Chances are, you’ve seen this page —>
I see it every time I install a new, $38 ink cartridge into my HP 2610 printer.
I’ve had this printer for almost a decade.
And without fail, every time I install a new cartridge, it regurgitates one of these things…as if to say, “thank you for feeding me.”
The first time I saw it, I was somewhat enchanted by the idea of the tiny little bird down at the bottom.
There’s an image of him ‘pre-alignment,’ where his colors don’t line up. And then there’s a giant black arrow pointing to another image of him, ‘post-alignment:’
His colors line up.
The cartridges are ‘aligned.’
You’re both happy.
But dozens of cartridges and alignment pages later, I’ve come to realize:
It’s all bogus.
A hoax.
The EXACT same page is programmed to print every time you install a new cartridge. It’s not actually doing anything.
HP is giving you a false sense of confidence in their product, and they do it by wasting your time, your money, and your ink.
It seriously ticks me off. It’s dishonest.
I don’t trust HP anymore.
They’re pretending that they did something good when they didn’t.
Moral of the story: don’t be a pretender. In business, don’t pretend to solve a problem or fix an issue that you sincerely can’t.
You’ll just make people angry and lose their trust.
I have an HP printer too, but if you are just realizing that they are dishonest, and creating bogus stuff (inkwells, cartridge "verification" etc) just to sell more cartridges, my only question is…"where have you been?" Being honest in business, though, is a point well taken. I use their printer cartridges but do NOT model any busienss practices after them, and you explained why so well. Thank you for all you do – your ReplaceMyself has changed my busienss and my life!
Actually, I use their printers, not their cartridges.
John bigger question why are you using a 10 year old hp printer…………. need to get your tech up to date.
You also need to ditch your bag phone, pager and mimeograph machine.
The page is intended to provide a standard template for seeing if your printer is functioning correctly. If all the blocks look right, if it doesn't come out dirty, if everything is in its correct place. There isn't much of a hoax to it. It's just providing a datapoint.
Nope.
The printer has never been "un-aligned".
I've refilled plenty of cartridges. The printer prints just fine every time. It has never once printed a blurry page or blurry graphic, except for the pretend one at the end of each page.
Plus, notice that at the beginning of the image, all the colors and graphics are printed exactly correct.
Also, every single time this has ever printed the birds look exactly the same.
I have zero doubt that it's a sham intended to make you feel good about what you just bought. The first time I saw it, I picked the paper out and took it to my wife and said "look how awesome this is! Look what a good job it did aligning the cartridges!"
My after bird doesn't align…and yes, the printouts don't align, so it's not really a scam. I am an ex-HP employee so I might be very biased, but I've had enough trouble with my HP printer that I don't think I am. 🙂 And right now the colour and black and white aren't aligned in actual printouts…and my alignment sheet shows that quite clearly.