r/printers • • Dec 19 '24

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

147 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 • • 1h ago

Purchasing have a brother b&w laser but want to print color

• Upvotes

I like to print small stickers, but I want to have color in them. I don't like sharing my files with a printing service, and don't have any libraries near. I heard inktanks clog if you don't print everyday and I don't printer everyday, but laser color printers are expensive.

Edit: Idc how expensive it is


r/printers • • 4h ago

Purchasing Bought a HP 5700dn with storage stand for home use but got some questions

0 Upvotes

I bought a 5700dn that was on sale for 1049 which for what you are getting seems like a nice deal, added a printer stand that has wheels and a nice paper/etc.. bought premium 32 paper to print with for reports, documents, occasional photos. So far really impressed with this printer its damn fast and the quality real nice, surprisingly photos come out nice.

This printer Says made in Japan but then I read concerns regarding reliability since HP bought Samsung but those are made in China.

I seem a bit confused with that, is it some models are. made in Japan(Canon?) and others made in China(Samsung) I also notice a warning on the website that This printer is not for residential use?

I did not have to install any intrusive drivers etc my Mac found it and just installed an "AirPrint" driver. Its really is nice using an "Enterprise" printer so for my home use etc.. I would imagine it should last quite a while. And this price is it because its being discontinued because it seems like a lot of printer for the money.

It just prints when I need to print so far no hassles and it's damn quick so far I like it. Anything I should concern myself with reliability. I do have it on a large UPS to protect it from brownouts etc..


r/printers • • 5h ago

Troubleshooting Canon MG3620 does not recognize cartridges

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1 Upvotes
  • Printer Model: Canon MG3620
  • Error Message: Support Code: 1401 / The following ink cartridge cannot be recognized: Color, Black
  • Ethernet Cable, WiFi or USB: USB
  • Driver name and version: It just says "Canon MG3600 series Printer"?
  • Firmware Version: Can't find it. Canon's guide says to print the information, but for obvious reasons that's not feasible
  • OS: Windows 10
  • of machines impacted: 1
  • of users impacted: 1
  • Original or 3rd party cartridges: both

Hey, first post here, but I'm at my wit's end.

I have a Canon Pixma MG3620. Had it for years. I've had my issues and frustrations, but usually when it acts up I can get it to work after a bit of Googling and troubleshooting.

Not tonight.

I haven't needed to use it for about two months, so it's been off all that time. Tonight I turned it on to print something out, and got an error message I'd never seen before:

Support Code: 1401

The following ink cartridge cannot be recognized: Color, Black

This was confusing since I've used the printer with these cartridges before without issue. I tried removing and reinstalling the cartridges, but that did nothing. So I went to Google to start troubleshooting.

It was recommended that I clean the connectors. I did, and it changed nothing.

It was recommended that I turn off and unplug the printer for at least 15 minutes. I did, and it changed nothing.

It was recommended that I hold down the stop button until the alert light flashed. Problem here was that the alert light was already flashing (along with the CL and BK lights; all three flash in bursts of 5), and holding down Stop did nothing. In fact, the only button on my printer that seems to do anything is the power button. I also tried the WiFi button in an attempt to remove it from the network and re-add it. It appears that the unrecognized ink cartridges take precedence over everything else.

The one thing I tried that did anything at all was replacing a cartridge. I didn't have any extra color cartridges, but I did have a new black, so I swapped that out. Immediately, the error changed to only listing the color cartridge as not recognized. This was weird, because the color cartridge in there is OEM, but the black is third party. Anyway, it was a moot point, because next time I restarted the printer, it went back to not recognizing either cartridge.

I am baffled and frustrated. I don't know what changed to cause this problem, and I don't know how to fix it. Has the printer simply gone bad? If anybody has any insights at all, please, help me out! Thank you in advance.


r/printers • • 5h ago

Troubleshooting Printer:HP INK TANK 310 Series (PRINTING COMMAND NOT WORKING)

1 Upvotes

Printer: HP ink tank 319 series

Product no.:z6z13a

Connection type: USB cable

OS: windows 10

Problem: my pc is 'apparently' sending the print jobs but my printer is not accepting (?) it.

The pc showing that the print is done as in successful but no print out came.

Normal photocopy is working properly, so I think the printer is ok? The ink, print head and hardware is fine ig

But anything sent from the pc fails

What I've tried:

Remove and re-adding the printer

Also updated the USB drivers.

It would be really nice if someone helped me out

Thank uu

Update: I Thinks its the usb fault not connecting and communicating to it, I actually saw a post of the same dude who had the problem but no solution. please help


r/printers • • 7h ago

Troubleshooting Canon Pixma g3110

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1 Upvotes

hello first sorry english its not my first lenguage but i need help, bc i buy this printer liker 1 week ago and now the black ink is like green but only on papers that are not the normal one (i was using glossy paper), i alredy clean Print Head Cleaning and Deep Cleaning so if anyone have something please help :D


r/printers • • 8h ago

Troubleshooting Brother DCLP2640-DW phantom scans

1 Upvotes

I like everything else about this printer but it's like it's haunted! If it's on, it scans maybe 12-100 times an hour. I print intermittently through the day so turning it on & off with this crummy little button is no fun. Has anyone experienced this or found a fix?


r/printers • • 8h ago

Other Mi pc no reconoce mi impresora brother dcp t530dw

1 Upvotes

Necesito ayudaaa :( mi computador no reconoce mi impresora y si lo hace es solo cuando se le da la gana.

Me la reconoció por un momento después de desisntalar e instalar los drivers pero después ya no. Está conectada a través de cable usb. (La prefiero a través de cable para que la calidad de impresión no cambie)


r/printers • • 16h ago

Purchasing Looking for the most simple but good quality printer

3 Upvotes

I am looking for the most simple printer out there. I don't even need wifi on it. I just want to connect the usb to my linux desktop and print word documents and the occasional shipping label. I can be persuaded either way on ink or toner. I'm just tired of paying between $20-$60 on a printer and it lasting a few years with lots of troubleshooting early on. So I'm willing to pay for quality but simplicity. Thanks!


r/printers • • 10h ago

Troubleshooting Help with this printer

1 Upvotes

I just got this printer today and it was able to complete one test document, and now it just sits there making a bunch of noise whenever I try to print anything


r/printers • • 15h ago

Purchasing Which laser printer to buy?

2 Upvotes

Dear, I want to buy a laser printer, duplex, only black and white, if it is not multifunctional. I'm not a hard user, but I just want my family and kids to be calm for the next 10-15 years. I will only buy replacement toners in the future (I can't afford the original which is 5-10x more expensive). 

I looked at the ads in my state and this works for my budget:

  1. HP LaserJet Pro 400 M401dn - €90

    Touchscreen

    20,000 pages printed so far

    It comes with a new replacement toner declared for 2300 prints

  2. Hp 400 m401dne - €80

    18500 printed pages so far

    It comes with a new replacement toner declared for 2300 prints

  3. Hp 400 m402dne - €125

    3000 pages printed so far

    It comes with a new original toner declared for 9000 prints

  4. HP M402dN - €100

    5000 pages printed so far

    It comes with a new replacement toner declared for 3000 prints

  5. HP M404dn - €110

    23500 printed pages so far

    It comes with a new replacement toner declared for 3000 prints

    In my country, for all these printers there are new replacement toners, with and without chip (various brands), with replacement toner in the big "X" version, where the printing price for all of them is below 0.002€/page.

    I'm buying a printer for the first time, I'm asking the experienced to tell me what I should get, and of course to state the reason why?

    Can you also specify which model I should avoid and why?

    I searched a lot of ads, there are various Brother printers, Xerox, HP, Canon, etc., but they did not respond because of  e.g. budget, a large number of printed pages, no duplex, color version, multifunctional, etc.

    That's why I narrowed down the choice to these 5 models. It's not an urgent purchase for me.

    Thank you.


r/printers • • 11h ago

Discussion DT film recs for f1070

1 Upvotes

What is everyone using? Lots of options but not sure where to start


r/printers • • 19h ago

Troubleshooting My canon G3730 just bought and it shows this error

4 Upvotes

I feel so bad that I bought something and I cannot use it


r/printers • • 12h ago

Troubleshooting Brother inkjet printer prints very slowly from my phone

1 Upvotes

I wanted to connect my phone to this new printer and although I had some problems cause my room doesn't have wifi and I use mobile data, I managed to do it, yay. Here's the problem, it prints super slowly and I know that's not normal.

The printer model is Brother Inkjet DCP-T420W.

Also if anyone has any advice on how to connect to my laptop, which uses linux, CachyOS, to be exact, I would really appreciate it! I tried a few things and I can find it as an option when I want to print something, but everything I try to send to it gets stuck as pending.


r/printers • • 12h ago

Troubleshooting My printer is jammed and these two things fell out when I tried to fix it

Thumbnail gallery
1 Upvotes

Ok so I tried printing like 5 pages and one came out fine rest got jammed so I pulled those out. But it still said it was jammed but nothing was, so I printed another random thing but then that became stuck in the printer again. Now it’s saying the printer is jammed when there’s nothing stuck. Help pls
Also the tiny little stick is a spring, and idk what the second thing is


r/printers • • 18h ago

Purchasing DIY greeting cards

3 Upvotes

Looking to make our own greeting cards in color. Probably want to go up to 80 lb cover cardstock. Aren’t a lot of options in a home office price range. And it’s frustrating not being able to test one out to see how the cards would turn out. Anyone have experience with this, or suggestions please? Thanks.


r/printers • • 13h ago

Troubleshooting How can I accurately measure how much ink it takes to print 1 page?

1 Upvotes

I'm printing cyanotype negatives on inkjet transparency films using my home inkjet printer (Epson Eco tank L6190 - black pigment ink and dye CMY ink). I want to know how much ink it uses per page so that I can price my cyanotypes accurately. in comparison, a local print shop charges 1 Peso (~60 USD) per square inch if I print my negatives at them. I want to be able to accurately compare which option will cost me more. Thanks!


r/printers • • 13h ago

Troubleshooting PIXMA IP 8750/8750

1 Upvotes

Good evening, everyone.

I have a Canon PIXMA iP8750 that has been working perfectly until today.

This morning, after printing a few pages, I noticed that the printer was feeding the next sheet incorrectly. Instead of entering straight, the paper was being pulled in at an angle, causing it to crumple and triggering an error.

I opened the front cover to see what was happening and noticed that the paper was getting stuck on one side before it could pass completely through the final paper guide and reach the print head, as shown in the attached photo.

Since this happened, the same problem occurs every time I try to print.

I have already inspected the printer visually, but I can't see anything obviously wrong. Could there be some paper debris, dust, or dirt inside the paper path that is causing this? Or could something in the paper-feed mechanism have become misaligned or damaged?

Has anyone experienced a similar problem with the iP8750? If so, were you able to fix it?

I'm also wondering whether this is something I can safely try to repair myself, or whether it would be better to have the printer serviced. Given the age of the printer, I'm not sure whether professional repair would be worthwhile.

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!


r/printers • • 14h ago

Troubleshooting Dell C3765dnf printer making grinding sounds

1 Upvotes

Y'all - I am banging my head against the wall here. I have this Dell c3765dnf color laser MFP. I recently put in new toner, new drums, and a new fuser (the old one was end of life). Soon after I put in the new items, it began making these 'grinding' sounds. See attached video. And now pages print very oddly. I have contacted the seller of the fuser (it's a refurb) -- and they keep saying it can't be the fuser. But when I put my ear to the printer, it sounds like it's coming from there. I'll put the sample pages in the comments. Has anyone seen this or familiar? I've stupidly wasted hundreds of dollars replacing the consumables and it worked great for a minute but now it's not.


r/printers • • 14h ago

Troubleshooting Having trouble connecting my canon printer to my pc

1 Upvotes

Every time it gets tp the MP downloading it says theres an intiliation faliure everythibg before that including actually conecting the two devices seems to go fine is it because theres not enough space on my computer?


r/printers • • 1d ago

Purchasing Glad I bought a laser printer

17 Upvotes

In March, I bought a Brother L2320D, mainly to print lines and dots for notebooks. I spent a long time researching whether to buy a laser printer or an inkjet, but after several months, I'm grateful I bought the laser one because it's been about 3 months since the last time I printed.

I bought that specific model because in my country the newer one was quite a bit more expensive, and I couldn't find toner at a reasonable price for it—that's why I went with this one.


r/printers • • 16h ago

Purchasing Brother DCP L2550 DW - Secondhand still worth it to buy in 2026?

1 Upvotes

Hello everyone! I am a student on a tight budget. Came across a Brother DCP L2550 DW for $50 used. It supports what I need.

My requirements:
Automatic Duplex Printing
Monochrome Laser Printer (I do not want an ink tank)
Able to Scan documents

However, my concerns are it's quite an old model in 2026, I'm afraid it will breakdown. The previous owner has had it for 3-4 years. I will have to replace the drum and cartilage if I do purchase it. Isit still worth it in 2026? To support a printing needs of a college student.

(I had a HP M141W Previously and it was an absolute nightmare since it had no automatic duplex printing)


r/printers • • 20h ago

Purchasing Canon GI-26 INK / INKJET Cartridge Set

2 Upvotes

Having trouble finding ink sets for Canon GI-26 ink. Found 1 website (lovetoner.com) but looking for others. Also, does 3rd party ink work for this printer?


r/printers • • 20h ago

Troubleshooting HP OfficeJet Pro 9015e

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2 Upvotes

I can’t get rid of these weird lines when I print photos


r/printers • • 17h ago

Discussion Is Epson L8050 worth it?

1 Upvotes

Hi,
Is epson l8050 a good printer for a photo key chain printing business? Today we printed some pictures using L8050 but wasn’t satisfied with the outcome. I shared images via whatsapp and used it on a canvas template. The paper which it was printed on was from the Brand Akruti. Please guide us on how we have better quality prints.