<story><title>Pay no attention to the USB port behind the “no USB” sticker</title><url>https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/4/23820710/pay-no-attention-to-the-usb-port-behind-the-no-usb-sticker</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>tjohns</author><text>This isn&amp;#x27;t a Costco-specific thing.&lt;p&gt;HP printers come in an &amp;quot;e&amp;quot; model, which requires an Instant Ink subscription (but is cheaper - effectively subsidized by the subscription), and a non-&amp;quot;e&amp;quot; model that is unlocked (but costs more). Just don&amp;#x27;t buy the &amp;quot;e&amp;quot; models if you&amp;#x27;re shopping elsewhere.&lt;p&gt;In general, the reason Costco sells electronics with different model numbers is so that you can&amp;#x27;t price match them to&amp;#x2F;from other retailers. Sometimes a few minor features get removed as well to lower the overall cost.</text></item><item><author>LeoPanthera</author><text>Costco requires that all HP printers they sell are fully functional even if you don&amp;#x27;t subscribe to any of HP&amp;#x27;s services.&lt;p&gt;That&amp;#x27;s why the Costco HP printers are often models exclusive to Costco.&lt;p&gt;(They require a similar thing of Sony televisions, which is why Sony TVs have slightly different model numbers at Costco.)</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>somehnguy</author><text>&amp;gt; Just don&amp;#x27;t buy the &amp;quot;e&amp;quot; models if you&amp;#x27;re shopping elsewhere&lt;p&gt;Ah yes, “just” add another highly specific thing to your memory so that sometime unpredictable in a next x years you don’t get completely screwed by the giant corp. And for all those people who don’t spend their days on a computer reading HN, sucks to be you, HP got ya.&lt;p&gt;The sarcasm in this comment isn’t directed at you (thanks for sharing the ‘e’ tidbit) - I’m just so so tired of giant corps actively trying to screw the consumer at every possible turn. It makes shopping for anything besides the absolute basics exhausting.</text></comment>
<story><title>Pay no attention to the USB port behind the “no USB” sticker</title><url>https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/4/23820710/pay-no-attention-to-the-usb-port-behind-the-no-usb-sticker</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>tjohns</author><text>This isn&amp;#x27;t a Costco-specific thing.&lt;p&gt;HP printers come in an &amp;quot;e&amp;quot; model, which requires an Instant Ink subscription (but is cheaper - effectively subsidized by the subscription), and a non-&amp;quot;e&amp;quot; model that is unlocked (but costs more). Just don&amp;#x27;t buy the &amp;quot;e&amp;quot; models if you&amp;#x27;re shopping elsewhere.&lt;p&gt;In general, the reason Costco sells electronics with different model numbers is so that you can&amp;#x27;t price match them to&amp;#x2F;from other retailers. Sometimes a few minor features get removed as well to lower the overall cost.</text></item><item><author>LeoPanthera</author><text>Costco requires that all HP printers they sell are fully functional even if you don&amp;#x27;t subscribe to any of HP&amp;#x27;s services.&lt;p&gt;That&amp;#x27;s why the Costco HP printers are often models exclusive to Costco.&lt;p&gt;(They require a similar thing of Sony televisions, which is why Sony TVs have slightly different model numbers at Costco.)</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>OGWhales</author><text>&amp;gt; In general, the reason Costco sells electronics with different model numbers is so that you can&amp;#x27;t price match them to&amp;#x2F;from other retailers.&lt;p&gt;Costco doesn’t offer price matching.</text></comment>