HP printer USB port covered with warning sticker in hopes you won't use it | Boing Boing

EU needs to get their shit together and clamp down on this, absolute abomination of a company

Like 15 years ago I bought the cheapest Brother laser printer. It's still going strong. The ink never dries out or fucks up. I've never felt like the company was trying to rape my asshole. Why anyone still plays the ink jet game I do not fuckin know. I've boycotted HP decades ago and to this day I continue to see reasons to never change that decision.

JFC! HP sucks. Just buy a Brother laser printer used and never worry about it because it's bulletproof and a workhorse.

The original mastodon post that kicked off this controversy: https://haunted.computer/@netspooky/110832978569741892

Kinda baffling that anyone's still buying HP - isn't it common knowledge that they're one of the worst printer brands?

A gentle reminder to those coming in to complain about their prior printers: In some areas, libraries have a computer area where you can print out a reasonable number of pages. It's not totally convenient, but generally a far better option than maintaining your own cartridge-muncher.

Never buying HP printers again, not after I got a Brother one last year. It works OOTB even with linux and there's no such lockdown bullshit.

Wtf is going on with printers market

https://boingboing.net/2023/08/04/hp-printer-usb-port-covered-with-warning-sticker-in-hopes-you-wont-use-it.html

I work at a retirement place doing tech. Have had 3 hp printers shit the bed exclusively because of software in the 6 months I've been there. Hp smart is so bad.

Such a shitty company. As most of these people are former professionals they get an hp because they used it at work then get talked into the subscription ink because they aren't 21st century tech savvy.

One printer stopped printing because they did not have the subscription ink. They placed a normal ink cartridge in with a subscription one and the software would not allow printing because it recognized non subscription ink. Disgusting.

So many companies want to enter this subscription hellscape.

DANGER, WILL ROBINSON! Removing this sticker will reveal a consumer-friendly communications port that will deprive HP of even more money than it's already milking you for with overpriced ink!

I have been contemplating abandoning my HP (with instant ink subscription) for an Epson Ecotank. Stuff like this isn’t convincing me to stay. My subscription has already risen to $80 a year, so the value is gone.

People will still buy it when they suffer economically or techonological ignorance. If there was another system where people could vote on a business death penalty.. HP and other printer IP holders have already earned my vote.

Wow, HP. Way to make even Lexmark look like a paragon of corporate virtue in the home printer market.

For the love of the old gods what kind of Lovecraftian horror is this

I have a m11 laser printer. I bought the compatible laser cilinder thingy with a tiger and a green box because hp laser ink is double the price.

So far I have no problems with printing. Aside from the fact that hp puts an exclamation after each print with the prompt: DANGER! COUNTERFEIT INK CARTRIDGE InstALLED!

Ok man I’ll be careful so it doesn’t explode. Only because it’s not the proprietary ink…. Hope I didn’t give them any ideas…

Permanently Deleted

Yet another reason I’m glad I got my Canon Pixima 5000 series a while back. Individual cheap replacement ink carts with no electronics in them. I can (and have) buy 5 sets of carts for $20 that last me years.

If it wasn’t for photos, I’d have picked up a cheap laser printer.

I switched to a brother laser printer last year and will never go back to a hp or Epson, especially ink.

I've been really happy with my samsung laser printer - bought it 10+ years ago, works flawlessly to this day

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.)

I have a question about that. It's a US thing, isn't it?

I had to install one for a relative and I never needed an app or software or connecting the printer to internet. I simply ran the windows tool and it installed the drivers while the printers couldn't access the internet. Everything works perfectly. But, I'm in Europe.

No link to the story?

What's stopping some printer company from being nice and pleasant?

Is us, who buy the cheapest model in the store without considering maintenance cost?

Country make atomic bomb.

USA invade the country.

"Hide the atomic bomb button with a sticker"

See ? We don't have an atomic bomb.

USA : it seems like it but you got oil tho.

Shit , we forgot to print the "not an oil pump" stickers. We're fucked !