After being in overseas markets for years, HP has finally launches its Instant Ink service in Australia. Here’s how it actually works.
What is Instant Ink?
Instant Ink is a subscription service that is positioned as a way to avoid ever running out of printer ink at the worst possible time.
Users pay a monthly fee based on how much they use per month. Regardless of what plan you’re on, you get the same ink cartridge and simply use your monthly allocation.
When the cartridge itself is running low a fresh one will be sent out so you receive it before the ink runs drive. Empty cartridges can be recycled and repurposed and the delivery of new cartridges doesn’t cost extra.
Importantly, for this whole process to work your printer will need to always be connected to the internet.
You also will need to have an email address and credit or debit card to set up an account.
Instank Ink price Australia
The most common question I’ve heard about Instant Ink is, do people really need to print that much anymore?
And even during a pandemic with more people working and schooling from home, it’s a fair question.
And this explains HP having five different plans, ranging from just 15 pages a month up to 700.
When HP was asked about this, it was clear that the company is primarily targeting consumers (individuals as well as families), as well as small to medium businesses.
Pricing starts at $1.99 a month for 15 pages and goes up to $39,99 for 700.
There are also separate plans for toner.
If you need to go over your limit one month (but don’t want to upgrade your plan) you can purchase extra pages at $1 per 10 pages.
According to HP, Instant Ink can help customers save up to 50 per cent compared to outright ink purchases. Of course, this is all dependent on your real world usage. And that figure is based on the most expensive $39.99 plan.
It’s worth noting that the service doesn’t differentiate between different types of printed pages. This means that a black and white text-only document will be treated as one page, as would a print out of a colourful photograph.
Page rollover is also part of the plan, meaning that if you don’t use all of your page allowance up, it will go into the next month.
Alternatively, you can change your plan at any time without being slugged with an extra fee.
So if you are someone who still prints enough to warrant having your own one, it’s certainly an interesting prospect. But it makes sense.
Even in a world where we’re at home more, printers are a tough sell. At least making the ink management part of it as convenient as possible is integral, so this is a smart move by HP.