HP Printers and Cheap paper

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Hey guys, not really sure if this is the right place to post this but:

Has anyone else come across HP (or other brand) printers that don't like Cheap (still 80gsm) A4 printer paper?

Someone recently decided it would be a good idea to buy the absolute cheapest 80 gsm laser paper they could find, and are refusing to buy anything better. Previously, we never had that many paper jams, but when we started using this stuff, one printer hated it and kept jamming until we replaced the rollers, and now another printer has started doing the same thing.

I've put the last of our 'good' paper in, and the printer is fine, but I just know that when the cheap stuff goes back in, I'm going to need to get some more rollers. My worry is that the cheap paper is making the rollers, for want of a better word, go crap.

Anyone else had this?

 

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Yes, sort of. I actually researched this about 18 months ago where a client was having similar problems.

According to the printer I spoke to the quality of the cheap stuff varies enormously as it is sourced from whatever is in surplus at any given time. As such, the quality can never been confirmed without trying a pack. If the batch changes then quality can also.

Following that, my client now always uses the "MultiCopy" brand (in green wraps) and has not had problems since.

Hope that helps

 

Yep! cheap papers as well as toner that is not of the printer brand i.e. niceday.

 

Yes.

They decided at work to use cheap paper, imo the paper was picking up too much moisture and was getting stuck all the time inside the printer. It also ripped easily.

 

Thanks for that guys, I needed more ammo.

What with the credit crunch, one of our chief beurocrats decides it is a good idea to use cheap rubbish. She won't admit that it is the paper to fault but has instead put it back to IT to say that the printers that don't like the paper are obviously faulty.

Even with evidence such as 'this printer won't work with this paper, but look, it works with this paper... oh and the machine is clean, well kept and has newish rollers.....' it is still a struggle I probably wont win.... until the paper starts doing it in most of the printers.... so i give it about 6 weeks!

 

Looks like it is settled. Rollers are apparently cheaper than buying nicer paper.... so it looks like something i'd better get used to fast.

 

Luddym,

Is it possible to show on the printer's display the current print count, kinda like the printer's equivalent to the odometer? Do you possibly have some sort of digital camera like on your cell phone? See, in order to convince management, you need to show the actual costs of replacing rollers vs. the perceived cost savings on cheap paper. So let's say you need to replace the rollers every 100 pages printed. Let's say the rollers cost £100 each. So that works out to be an additional £1 per sheet printed. So unless the ACTUAL cost savings of using cheap paper vs. quality paper is MORE than £1 per sheet, you can expose this waste of resources, which may lead to possible exposure of possible fraud by your immediate supervisor or above who probably lied by claiming that switching to cheaper paper will save money. Unless of course this is part of some sort of political requirement to appear "green" by reducing (in monetary costs) use of paper (by reducing paper quality instead of actual paper usage reduction). If the appearance of "being green" is more important then actually being green by reducing actual paper usage, many poor rollers lives are and will probably be sacrificed to support that appearance.

 

yep rollers and fusers are the first to go, fusers can be expensive beasts, we had one today with a paper jam in the fuser user tugged the paper out so hard that it broke some plastic inside the fuser and scrated the pressure(!?) roller. hence another ton down the drain. also the way the paper is kept is important, ideally must be kept in its ream in a flat surface in a dry area, and moisture or bendage in the paper can give us trechs plenty of work and expense. Yep cheap paper maybe but cost effective it isnt!

 

Tell your bosses if you can that getting new rollers etc will become a frequent occurance which will end up costing more than getting some decent paper.

 

Agreed, speaking as someone that was service manager for an office equipment company, for many years, i can tell you for a fact that cheap or re-cycled paper will cause you endless amounts of problems and will definitely cause more grief than it's worth. It's a very bad idea!

 

That is a good idea, although it might me as difficult as making tea in a chocolate tea pot

 

Thanks for the replies guys. I'll just sit back and wait for things to go wrong.

 

That's a good point! I had to tell off a user who kept on putting a A4 label sheet back in the paper tray, after printing and peeling off 4 stickers on the page. Just because she thought she was saving paper!

In the end the label paper would get stuck in the printer, damage the rollers or worse the fuser!

I lost count how many times i was called across to fix the paper jam!

In the end after explaing it 5 times to the staff of the dept. I sent an email to their line manager explaining why paper with adhesive backing sticks to rollers and how much it costs for a replacement parts and a printer!

I haven't heard anything for weeks!