Manufacturer logic
by Chris on May.21, 2006, under Tech
Can anybody tell me why printer manufacturers assume that just because you’re buying a USB printer, you automatically have a bunch of USB connectors lying around at home?
If you buy any other USB peripheral, they come with connector cables (even, somewhat superfluously, most flash disks), but printers? No way, Bob. You gotta supply your own.
Which meant digging through a bunch of unpacked (yes, I know I’ve been here a year now) boxes looking for my old USB modem, which thankfully I found.
…And then there’s the matter of sample paper. It’s a bit awkward going through the whole setup sequence (which is remarkably complicated for printers these days) only to have the thing flash its feeble LCD at you telling you to put in some paper to do the head alignment, and then you realise there’s not a scrap of decent A4 paper anywhere in the house.
May 21st, 2006 on 12:28 pm
Looks like their assumptions are right in your case.
Perhaps the retailers take it on a case by case basis: Does this customer look techno-savvy?
No –> provide USB cable
Yes –> don’t bother
May 21st, 2006 on 9:23 pm
hehe – and surely, having bought the printer, you should have bought some paper?
Luckily it’s not like a camera, were every single make has it’s own bloody mini-usb plug!!!!!
May 22nd, 2006 on 7:54 am
Well, yes, the paper was a slight oversight on my part, but in my defense, I primarily bought the printer for the scanner (it’s an all-in-one) and the CD/DVD printing capability.
And Michael, what on Earth are you doing in Chile?!
May 22nd, 2006 on 1:59 pm
He’s being chilly and eating chillies.
So you bought an all in one multifunction doohickey wossname? Very nice… but if you really just wanted a scanner, why not spend the money on getting a really nice scanner, instead of an all in one job? Perhaps it’s the in thing with you young whippersnappers these days.