Subscription services are all the rage - Netflix, Dollar Beard Club, and Bark Box correspondingly deliver entertainment, hygiene and even pet supplies to your home on a regular basis for a simple monthly fee. HP has jumped on the subscription service band wagon and now offers HP Instant Ink – an ink cartridge replacement service where “you pay a monthly fee to print a defined number of pages per month.”

Starting at $3.99 per month, you can print 50 pages, whether they are black or white, full colour or photos. The monthly fee includes ink, shipping and recycling costs and if you do not print all the pages included in your monthly allowance, then the pages will rollover to the next month and essentially for as long as you are enrolled in the program. There are three basic options with the highest costing $10.99 per month for up to 300 printed pages.

We should note that only particular HP printer models are compatible with this new service and do require that they are connected to the Internet. These HP ePrint-enabled printers thus remotely monitor your ink levels and essentially auto order ink cartridge replacements when they detect that your ink levels are running low. These ink cartridges are then sent straight to your door and come with a postage-paid recycling package for you to return old cartridges that are then recycled by HP Planet Partners.

Plans can be cancelled at any time or if you find yourself printing more pages than within your plan’s limits, you can also upgrade at any time. Billing begins when you insert your first Instant Ink cartridge in your enrolled printer and then you are billed monthly thereafter.

HP Instant Ink aims to provide those who print from home, own a small business or are away at college or university, with an affordable and convenient printer ink solution that alleviates customers from having to go out and buy ink when they realize their printer is out of juice. In addition, they claim that users of the program will reduce their printing costs by 50% which is considerable for those on a budget with a need to print documents regularly.

The service appears to be yet another simple and hassle-free shopping experience for those looking to work and live more efficiently. The autopilot simplicity of subscriptions removes the thinking out of making purchase decisions, automating our buying habits and allowing us to free up time for other things. Whether that’s focusing on work, our studies, on growing our business or just avoiding traffic and mall parking.

By offering a flat rate, consumers also benefit from staying within their budget by accurately forecasting costs. As well, your printer is never left high and dry because HP’s got your back monitoring your printer ink levels on your behalf.

To learn more about the HP Instant Ink Program and see if your printer is eligible, check out their website here. Happy Printing.