Hewlett-Packard said in January 2024 that it dreams of making printing a subscription. Now the company has done just that, with the All-In Plan, which gives HP customers a limited number of printed pages per month for a monthly fee, with a two-year contract lock-in and possible overage fees. The service initially launched in the USA. If HP’s plans are successful there, they will also offer the “All-In Plan” outside the United States.
“The HP All-In Plan is an all-inclusive printing subscription that offers the ultimate convenience – and the dedicated support you need to keep your printer running like new,” claims HP. But you better believe in the value of printing documents regularly, because if you sign up, you’ll be locked into a two-year contract after thirty days.
So when HP CEO Enrique Lorres said in January that the company wanted to make printing a subscription, he wasn’t joking.
“We believe we need to make printing as easy as possible,” Lorres said. “And our long-term goal is to make printing a subscription. That’s what we’re really pushing forward. We know this reduces the hurdles to printing, provides a much more convenient solution for customers and, most importantly, is more sustainable.”
How HP’s All-In Plan printer subscription plan works
HP’s All-In plan is actually pretty simple. Customers essentially choose one of three printers (the HP Envy Printer for $6.99/month and up; the HP Envy Inspire Printer for $8.99/month and up; or the HP OfficeJet Pro for $12.99/month/ month and more). The Envy is essentially a simple printer/scanner that prints 10 pages per minute; the Envy Inspire offers faster printing, while the OfficeJet Pro is the fastest of all and includes fax capabilities.
After two years, HP will offer an “upgrade,” probably to a newer printer model.
All three are double-sided color printers, and that’s the first advantage HP offers: you can print each page in color if you want, and the printer ink is free. HP printers automatically detect when your ink supply is low and provide you with the ink you need by the next day, HP says.
If your printer dies, HP also offers 24/7 support and, if you need a replacement for any reason, next-day service. HP also provides shipping labels for returning an old printer and/or cartridges.
HP also promises “no upfront costs” – you don’t have to buy a printer or ink, just sign up for the All-In plan and HP will take care of the rest. But it’s not quite that simple.
The pitfalls of HP’s All-In Plan subscription
For one thing, you only have thirty days to cancel after signing up. You are then bound to the contract. And HP’s plans don’t just stick to the basic tariff.
For example, the HP Envy printer plan starts at $6.99/month. But this is the “Light” plan, which limits you to a measly 20 pages per month. With this plan, the monthly fees also rise to $8.99 (50 pages) or $10.99 (100 pages). If you choose the HP Envy Inspire plan instead, your monthly cost will be $8.99 (20 pages/month), $10.99 (50 pages), $12.99 (100 pages), or $18.99 (300 pages) . And if you run a home office, you also have monthly options for $22.99 (300 pages/month) and $35.99 (700 pages/month).
If you go over your monthly printing quota, HP has taken care of that too: you’ll be charged $1 for a “set” of ten to fifteen pages. Of course, you can also upgrade your tariff at any time.
But the worst thing about HP’s printer subscription is that it’s still a subscription. Once the 30-day grace period expires, you are bound and must pay a termination fee to get out of the contract (see below).
But that’s the catch with many subscriptions these days: once you start, there’s no easy way to stop the subscription (there are a few exceptions: thanks, Netflix). But HP’s All-In plan simply means you have to sign up, accept a printer, not print a single page, and still pay at least $60. This is not the world I would like to live in.
This article originally appeared at our sister publication PC-World and has been translated.
