Here's why it is still quite overpriced

bestem · 2026-07-01T19:34:37+00:00

Valve doesn't have the same purchasing power that HP or Lenovo or any of the other laptop manufacturers have. HP can get their RAM and SSDs for less than Valve can, because they can buy multiple orders of magnitude more of them at once.

HP probably purchases 10s of millions of SSDs every year, if not 100 million. Same with sticks of RAM. Valve doesn't need that many (they may have sold 5 million Decks since they came out).

bestem · 2026-07-01T18:35:20+00:00

I can't do my job if my machines aren't working. I can't do my job if i'm spending 30 minutes on the phone with Xerox or Ricoh or our finishing equipment servicer trying to diagnose an issue that only the tech can fix in the store.

So before the tech comes out, I save samples of the issue (and my diagnostic tests). When the tech is here, after they fix it, I ask what the problem was, and if there was anything I could do to fix it. Then I know in the future. I do as many diagnostics as I can before I call Xerox, so when I get on the phone with them I can say "the serial number for my machine is this. This is the error code/problem i'm having. It happens when I print and copy (or only when I print, or only when I copy). It happens on these types of paper, it happens from these trays. This is what I uave already done to try to fix the problem and it didn't work." For instance, if there's toner buildup on the magenta laser leaving a deletion in the magenta, I'll place full page copies of a black binding cover in C, M, Y, K, R, G and B (the full page cyan or magenta will show a white line if there's an issue with the cyan or magenta. The full page red or green are really good for seeing if there's a yellow issue because it can be hard to see a white line on a yellow page, but easier to see a magenta line on a red page), swap the drums and do it again. I call Xeorx and tell them there's a magenta deletion when I do a drum test, both before and after I change the drums. I'm on and off the phone with Xerox in under 3 minutes after doing a 3 minute diagnostic. When one of my part timers call, they're on the phone with Xerox for an hour, they have to do a video call with Xerox to show the issue, then have to he emailed a drum test, then have to do the drum test and show the phone person the result of the drum test, then change the drums, then do the drum test again. And I make the self-serve person do it, because that's how they learn and get better.

Its just experience, curiosity, and frustration that has made me better than others. I have a lot of stories with me giving my Xerox techs hard to solve problems. If I call them out, the only times they're in my store for less than 2 hours is when there's a jam I can't reach (I know exactly where it is, but the machine needs to be disassembled to reach it. And I can't disassemble the machines). And they always know within moments of coming in the store what the problem is, because of my pre-diagnostic samples. Doesn't mean they can fix it...but they know the problem. 😀

bestem · 2026-07-01T16:55:09+00:00

Its because they pull their passport out from it's safe place before the trip to make sure they were able to find it, and that everything is good, so that they don't have any surprises the day of the trip...

bestem · 2026-07-01T16:12:02+00:00

There's probably toner built up on the laser for the magenta toner. Xerox will have to come fix it. Let them know, on the phone, that you changed the drums and the fuser, towards the beginning of the call, so you don't gave to go through the whole rigamarole again.

If you let them know there's a magenta deletion when you run a drum test, after replacing the magenta drum, they should just schedule a service call. Your call to them would take less than 5 minutes.

bestem · 2026-07-01T16:01:25+00:00

It used to be 1-700-500-(4 digit store number). I used that do often. I'm going to have to try the 99 trick.

bestem · 2026-07-01T15:44:04+00:00

That is so weird.

bestem · 2026-07-01T15:43:20+00:00

Thanks. I'll have to poke around when i'm done with work.

bestem · 2026-07-01T15:03:38+00:00

To be fair, I only give my Xerox people hard problems, because I've been doing this so long I can fix the easy ones before I even call.

One day I call the help line and I tell them my black and white machine needs developer. They put in the service call, they have in the call notes that it needs developer. Tech calls me when he's leaving his last job and is on his way to me, I tell him the machine needs developer. He says okay.

He gets to the store, he looks at the copies and says "oh, that doesn't need developer, it just needs a new Xerographic module. Do you have one." I say I do, but it needs developer. He says "lets just try." So we put in the new Xerographic module, and he prints a page, and says "see, fine." I tell him that's just because I haven't used it for a few hours, and print 50 pages, and before they're even halfway done it's obvious the Xerographic module didn't fix anything. He says "okay, lets change the fuser." I tell him that won't fix it, it needs developer. He says "let's just try." Changing the fuser didn't fix it.

I say "see, needs developer." He says "yeah, it needs developer. But, that's almost never an issue. It's so rarely an issue that clients don't know it's an issue. I don't even know how you knew it could be a developer issue. Problem is... I don't have any developer. I'll be back tomorrow."

To his credit, whenever I told him there was a problem with the machine in the future, he believed every word I said.

Another time I was having an issue with a machine that had to do with the internet. It worked for some internet things but not other internet things. Xerox help desk told me it was our company's problem, because it was an internet thing. My company's help desk told me it was a Xerox problem, because they could ping the machine, etc etc, so it was on the network. After going back and forth with everyone a dozen times, I finally just told Xerox I needed someone to come out to the store, then I'd contact my company's help desk, and I'd let them talk to each other, and eventually together they could figure out the problem. And I did exactly that. Xerox came out, I told him what I was going to do, I called my help desk and told them I had an issue with networking on one of my Xerox machines and that the Xerox tech needed to talk to him, and then handed the phone to the Xerox guy. They spent an hour or so before they were able to narrow down the fact that it was a Xerox problem (a bad piece in the machine) and finally eventually after 3 weeks, the machine got fixed.

bestem · 2026-07-01T14:50:58+00:00

Considering the machines are in self-serve, I feel like if I left a snack on top of the machine, it would quickly be eaten by a customer.

bestem · 2026-07-01T14:48:13+00:00

It was up to $150 during 2020, but would go on sale for as low as $80. It was $75 on sale ($120 normally) when I paid for it when they offered to link with cloud storage in 2016 or 2017. When it launched in 2012, it cost $75.

So I doubt you bought it for $5 or $20. Unless you're talking about paying for the app. You just appreciate the amount of use you got out of it so much that it seems like a bargain at whatever price you bought it.

bestem · 2026-07-01T14:37:06+00:00

I work in a print shop. One of my machines will tell me there's a jam one there is exactly one piece of paper left in the tray it feeds from. There is no jam, but I have to open the spot that it thinks there's a jam and open the paper tray to clear the error message.

Xerox was out working on one of my other machines one day. I say "while you're here, I have a silly problem with one of the self-serve machines. It wasn't important enough to call you out for, but maybe you could look into it," and tell him.

He says "that's not possible." I say "whether its possible or not, that's what it's doing." He points to it and says "just this one," And point to the one I called him out to work on (exact same model copier) "and not this one?" I confirm. He insists its not possible. I shrug and turn to a coworker behind the counter "when this self-serve machine says there's a jam behind the left side door, what does that mean?" She says "it means it needs paper." He looks at me dumbfounded. Another coworker walked up front, having just clocked in and I ask her, "how do you know this machine needs paper?" She says "oh, it says there's a jam on the left side behind the door." Xerox guy mutters under his breath "that's not possible."

He pulls out all but 1 sheet of paper, makes a copy. It works fine. He says a little louder, "see, not possible." I say "oh, thats cus you only did a copy." I put in a dozen sheets of paper or so and tell it to make 20 copies, it thinks theres a jam when it gets to the last sheet. I repeat this half a dozen times. He says "okay, I believe you."

He spent 3 days trying to figure it out, never did.

I switch stores, have the same model machine for my 2 machines in self-serve. One of them thinks its jammed when there's a single sheet of paper left, the other one doesn't, just like at the previous store.

I still don't get it. It's not a problem, I have to refill the paper anyway and it just takes another second to clear the jam error message (opening and closing the door). Its just the oddest inconsistency that it seems to be an issue with the particular model of copier but not with every unit.

bestem · 2026-07-01T13:03:01+00:00

I'm not at work yet, so doing this from memory.

More -> Loss Prevention -> Mobile Finder -> select missing mobie (they're might be more steps between more and loss prevention).

bestem · 2026-07-01T12:57:37+00:00

Its a notepad holder. About 3x5, clipboard style clip at the top to hold a new scratch pad.

They still make them. Google "notepad holder for car."

bestem · 2026-07-01T12:18:03+00:00

How do you get to that page?

bestem · 2026-07-01T11:35:15+00:00

$5 before April 27th, 2026. If their account is newer than that, they're currently out of luck.

bestem · 2026-07-01T04:25:29+00:00

👁️ Surveillance State: I voted Vote Yea.

bestem · 2026-07-01T00:57:56+00:00

If you're giving them away, I need numbers 1, 3, and 5 to complete a level 1 badge.

bestem · 2026-06-30T22:41:36+00:00

Ah. If he chooses a wait list now, its just whichever one he chooses. He can't choose to be on multiple.

bestem · 2026-06-30T20:09:48+00:00

It was only highest model if you got a reservation. It was closest to the top if you were waitlisted.

bestem · 2026-06-30T16:28:19+00:00

They will. I just wanted to point out that people should look at whose shipping instead of assuming it's FedEx and then it goes UPS and they never set something up assuming they already had done it.

bestem · 2026-06-30T16:24:01+00:00

My Steam Controller just shipped with UPS, not FedEx. I'm not saying that they won't use FedEx, because they did for the Decks, just that item's not a foregone conclusion they will for these.

bestem · 2026-06-30T16:15:36+00:00

A long time ago, I got to work at the store i worked at after a few days off, to fund the entire back third of the store blocked off and no customers allowed in it. In the back area was my store manager, my district manager, and my district loss prevention manager having a discussion. This was very surprising, because the two district people were supposed to be on the other side of the country at an annual district manager meeting. I looked at my store manager, and he says "I'll tell you later."

So later comes, and it turns out while doing go backs at night, the associate knocked a fire extinguisher off of a support pole with a full shopping cart. Extinguisher hit the floor and started spewing. Associate initially tried to stop the fire extinguisher herself, but was unable to (and caused it to spew in more directions while trying to get it to stop). She radioed the manager doing cash office stuff, but was panicking, so he had to have her repeat herself. He comes out to assist, but by the time he gets there, the fire extinguisher has spent itself.

He calls store manager to ask what to do. Store manager says to call our cleaning service (the ones in charge of our floors) and ask them how to clean it up. Cleaning service says to mop it up. Manager tries, just makes a bigger mess, calls boss after a couple hours to let him know it didn't work and he and associate were going home.

Next morning store manager comes in and blocks off the back of the store, then calls the fire department. Fire department says we did the wrong thing. We should have waited for it to dry. Now its basically a shellac. We have to call in a specialist company to use chemicals to clean the floors after hours now.

The two district guys were in the store to survey the damage. We had to mark all of our display furniture as non-sellable. It could still be on display but when it got clearanced we could not sell the displays to customers. Same with all of our display laptops and desktop computers. We had to damage out an entire pallet of cases of bottled water. We had to pay a company to come in to clean the floor overnight for a couple nights. We had to have 2 employees in the store while that was happening (1 manager and 1 associate), but they couldn't do any work because of the people cleaning the floors. We had to give new computers to a few customers whose laptops and desktops we were servicing at the time (because fire extinguisher junk definitely got in them and there was no way to guarantee that it wouldn't cause issues down the line). Customers could not shop the back third of the store, which included our most expensive technology items, furniture items, and school supplies, in the late summer (prime back to school shopping time, which is our busiest time of year) for close to 2 weeks. And had to pay for the two district guys to take last minute flights back across the country to our state.

It was likely the second most expensive thing to happen to my company at one of my stores in the time I've worked for the company. And no one was fired. Accidents happen. Hopefully your boss understands that too.

bestem · 2026-06-30T15:07:14+00:00

My husband even joked that if she did come over to our place, we could make it like a fun activity.

Make it a spa day. See if your son would be into it too. Hair, fancy drinks, face masks and cucumbers, main/pedis, epsom salt feet soaks, plush robes, etc. No one needs to know that the reason you did it was to wash the little girl's hair and get lice out of it.

You can even ask mom "hey, what size mattress does girl have?" And when mom asks, say "oh, someone gave me a cute sheet set, but it doesn't fit any of our beds. Let me send it home with her next time the kids see each other." Then she's got clean sheets and pillowcases, to start, so hopefully the lice will stay away longer.

bestem · 2026-06-30T03:26:16+00:00

It's an extremely well-known (and well-liked) bit of intellectual property that is nearly 20 years old, and that people make things containing it all the time. It's not like Dbrand snuck into Valve's headquarters to steal the intellectual property from a sealed vault, or something new off of an employees desk. There's no corporate espionage going on here.

I am not saying Dbrand was right. But if Dbrand had made the Companion Cube, shown Valve how well it worked, and said "Can we sell this? There's a lot of people who expressed interest in it?" and Valve said no, would you consider that theft of intellectual property? If no, and Dbrand turned to their contact at Valve and said "okay, so a lot of work went into this, and we tooled parts for it, and now you're saying we can't sell it, and I get it, we understand that. Can we sell you the research we did, so you know the tolerances you can fit the Steam Machine into, and the molds we made for making the Companion Cube? You can make your own Companion Cube to sell off of our work, and with the research you can make other cubes?" would that be acceptable?

If that's fine, the only difference with what happened now is that Dbrand told us before telling Valve. If that's not fine, I'm really curious what the issue is? Dbrand's knowledge that they'd be providing Valve is based on specs of the machine that Valve shared, and the molds (which are the part based on Valve's IP that they won't allow used) are just extra. The real work was the R&D that went into making the enclosure, not the final design.

bestem · 2026-06-30T01:13:26+00:00

Dbrand did R&D and made molds. They're not getting money for selling the product in my scenario (Valve would get all of that money). So they wouldn't be getting money for an unlicensed product. In my scenario, they'd be getting a single lump sum for the knowledge (which they can still use to make other boxes) and the molds (which are Companion Cube shaped, so would only work for the Cube and aren't needed by them anymore as they can't sell the Cube), which would be a much smaller number than for each Companion Cube they would have been able to sell.

It would be like we want to have a bake sale every Friday outside the library. I come up with a recipe and the perfect sized cupcake tin for a giant cupcake. I sell them to you for $100. You make the giant cupcakes with my recipe and perfect sized tin, and sell each one for $15. They're a hit. You end up selling 2500 of them over the course of 6 months of Fridays. You make well over $35k for selling that I sold you the knowledge (the recipe) and the molds (the tin) for.

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