People everywhere rent cars, boats, bikes, suits for weddings, and even camera equipment, but have you ever considered renting a printer? That’s the goal with HP’s new “All-In” subscription service that’ll cost anywhere from $7 to $36 per month.
HP has launched its new printer subscription service, and specific aspects of the program sound pretty wild. While the thought of always having a working printer with automatic ink delivery before running out sounds nice, do you really need another subscription service?
You can think of HP’s new printer rental plans like smartphones and carriers from a few years ago. HP wants to lock you into a 2-year rental agreement, then, similar to having a set amount of texts, minutes, or data on a phone plan; you’ll only be able to print a certain number of pages per month. And yes, you’ll have to pay up if you go over the limit. You can even upgrade to a new printer after two years. Seriously.
The type of HP printer you get (and how many pages you can print each month) depends on your HP All-In plan, which ranges from $6.99 per month for a decent HP Envy printer (6020e) and 20 printed pages per month. Think of it like a printer plan at home for a family. Additionally, you can jump to a high-powered HP OfficeJet Pro with a 700 print limit for $35.99 per month, which might be best served for a small business. If you have a 200 printed pages limit but print 210, you’ll get charged another $1 for those ten or so extra pages.
Thankfully, HP offers rollover options, where you can save unused prints for the following month. Here’s what the TOS page had to say: “If Your Service Plan entitles you to print fifty (50) pages for a Service Plan Fee of $8.99 and thereafter to pay $1.00 for each multiple of ten (10) pages, and if you print a total of sixty-six (66) pages in a Month Period where you had no Rollover Pages available, then your Payment Method would be charged the Monthly Fee of $8.99 plus $2.00 for additional page blocks, for a total of $10.99, plus Taxes and the remaining 4 pages would go to Rollover Pages.”
While this all sounds a little crazy, to a degree, it makes sense. Almost everyone I know owns a printer, but they’re always out of ink or broken. Then, if you don’t buy HP-certified ink (or any other brand, for that matter), it might not work. Printers are pretty smart these days and know when you’re not using brand-supplied ink. It’s a frustrating experience.
By subscribing to an HP All-In plan, you’ll always have a working printer and ink delivered before you run out. If you experience any problems, they have 24/7 customer support, ship replacements quickly, and make it easy to increase your plan or upgrade to a newer or better printer. However, remember that you’re subscribing to a 2-year plan, and if you want to cancel after the first 30 days but before your two-year rental ends, early termination fees apply.
Furthermore, the printer must be connected to the internet 24/7 so HP can monitor activities and ink levels, offer tech support, and track usage for advertising purposes. If you never want to deal with the hassles of printer ownership again, HP thinks this is the solution.
