> Basically, you pay $3 a month and can print up to 50 pages. HP remotely monitors your ink levels and sends you replacement cartridges automatically when the cartridges need to be replaced.

Ugh dollar shave club for printers or something?

I refuse to engage in thing-as-a-service. The only reason companies do this is because they know if they bleed a little bit out of you each month you're more likely to say "it's only a couple of dollars". It all adds up costing huge amounts in your monthly expenses.

They then also know there's a huge portion of customers paying for this who aren't using their '50 sheets', so wow, they've just built a model where customers pay for a thing they don't use and they don't have to provision for.

> Please stop supporting that. That business model really needs to die.

I would up vote you more than once if I could.

My friends love dollar shave club, and I'm like "buy a safety razor for $20-30 bucks and a bulk pack of razor blades and you will set FOR YEARS.

My grandfather would sharpen his razor blades on his jeans, one would only need one razor blade if maintenance included sharpening the razor.

I use straight razors. With the right care they will indeed last a lifetime but I’d caution that it’s more than ‘sharpen it on your jeans’. For a start most are made of mild steel rather than stainless so you need to store them completely dry otherwise they’ll rust (so keeping them in the bathroom is hard given it tends to be a moist environment).

Nitpick: mild steel is awful for blades as is it is too soft and cannot be hardened. Most likely they are some sort of high-carbon steel.

Sorry, yes you’re right! Carbon steel. I should add that you can buy stainless steel straight razors but they’re much harder to sharpen properly so I think not very popular.

> My friends love dollar shave club, and I'm like "buy a safety razor for $20-30 bucks and a bulk pack of razor blades and you will set FOR YEARS.

I got given one of these https://getrockwell.com/products/rockwell-6s-gift-set after I mentioned I wanted a stainless steel one and it was given to me as a gift.

Apparently it started from a kickstarter a few years ago https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rockwellrazors/rockwell...

The person who gave it to me knew I am environmentally conscious. I remember reading that those cartridge razors are really bad for the environment as they are a mix of steel and plastic.

Now I can just use regular razor blades https://www.amazon.com/Feather-Razor-Blades-Hi-stainless-Dou... $22 for 100.

Feels good to not be locked into some proprietary mounting too, kind of the same feeling as using free software. hah.

I prefer it to my old Gillete one. More blades is not better, that is all marketing, and they just get clogged, ugh.

I don't see how being in a "club" that I have to pay any kind of "annual" fees would help me.

The idea is I have reduced my costs significantly and have everything I would want. Occasionally I buy a new tub of shaving cream when I run out. I am adult enough to go "that looks like a nice scent I will try that", and then decide if I want to buy more next time or buy something else.

I absolutely detest "monthly" or "weekly" payments of anything. The only exception I make is for utilities, or service contracts. If it's neither of those things why should I pay more than once? or pay for someone to trickle samples out in the post to me?

Or buy an electric shaver. Mine probably cost about AU$80, and has lasted at least 6 years. No sign of it going wrong, and I've never needed to replace/sharpen the blades, though apparently replacement blades are a thing.

Depending on how heavy your beard is, an electric shaver does not come close to the cleanliness a "wet" razor will get you. Maybe your mileage/needs vary.

> an electric shaver does not come close to the cleanliness a "wet" razor will get you

As someone who used to use an electric shaver since his teenage years I wholeheartedly agree. I do not grow a beard, hate them in fact and am always clean shaven.

I never ever once got a shave anywhere near as close as I did with a razor. After a while you can do it in the shower blind without a mirror just from feel.

On the other hand you never cut yourself with an electric razor. I used a wet razor for years but recently switched to electric because of this.

> On the other hand you never cut yourself with an electric razor. I used a wet razor for years but recently switched to electric because of this.

I only cut myself very early on when I was new to it. That was about 5 years ago. I have now been using a razor exclusively for years now and cannot remember when I last cut myself.

I also use it for trimming other places too, haven't cut there either.

Depends on the model. My first electric razor lasted somewhere around 10-12 years with no issues, before it broke and I needed a replacement. The replacement was a newer version of the same model, and caused bleeding around my adam's apple every day guaranteed; I downgraded and haven't had any issues since.

> The replacement was a newer version of the same model, and caused bleeding around my adam's apple every day guaranteed

Those rotary ones are notoriously bad, they will cause pulling. I found the foil based ones like the braun series 3 to be a lot better in that regard, closer shave too, still nothing like a razor though.

It wasn't a rotary one though. The one that caused bleeding was a Braun Series 1-195s, while the good one is a Braun Series 1-190s.

The blades on the 195s are parallel with the foil though, while the 190s are perpendicular, so I'm sure it's the same problem.

Interesting. Mine is an old Philips Philishave, which use the rotary blades.

Pulling isn't really an issue unless my facial hair is extremely overdue for a shave. eg 4-5 days worth of hair.

When that happens, I just use my trimmer to take it back to near stubble, then use the above Philishave to finish things off.

You definitely should replace the blades at least every couple of years. --The difference after doing so is noticeable.

Buy a cut-throat and be set for life.

Seriously though, I have a safety razor, but I can't get a satisfactory shave out of something where the head doesn't pivot, so I use the local coops budget razors. They are pretty much the same as dollar shave clubs, but I don't have it here, and I rather not buy shit on subscription.

There are two things in the home that can be reused when I am dead: my model M and the safety razor.

> Buy a cut-throat and be set for life.

You can get straight edge razors, a place I went to the other day was selling them. https://www.beardandblade.com.au/collections/straight-razors

They look really expensive, but I guess you'd only ever buy one once and then just sharpen with a strop https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razor_strop

I think they would only be good for 'certain' places on your body though, ie your face.

>I refuse to engage in thing-as-a-service.

As a side note, whether one uses it or not, it should be called what it is: thing-as-a-monthly-subscrition (often automatically renewing itself).

Maybe it is just me, but to me something "as a service" is still something I pay "per use" and not something I pay a monthly or yearly fee in exchange for a given limited amount of something that I may or may not use.

There are legitimate advantages to this business model, and even though I'm not a fan of it myself I can appreciate the value proposition. One way to look at it is a form of insurance - it distributes an irregular large payment into a regular smaller monthly payment that makes it easier for budgeting. That can provide significant benefit in some contexts.

I mean - I can see why you would say that but Instant Ink has a free tier, and I actually am OK with selling my infrequent printing data for 15 pages a month + free ink so that I have a home printer for the few occasion when I need it.

There is no minimum usage level, and the fact they might know that some airlines require I print a boarding pass every few months, or some government for needs to be printed, filled out and posted - that's really not so bad for free (+ data).

I'm OK with them receiving that data.