HP Wants You to Sign up for Your Next Printer

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Inkjet printers have sucked for as long as they’ve been around. It is difficult to maintain constant communication with them, and they always run out of ink. They are the bane of any home office: if you hit the print button, you need to be mentally prepared for some problems.

HP’s vision for the future is… different, to say the least. Instead of pushing you into buying one of their expensive, anti-consumer printers, they’d rather lease it to you through their ” HP All-In Plan ” service. And if you try to cancel your subscription, you’ll regret not buying the printer right from the start.

What is the HP All-In Plan?

HP’s new subscription service essentially lets you rent a printer. You pay a monthly subscription fee and with it you get a choice of three HP printers: HP Envy, HP Envy Inspire or HP OfficeJet Pro.

With the printer, HP also sets up automatic ink supply: When you set up an All-Inclusive plan, you choose how much ink you need per month, and whether you want color or black-and-white printing. (Both cost the same.) When your printer detects that you’re low on ink, it sends a request to HP, which then sends you the ink. So, if you thought it was annoying when your printer stopped working when it ran out of ink, imagine how fun it would be if the printer always decided when you needed more ink!

To be fair, you get 24/7 customer support, and if there’s anything wrong with your printer, you can request a replacement with next day delivery.

How much does the HP All-In plan cost?

Depending on which printer you choose, the starting subscription price will vary:

  • HP Envy ($6.99/month)

  • HP Envy Inspire ($8.99/month)

  • HP OfficeJet Pro ($12.99/month)

However, this is only the starting price. From here, you need to choose a monthly page limit. Each plan comes with a default of 20 pages per month, which is ridiculously low for those who print a reasonable amount. From here the amounts increase depending on the plan:

  • HP ENVY

    • Light: 20 pages for $6.99 per month.

    • Periodically: 50 pages for $8.99 per month.

    • Moderate: 100 pages for $10.99 per month.

    • Frequently: 300 pages for $16.99 per month.

  • HP ENVY Inspires

    • Light: 20 pages for $8.99 per month.

    • Periodically: 50 pages for $10.99 per month.

    • Moderate: 100 pages for $12.99 per month.

    • Frequently: 300 pages for $18.99 per month.

    • Frequent Plus: 500 pages for $25.99 per month.

    • Business: 700 pages for $31.99 per month.

  • HP OfficeJet Pro – 1 to 24 months

    • Light: 20 pages for $12.99 per month.

    • Periodically: 50 pages for $14.99 per month. Moderate: 100 pages for $16.99 per month. Frequently: 300 pages for $22.99 per month.

    • Frequent Plus: 500 pages for $29.99 per month.

    • Business: 700 pages for $35.99 per month.

    • Business Plus: 1,500 pages for $60.99 per month.

So the more you need to print, the more expensive this agreement becomes. Additionally, if you go over the limit, HP will charge you $1 for every 10 to 15 additional pages, which will be added to your monthly bill. On the other hand, unused pages are carried over to the next month.

While there is a 30-day free trial, you shouldn’t jump into it unless you’re sure of your commitment. If you cancel after the trial period but within 12 months of signing up, you’ll pay $120, $180, or $270 for the HP Envy, Envy Inspire, or OfficeJet Pro, respectively. After 12 months and up to 24 months, you’ll pay $60, $90, and $135, respectively. If you cancel after your two-year subscription, you can do so without paying as long as you return the printer within 10 days.

Is it worth subscribing?

In many ways, a hardware subscription makes some sense. For devices that you tend to upgrade frequently, it may make sense to leave ownership to the company and take advantage of the benefits of “lease.” But that doesn’t mean the printers’ shortcomings will improve with this plan: I imagine you’ll still have ink level issues even if HP delivers ink to you automatically, and depending on how much you print, you may run out you’ll spend more on “page distribution” than if you bought your own printer.

You also need to keep the printer connected to the Internet at all times. Yes. You may have already done this for wireless printing, but if you want to connect your printer to your computer, there’s no need to connect another device to the Internet. HP is constantly monitoring you and may disable service if you disconnect the printer from the Internet. Since the TOS also states that HP owns your non-personal data and may send that data to advertising partners, I advise staying away from this. We’re already being watched too closely: do you really need to transfer the data generated by your printer too?

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