Currys £16.99 USB cable rip-off.

This unfortunately not new. Printer manufactures started cutting out the USB cable form their printers for a while now to save on costs. This makes sense for some devices as I have a million USB cables that do the same job for lots of devices. However, for the average consumer it's a bit of a con - you expect to be able to take your printer home and use it out of the box.

What I am confused about is that you went to Curry's for the cable and are surprised at the rip off price!? Curry's/Dixon's are what I call the hotel mini-bar of computer peripherals. The mark up is insane. Cables I buy online or at computer fairs for £1 can be close to £20. Even a modem cable that is worth pennies cost me 15 quid. Mini-DVDs for my camcorder cost £15 for 3 when I can by a spindel of 25 for £10. In some cases it's the brand your paying for but when it comes to cables there is no difference except the price.

My personal worst example of this was from PC World, who wanted to charge me £15 for a VGA-DVI adaptor. Maplin sell them for £10 but even that seems excessive given that you can pick them up on eBay for less than a fiver.
Still, £17 for a USB cable takes the biscuit. Looking forward to hearing their excuse!

In front of me is a retractable 75Cm USB cable. It has AM-BM for printer, AM-Mini 5P for cameras and MP3 players, AM-AF so that it can be used as an extension cable.

It was expensive - 99p from my local 99p shop!

Prices aside, I have found some USB devices won't work with some USB cables - and it not always the cheapest ones.

So have finally heard back from HP over why they are opting not to put USB cables in with their printers anymore.

No surprises in the answer apart from the last bit:

"<i>HP's experience is that there is no one cable suitable for all customer requirements and that many customers already have a cable that they wish to use, in addition the inclusion of a cable would also incur costs which would reduce HPs ability to provide printers at the most competitive prices for customers.</i>

So what HP is basically saying here is that if we don't put the cable in the box, then we don't have to charge you as much. Interesting logic - it's a bit like being sold a new car without the wheels and Ford saying - well if we added the wheels for you then we'd have to charge you more!

It goes on:

<i>"The policy to not include a USB cable with its printers is in line with standard practice of the majority of major IT manufacturers in the UK; to ensure customers know exactly what they are purchasing the printer box contents are clearly identified on the outside of the box." </i>

Anyway -- at least HP have got back to me, which is more than Currys or DSG have bothered to do.

I spoke too soon - here's the response from DSG/Currys:

<i>First, can we apologise for the delay in replying but also that you were not properly informed at the time of purchase that a USB cable doesn't come with the printer. Although it is written on the box, you should have been informed of this when in-store. It is very rarely that printers come with cables and other peripherals for reasons outlined by HP.

We aim to offer a wide range of quality products at what we feel are competitive prices. We are sorry we didn't meet your expectations this time.</i>

The response covers why the USB cable wasn't included - i.e. it was HP's fault -- but it doesn't explain why the cable came at a 1600 percent mark-up. I will enquire of DSG again and see what they come back with...

Well, well doesn't history repeat itself yet again!

Some of you may not remember the old days when Printers came with a Centronics (Paralell) Interfaces only and when IBM sold their humble IBM (Intel 8088) PC - "Yes Sir the IBM PC costs £1,500 - Oh did Sir want a Keyboard as well? and a Colour or B&W Monitor - Oh those are EXTRA!"

Matrix Printers were the de facto standard and required a Centronics Cable which was extra of course with prices ranging from £32 to £26 provided by the forerunners of the now Corporate Hardware Supply Chains. Even in those days they ashamedly admitted that Cable Costs went straight into their profit margins.

To quote CJ, "I didn't get where I am To-Day.... just by giving away interface Cables!"

Environmentally speaking, I prefer to source cables as need be, excessive mark up is wrong though.

I have lots of USB cables, true that with new standards I may not look upon it so favourably. First gen should have cables included.

I'm just surprised you didn't have one knocking around at home already. Cables breed! I regularly have to harvest them and put a bag of cables on Freecycle, just to clear space on my desk.

The ones I have most of are mini-USB cables from phones, MP3s and gadgets, though there's now three sizes of plug there.

it is absolutely true that USB cables are normally not included with printers, but I seem to have two of those. One of them, I know, came with my Lexmark Wi-Fi printer - and that is Interesting. Lexmark is including cables with Wi-Fi printers, where they're only needed for set-up (and a fall-back if the Wi-Fi fails).

So there have been a couple of comments on this blog entry – that have taken the supercilious “why didn’t you read the box” stance. Well, I didn’t and quite frankly I shouldn’t have to. If I buy a device I expect it to have all the components I need included – printers come with ink cartridges so why not the cable you need to connect the device to your machine? Saying that it’s the consumers fault for not adhering to whatever the vendor decides should be included, is just silly. But even if we agree that people should read boxes – the blog was actually about the fact that Currys think its alright to charge people £16.99 for a piece of cable! If they are such a commodity and everyone’s got loads lying around – why do they cost almost one third of the price of the printer. No, this is basically a company spotting an opportunity to squeeze consumers of as much as they think they can get away. It’s just wrong and anyone who defends this practice as reasonable or justified is wrong too.

And as for being defined as "the PC World set" - are we seriously saying people should be defined by their choice of shopping outlets!! Does that mean the Maplin set are somehow on a higher moral plain?