New printers

A formal announcement relayed the big news: ‘In July and August 2025, the current Xerox multifunctional printers at TU Delft will be replaced by new Canon devices. […] With this change, we are introducing an improved print and scan environment that better suits our current and future needs.’

An improved print and scan environment – who wouldn’t want that? Unfortunately, those pretty words are not substantiated. What exactly will be improved? Particularly amusing is the section entitled Sustainability, which only states that the number of printers will be reduced from 550 to 400. I’m surprised that it doesn’t add ‘And walking further to the printer is good for your health too!’

Let me start with something positive: Canon printers appear to be faster than the Xerox ones. But the price we pay for that – aside from nearly a million euros a year – is the learning curve. ‘Please note that the new Canon printers have a different user interface.’ Meaning, everyone has to adjust and reconfigure their personal preferences. Mine, for example, are double-sided colour printing with a staple in the top left corner. The first time you print, you find out that these settings haven’t been migrated. Why not? As a result, time, paper, and toner are wasted on that first failed print. So much for sustainability. If every employee spends just 10 minutes figuring out the new interface and restoring their preferences, that amounts to one whole year of one person down the drain (8,000 employees times 10 minutes). And that’s without counting the 26,000 students.

Some functions don’t even work as promised

And then there’s scanning. That works completely differently and with many fewer settings than before. Some functions don’t even work as promised. I’m not above consulting a manual to check whether those missing settings actually do exist or whether I’m doing something wrong that makes it look like some functions are broken. Despite the promise ‘Visit the intranet – Replacement printers page for the latest updates, manuals, and the replacement schedule’, no manuals are available there. Instead, there is a redirect: ‘Manuals can be found on the print portal print.tudelft.nl’. But again, no manuals. You’re expected to have the bright insight to click on the banner with the pompous text ‘SUPER EASY! Print, scan and copy. Find out here >>’ which takes you to Canon’s Help Center TU Delft. But even there, no manuals, just instructions for the deaf and hard of hearing. Seriously? Where are the frigging manuals!?

This whole transition process is infuriating because there is zero consideration for the user. We have to waste our valuable time figuring out what still works (and how) and what no longer works. How exactly is this ‘an improved print and scan environment that better meets our current and future needs’?

Can the responsible multifunction-printer-transition-person please ensure that the Canon printers, especially when it comes to scanning, work at least as well as, and preferably better than, the Xerox machines? And can a comprehensive user manual finally be made available that explains all the options and settings? SUPER EASY! Thank you very much, on behalf of 8,000 TU Delft employees.