A long-time customer contacted us recently. She wanted us to hook up a new printer with the Instant Ink program. The printer wasn’t purchased yet, and I remembered hearing that Ink Subscription printers weren’t all that great. I asked her to wait, promised to look into it, and would let her know. Here’s what I found:
Programs like the HP Instant Ink are subscription plans. When you get a printer compatible with these programs, you are not just purchasing a printer. You are signing up for a month-to-month subscription to print a set number of pages each month. You’ll receive more ink when the manufacturer determines you need it.
If you print the same number of pages every month, this may be an option to consider. If you print 10 pages one month and 100 the next, this program won’t work for you. In addition, if you discontinue the program, even if the ink is almost full, you won’t be able to use the rest of the ink in those cartridges.
Ink Subscription Error Messages:
There are many online complaints about the service, mostly about how the printer suddenly stops working, with no warning. The error is almost exclusively because a credit card was changed or the printer was disconnected from the network. Here’s an image of one of the error messages:
When Ink Subscriptions Make Sense:
Photographers:
If you print a lot of photos, this could work out for you. Because you are charged by the number of pages, printing color-saturated images counts the same as a resume with lots of white space. The manufacturer monitors your ink/toner levels (through your internet) and will send you new ink when it’s low. Or, if you routinely run out of cyan before you need to replace the black, this could also work for you.
Disorganized People:
Not everyone is complaining about the service. Some people don’t want to remember to buy more ink. Here’s a comment from Reddit:
“My elderly mother had Instant Ink and liked it. She didn’t print much each month, but she did use her printer regularly. She is very forgetful and used to run out of ink all the time before she had instant ink. Mom FELT like she wasn’t spending much because it wasn’t much per month.“
But then the daughter added that it was a more expensive option:
“When that printer died, I convinced her to stop using the service, and I now take care of ordering replacement cartridges. She’s saving money even though she doesn’t feel like it.”
Convenience:
If you print about the same number of pages per month and don’t mind paying a little extra.
Bottom Line:
We can’t recommend ink subscription programs for several reasons:
- The company has easy access to your data, email, physical address, etc. Yes, that information is already “out there”, but if their system gets hacked, hackers can correlate emails with names, credit card numbers, and addresses. (Another reason to set up a throw-away email address for online purchases.)
- It’s inefficient and the Terms are complicated. When I read the HP Pricing terms, it took several readings before I could figure out exactly how pages could be “rolled over” from month to month. For example, if you go on an extended vacation and don’t use your printer for a month or more, you’ll continue to be billed, but you may not be able to roll over all those pages. (It reminds me of when we got our daughter an Audible subscription. We’d buy points every month for her to get a new Audible book because she was driving a lot at the time. The points would expire after a year if they hadn’t been used for a book. It took me a while to realize we were throwing away points every month!)
- Chris likens it to purchasing the printer and leasing the ink. HP owns the ink and the cartridge right until the ink is printed. If you change your credit card without telling them or turn off your wifi, HP will discontinue service to your printer right away.
- It’s more expensive. For example, the “Frequent Printing” plan is $14/month and lets you print up to 300 pages each month. You can purchase an HP 138X Black cartridge for $133 and print 4000 pages. At 300 pages/month, that would last about 13 months. The same 13 months on the HP plan would be $182. (Prices as of 15 January 2025.)
- If you’re over the limit on your credit card and HP can’t charge you, they will discontinue service to your printer, and you won’t be able to print.
- If you’re off-grid, you won’t be able to use this program.
And our customer?
Here is what they ended up purchasing:
More Info About Ink Subscriptions:
Are you curious about Ink Subscription Program? Here are some links with more information:
- HP Instant Ink Program
- HP Plans & Pricing
- HP Terms – Read Sections 6 and 7 carefully
- More Reddit complaints
- Brother Refresh EZ Print Subscription
- Brother Refresh Plans & Pricing
Printer Problems:
Printers have, unfortunately, turned into are disposable appliances. It costs more to fix than replace a printer. Software problems are fixable. Customers frequently call us with those types of problems. With physical issues, purchasing a new printer is just more cost-effective. Here’s a blog I wrote a few years ago about some common printer problems.
If you do need to get a new printer, make sure you understand what you are buying. Remember, even if you get a printer compatible with an ink subscription plan, you don’t need to sign up for it. (It will mean throwing away the ink/toner that came with the printer.) We do recommend setting up a throw-away email for these types of subscriptions. Let us know if you need help setting up a new printer or connecting it to your network!
INFORMATION ABOUT GEEK FOR HIRE, INC.
Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has provided computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PCs for the past twenty-plus years. You can find more on our website, or give us a call. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3 support) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area and remote service throughout North America.
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Note that when I purchased this one, it had 4 stars. I’m writing this two months later and it’s down to 3.3 stars.
MagSafe Car Mount Charger – Get This One!
The MagSafe Charger lists for $30 and received an average of 4.1 stars from 52 reviewers. It works specifically with the iPhone MagSafe system. This model will also charge your phone while it’s on the magnetic holder, so that’s a plus! The magnetic holder is charged via a USB-C cable that lights it up with pretty colors when the phone isn’t on it.
This one is my favorite and the one I use today. My only knock is that when the car is parked and the windshield gets hot, the holder falls off. Sometimes it lands on the floor and picks up pieces of grit on the sticky side.