HP wants you to print things through its cloud service, wherein you pay a subscription fee for ink and your usage is routed through its servers. To encourage you to do this, it covers the USB port …
HP wants you to print things through its cloud service, wherein you pay a subscription fee for ink and your usage is routed through its servers. To encourage you to do this, it covers the USB port …
Not to defend HP[1], but if you look closely at the picture, the sticker has an arrow suggesting you to peel off the sticker. I would still say that the intentions of even putting this sticker there is malicious though.
[1]: I've also been "scammed" by HP. I have a DeskJet 2130 bought more than 5 years ago. (I guess you could say it was from before HP went greedy.) It was under only very light use (occasional school stuff that needed to be printed out). Every time I came back to the printer after not using the printer for several months, the ink cartridges would have dried out. I would swap them out because they wouldn't work even after shaking, none the wiser that half of the "empty" cartridges probably could have been revived by wiping it with a tissue. (I discovered this only 1 year ago when I tried it.)
Inkjet printers need to be used regularly, or go through several cleaning prints (which are features of HP printers). That's not HP scamming you, that's just how inkjet printers are...
That said, IMO, most people are infrequent printers and would be better served by a laser printer. Toner doesn't dry out. I have had a brother laser printer for 3-4 years now and haven't had to change the toner once. Every time I need to print something, it fires right up, and prints it without a fuss.