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I thought I’d cross-post this from a private group to liven up your day. We always hear about the horror stories about printers. Well, I’ve got a printer that, after many years of service, is being decommissioned. It is a joyous occasion! It’s now free to do all the things a printer in retirement does – play cards, tell the young inkjets to get off its lawn, enjoy some spiked drinks, etc. I wrote the following message to my company last night.

Please join me in wishing L2 a happy retirement.

L2 HP LaserJet 4250 started with the company 14 years ago. It was first brought on board to assist our Okidata dot matrix division with their workload but proved to be an invaluable asset, quickly rising up to a more authoritative position as the sole output technician. It was especially instrumental in leading our modernization project. L2 has been a truly dedicated asset to our environment.

As you may know, L2 has experienced some recent health issues, including a slipping fuser, periodically jamming itself. L2, with its multiple trays, has decided that it will officially retire when it can no longer output using its existing resource.

We wish you all the best and congratulations in your retirement years.

15 Spice ups
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I’m still rocking a LJ2300N that I gave to the company almost 12 years ago. And, it was old before then. The…thing…just…won’t…die!

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Ah, you good 'ol faithful servant.

We too have a handful of 4250s in service since 2005. They truly are a workhorse, but alas, some young upstart HP LaserJets with their smaller form factor, and their lighter weight have tried to usurp these stalwarts of the industry. And, then as if to say they are obsolete, the MFPs nudged their way into the office and started strutting their stuff; preening about like their phenomenal color, scanning capabilities, faxing, and stapling was the best thing since sliced bread.

Well, I’ll tell ya, the older LaserJet 4250 folk are wise to them, they were there in the early days. They have history, and wisdom of an older generation that make those leased MFPs that come and go every 5 years, and those lighter printers look weak and feeble.

So, I raise a glass to your retired 4250, and wish it all the best in the next chapter of its life.

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Just curious what the final page count was.

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I am curious about page count as well. We are still servicing these for clients and a little TLC and a new swing plate they typically have lots of life left to live on in retirement years. When you get retired from our shop it means having your bones picked clean of useable spares and being dumped in a recycling bag that often reeks of stale beer and is covered in shards of glass.

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Page count is currently at 737,819 with the expectation that it may run to the end of next month, putting on another 2k pages. I know it still has lots of life left if maintained. Alas, we have other output devices so it’s not really necessary and is the oldest in my small fleet of five. It’s also our only 4250 in the environment so I don’t have a spare to pillage from.

It’s used in the shipping office and that staff is moving to our main area. We are also switching ERP systems and paper will be reduced. All printing can be handled by our KM BizHub C203 MFP and HPE M611x monochrome devices.

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Well, if you need the parts, you can have 'em, along with the three additional paper trays. (I forgot my phone at home today else I’d attach a pic.)

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HP Laserjet printers were found in every nook and cranny of every office building from the late '80s through the first decade of the 2000s. They were almost indestructible and would work day in and day out (7x24x365). Regular maintenance kept them in peak condition for the annual Sales Meetings and the thousands of pages of paper identified as necessary for these gatherings.

Happy Retirement, and enjoy the time with all the little ink jets running around the house and yard.

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We’ve still got one HP 4200 chugging away upstairs, merrily going about its business day after day. I think there may be a couple others in service but that one’s definitely been around the longest.

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No No…I refuse to wish it a happy retirement! Die evil printer!

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I was very excited to hear about this retirement. As an Okidata Microline 320 Turbo, I worked a long time with L2. We didn’t get along at first, but through the years I think I gained L2’s respect.

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AND don’t forget 390. She worked in the front office but did enjoy her interactions with 4250 from what I recall. Sadly, ML 390 passed several years back but we do recall her with fondness.

In their heyday, the four Okis would just chat and no one else would get any work done over their ruckus. When they left the company – it was almost like a mass exodus if you can believe it – the work environment was calm; no one needed to close any doors when normal workplace chatter occurred. Between us, I am happy they left. They were good workers most of the time but when they messed up, they would completely jam our workflow and they’d keep going and messing up until their supervisor told them to stop. Then you’d have to back everything out and they’d need to restart their task from the very beginning. It wasn’t daily but some days it felt like I was always in the shipping office fixing their mistakes. The only good thing is that when they did work, they performed their job in triplicate in a short amount of time.

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I have one of those 4250 in my boneyard in case my trusty P4015 with 2,755,547 pages on it ever dies. Happy retirement!

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We’ve still got a handful of 4250’s in service as well. They don’t make 'em like they used to.