Week of 5 March 12: But I don't want two sided printing

Jim Thompson (jthompson@taii.com)

I bought a new printer a few weeks ago.  Every time I want to print single sided, I have to go into the menu and change it from double sided.  I kept looking for a way to make single sided the default.  Not anywhere to be found in the instructions, I engaged in a little on-line chat this past Monday.  I probably got a little dramatic, something I am trying to fix here in my dotage, but it doesn't seem to always work.  Here is the conversation:

[Jim Thompson] How do I turn off two sided printing permanently?

[Romulo] Welcome to Lexmark Chat Support. I'm Romulo.
Let me assist you with this problem regarding your printer settings.
Here's your Chat ID for reference: 8728699962261655289.

[Romulo] Hi Jim. Is this the first time that you contacted us about this issue?

[Jim Thompson] Yes. Just tell me how to do it before I throw the machine in the trash.

[Romulo] Is the green leaf (eco mode) enabled on the printer touch screen?

{I went to the printer and found this}

[Jim Thompson] Yes, thank you. I just turned it off. Why is this the default setting to have it on?

[Romulo] Yes, you need to turn it off to disable 2 sided printing.

[Jim Thompson] But why is "on" the default setting? I am in the paper industry and find this offensive.

[Romulo] I apologize for the inconvenience, this printer's features aiming to conserve paper so its automatically on by default.

[Jim Thompson] I DON'T WANT TO CONSERVE PAPER!!!!

[Romulo] It seems that, so far, we have failed to live up to the standards of support that you deserve, and for that I apologize.

[Jim Thompson] You should not assume we are of the same political persuasions you, Lexmark, are. It is not good for your business to impose your ideological views on your customers.

[Romulo] This default is actually for the 1st time set up only, if you turn off or disable eco mode on the printer, once you restart the printer, it should save the setting that you choose.

[Jim Thompson] The trouble is, finding the green leaf and discerning what it means is extremely difficult. I see it as subterfuge on Lexmark's part. All of your customers do not belong to Greenpeace.

[Romulo] I will make sure that this issue will be documented and sent to our higher level engineers so they can review this complaint. Unfortunately, we cannot do anything about the printing features at the moment, again, I apologize for the inconvenience.

[Jim Thompson] Thank you.

[Romulo] You are welcome. Thank you for contacting Lexmark Chat Support. Please do not hesitate to contact us again if we can be of further assistance. Have a nice day!

[Romulo] Bye Jim.

If you are in the UCF business and have been worried about new competition, you may be looking at the wrong end of the market chain.  Your problem just may be printer companies are cutting your demand in half (if Lexmark is any indication). I am told the latest version of Adobe PDF for printing on your printer does the same thing. Sue the daylights out of them!  There is some sort of restraint of trade argument here, I am sure.

So, our question for this week--do you find it offensive for one industry to decide how another industry's products are to be used?  What would you do in this situation?  You can take our quiz here.

For safety this week, getting irritated as I obviously did here, can lead to taking our mind off safety for just long enough to have an accident.  Don't do as I did!

Be safe and we will talk next week.

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