It would seem that even the best intentioned are sometimes caught out and here at LCIC we have found ourselves to be flummoxed by the wondrous advance of ‘progress’ .
About five years ago, LCIC bought a brand new printer. It was a large colour printer, a clever thing that happily tells you when it needs a new cartridge and happily exercises its right to deny you to print anything once you have forgotten to get one. This printer was bought because the old printer was starting to make some rather unwholesome noises. This old printer belonged to a generation of printers whose personal foibles, characteristics and personalities would, should they have been human, either provide a wonderful case study for any psychiatrist, or gain them access into a retirement home, it was therefore decided that it was time to be replaced.
After much consideration we splashed out a not small sum on a printer from a reputable brand who’s initials precede ‘I’ and ‘Q’ and since then it sat in much the same place, switched on in the morning and off in the evening.
Now LCIC, is not a particularly big organisation and when taking into consideration our dedication to try to reduce our impact we have not been overtly profligate with our printing. However, as an organisation we do sometimes need to print off materials for presentational purposes and when we do it is always nice to hand over a nice clean crisp piece of literature. It was therefore annoying when small marks began to appear on the printed paper. Like a messy toddler the machine was rightfully scolded and given the stern instruction to ‘self clean’. For a while this sufficed but the marks would eventually return only now darker, more perceptible and numerous. Our friendly IT support were called in to take a look. They checked it over and concluded that the machine was functioning perfectly except for one small part which was the cause of the problem. But never mind because in their role of IT support they would get a new part to replace the old one, it would be sorted and we would be feel fully supported. It was here that the plan fell down.
There are no new parts. They stopped making them.
Now I don’t want to sound like an old Granddad, but in the olden days things seemed to be built to last. You bought something and maybe ten or fifteen years later you still had it. Yes, it may have required some repair in the interim, but that didn’t matter because you knew someone who could fix it; the hoover repair man (or woman), the TV repair man (or woman), the typewriter repair man (or woman), the toaster repair man (or woman), and they had ‘the bit’ that made it go.
Therefore, what we have now, while we wait for the delivery of our new printer, is a not-so-clever big bit of plastic, taking up perfectly good desk space. After just five years we need a whole new one because we they no longer make ‘the bit’. Hardly sustainable. Hardly sensible. It’s not progress, it’s ridiculous.
Matt Taylor, CRed Systems Co-ordinator, LCIC
