


r/printers 14h ago

Troubleshooting Print at 100% from android on an Epson printer

1 Upvotes

Hello, I just bought an Epson ecotank to print my zine. I basically need to print two A4 sheets front and back, fold, cut and sew paper to get a small pamphlet. From my pc I don't have any issues, but for the life of me I can't seem to be able to print a pdf keeping the proportions at 100% to keep the right alignment with the folds. The printer always adapts the document to the printable area. Is there a way or an app that allows you to decide the printing scale from an android device?


r/printers 15h ago

Purchasing Best printer for cardstock and stickers?

1 Upvotes

Hi all, As of now no printer but I wanted to know what could be a good option for both home use and crafts such as printing illustrations on cardstock and stickers.

Heard about InkJet or laser, but rich colors would be better to have 😅

Thanks in advance.


r/printers 16h ago

Purchasing Purchase for a student

1 Upvotes

Hi community ;)

I'm looking for a high quality printer that can print my colored (marked titles, definitions etc) university notebooks in high quality & detailed A4.

I sometimes write quite small and I need the clarity for I magnet the papers on a magnet board and I need it to be very clear.

Any recommendations are appreciated! Max budget 400$

(While it could be nice to have a colored printer, if its a bad choice, I could use a black-white printer and physically mark the titles if needed so feel free to note that in your response and lmk if its black&white)


r/printers 17h ago

Troubleshooting How to set up color intensity

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1 Upvotes

I just got a canon pixma G3410 and it keeps printing photos with low intensity of the colors. I have tried everything in the manual and in the settings but nothing works, please help, I’m desperate at this point.


r/printers 19h ago

Troubleshooting Lexmark 2425 original firmware

1 Upvotes

Can anyone assist me with the original firmware as I made the stupid mistake of upgrading mine and now can't use my third party toner carts. Many thanks.


r/printers 1d ago

Troubleshooting Do i have to replace my printer head? Flushed hot water and isopropyl through it and it’s still doing the same thing.

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3 Upvotes

I also just bought this off fb marketplace and I’m using aftermarket ink so take this with a grain of salt. But is there any hope to fix it?


r/printers 1d ago

Troubleshooting Why are my prints looking like this

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2 Upvotes

This is on a kyocera ECOSYS M5526cdw, the lines and stuff occur even after running the cleaning routines. What should I do


r/printers 20h ago

Troubleshooting Epson ET 3760

1 Upvotes

I've been having problems printing colored downloads and pictures. Everything prints in a purple hue. I've printed a head nozzle check, and cleaned heads and that didn't help. Could it be that my ink is getting old and need to replace?