HP pilots paper delivery service for Instant Ink subscribers
- Reference: 1654777806
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/06/09/hp_pilots_paper_delivery_service/
- Source link:
The world is going to print fewer and fewer pages now that [1]employees work from both the office and home , so achieving a greater "share of wallet", as it is often referred to by tech execs, is top of mind for print vendors.
According to IDC, some [2]2.8 trillion pages were printed in 2020 , down 14 percent year-on-year (or 450 million fewer sheets) but it may recover to some degree.
[3]
"The amount of printing in the office will be around 80 percent of what we were projecting it to be before the pandemic started," Enrique Lores, CEO at HP, told attendees of the Cowan 50th Annual Technology, Media and Telecom Conference.
[4]
[5]
"There's going to be an impact because with fewer people in the offices there will be fewer pages printed in the office," he added.
That 80 percent is subject to change, and could be revised downwards. It is not certain how many people will return to their offices and the frequency at which they do.
[6]
HP changed tack in 2020 to [7]rebalance profitability between print hardware and supplies following a drop in its bottom line and a proliferation of consumables remanufacturers. Ink was traditionally where HP made the lion's share of its profits.
Lores told the conference that HP had been "losing money with close to 25 percent of our customers.".
The solution? It raised the upfront price of hardware for customers that do not want to use HP-branded supplies and made printers that [8]locked out non-HP consumables, meaning users couldn't load up off-brand toner. This is known as HP+, and gives customers one of these two options across the portfolio.
[9]
The heavy promotion of subscriptions has grown the installed base of Instant Ink customers to 11 million worldwide from 8 million 18 months ago. Lores said he sees Instant Ink "as one of the most exciting and more rewarding things from an investor perspective."
He added: "[W]hen we shift customers to the Instant Ink model, the subscription model… we make more money per customer. It's also a better value proposition for the customer. So it's a win-win for both. And we make sure that this customer is always using HP supplies. So really our goal is to shift as many consumers as we can to the subscription model."
Between 20 to 30 percent of new customers are buying printing in this way but HP would like that figure to be closer to 50 to 60 percent.
"It's very critical," Lores added, "not only because of the impact it has in the Print business, but also because of… making more money per customer, also because it's now a platform to sell additional services."
[10]Epson payments snafu leaves subscribers unable to print
[11]Instant Ump: HP Inc's subscription ink services hiking prices from next month
[12]Canon: Chip supplies are so bad that our ink cartridges will look as though they're fakes
[13]BOFH : Where do you think you are going with that toner cartridge?
[14]HP bows to pressure, reinstates free monthly ink plan... for existing customers
And those services? A new one was piloted last quarter.
"We have been testing now the service of delivering paper to these customers, which is another key value proposition because if you print at home having to go buy paper [is] heavy, very painful, and we are going to be delivering that."
He added: "And this is just an example of additional services that we are going to be building on top of the platform. And for every service, we will increase the amount of money that we make per customer."
HP said this will be scaled in the following months.
The Register has asked HP for more details of the pilot, including where it is taking place, what other services is HP preparing and where the paper is sourced.
Readers may be wondering if HP paper is competitive with market rates. The cost of print ink from all of the branded vendors is not cheap, costing on average [15]286 percent more than third party alternatives . ®
Get our [16]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/08/work_rebalanced/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/05/idc_pages_printed_in_2020/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YqIZImxeEeQZ-qAn-N8IFQAAAMY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YqIZImxeEeQZ-qAn-N8IFQAAAMY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YqIZImxeEeQZ-qAn-N8IFQAAAMY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YqIZImxeEeQZ-qAn-N8IFQAAAMY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/26/hp_says_its_cutting_back/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/10/canon_ink_chip_supplies/
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YqIZImxeEeQZ-qAn-N8IFQAAAMY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/21/epson_payments_issue/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/27/instant_ump_hps_subscription_ink/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/10/canon_ink_chip_supplies/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/27/bofh_2022_episode_10/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/17/hp_reinstates_free_tier_printing_plan/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/26/which_printer_ink_costs_survey/
[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Paper isn't required due to the cost of ink
Given the propensity for HP inkjets to clog up and dry out (particularly with low usage), I would tend to agree that the paper will outlast the printer - happened with my last one.
having to go buy paper [is] heavy, very painful
Is it heck as like. You can buy paper cheaply from many high street stores or supermarkets. If you need a lot, you tend to buy it from a proper stationary supplier who also deliver it. Personally I'm still using paper I bought more than a decade ago as I print far less nowadays. Ink isn't a problem either as I ditched HP completely and bought a Brother laser printer as very few prints really needed to be in colour anyway. The laser printer toners last forever and aren't expensive.
What's next - tiny barcodes or other ID on HP printer paper and non-HP branded paper is rejected by the printer? Just how much are HP customers prepared to be screwed over before they vote with their feet?
Re: having to go buy paper [is] heavy, very painful
Yup. We moved to a B/W Brother MFC unit. Works under most OS in the house (the printing from some Android phones is quite hit and miss, GNU/Linux works, Windows as well...). We bought a box (5x500 sheets?) of A$ a few years back. I think we are on the 2nd ream of that. Printing just does not happen as frequently any more. Mostly colouring pictures for the kids during lock down (dinosaurs!).
Re: having to go buy paper [is] heavy, very painful
"A$"
A$ also being useful as a string variable in Basic.
Re: having to go buy paper [is] heavy, very painful
I bought an HP LJ Pro MF478 a few years ago.
About two years ago it started to warn me that the toners were low so I bought a set of genuine ones. I chose genuine for two reasons - firstly to maintain the free three year on site warranty it came with and secondly because I've previously had issues with non branded ones that ended up trashing a printer.
I haven't fitted them yet - I don't print loads but I do print.
I think these new toners will outlive the printer at this rate.
Re: having to go buy paper [is] heavy, very painful
s/stationary/stationery/
-> What's next - tiny barcodes or other ID on HP printer paper and non-HP branded paper is rejected by the printer?
This sort of thing is already happening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJs9_xELKbI.
"Readers may be wondering if HP paper is competitive with market rates"
They might also wonder about the quality and the specifications. We use five different paper types for different purposes, and have found it pays to buy mid-price rather than the cheapest, but always from known paper manufacturers. I'd bet that HP don't make their own paper but buy it in from who knows who.
own goal?
> So really our goal is to shift as many consumers as we can to the subscription model.
Whenever a corporation says this, you can be sure that it is in THEIR best interests, not those of its customers. For us, the best strategy is to go in the opposite direction.
And the best opposite direction is to use a different supplier.
Re: own goal?
sireley they meant
"shaft as many cutomers as we can"?
Re: own goal?
Whenever a corporation says this, you can be sure that it is in THEIR best interests, not those of its customers. For us, the best strategy is to go in the opposite direction.
And the best opposite direction is to use a different supplier.
Adobe, is that one? LOL
Manager Logic ...
"… we make more money per customer. It's also a better value proposition for the customer."
Who can spot the unique manager logic in that sentence? They are not lying of course , ... just basing their logic on some unspecified 'value', i.e., not having to carry the paper must be worth, like, 3 cent per page, amIright?
Re: Manager Logic ...
Naturally ignoring the fact that the average home user probably buys less than 1000 sheets of A4 per year.
If we say a 500 sheet 80 gsm pack weighs 2.5 Kg... it's not really that much of a ballache to move it from a supermarket trolley into a car, then into the house.... twice per year.
Great Printer Reset
You will not own the printer and you'll be happy.
Honestly, if you are stuck with HP printer, go recycle it and buy something like Brother laser printer.
I paid for mine 50 quid used ages ago and only last year had to change toner and paid like 35 quid delivered.
In comparison to ink printers, you'll feel you can print until the cows come home and not worry about anything running out.
HP Printers
Used to rock! Some were built like one too! Glad I didn't buy a printer from HP the last time I needed one...
HP PaaS
Printer as a Service
That is the next big HP thing. You select HP's new internet connected printer driver "Print to Drone Delivery" and press OK. Then, with a drone, the paper literally comes flying in. Coming to an area near you soon.
Careless wishes
Between 20 to 30 percent of new customers are buying printing in this way but HP would like that figure to be closer to 50 to 60 percent.
I would increase the price to non-subscription new customers until I drove three quarters of them to competitors.
"The world is going to print fewer and fewer pages now that employees work from both the office and home"
Now that I work from home and can't print for free at the office any more, you're right.
It's also a lot harder to pilfer paper and other office supplies. A lot less satisfying too, stealing it from your own home.
More seriously I've had an HP instant ink thing for about 2 years now - that's how much free instant ink came with it. It cost about £60 for the printer/scanner combo. It's about to run out of credit, and I'm sad to say that I'll probably pick up a new printer with another 2 years of instant ink. Appalling for the environment, I accept, but sadly true.
Now that I work from home and can't print for free at the office any more, you're right.
I suspect you're not alone in this. In the past I used to print things like flight tickets, vouchers etc... because it was "free" to do it at work.
Now that I'm paying for the ink on my low yield HP Deskjet I'm much more inclined to not bother and use apps/websites that let me scan a QR code for the ticket, or view whatever it was I might have printed in the past like insurance documents.
Ironically this is actually the desired effect because the world frankly could do with printing a lot less. I'm almost in support of what HP are doing if it drives away customers to the point where nobody has any need for a printer in their home. In an office environment I doubt printers will go for decades... but for home users it's a different matter.
"free" instant ink? How much have you been paying for the subscription?
Paper isn't required due to the cost of ink
See title.
No, really. I bought a new HP Deskjet only a year ago. One official HP cartridge for it yields less than 200 pages of A4.
I have a pack of 500 sheets of A4 paper that I bought from Tesco for about 3 quid. I don't think I'll be running out *paper* any time soon since I can't really afford to print stuff due to the cost of the ink...
In fact I'd go as far to say that the paper I have bought will outlast the printer.