I'm seeing a growing (and disturbing) trend of companies moving away from physical copies of owners manuals and going all digital, scanable through a QR code. I just recently purchase a new 20-30K piece of equipment and was informed that they no longer gave paper manuals. Just scan the QR code on the machine they said, or you can buy the manuals for $60, I was floored. This is a big name manufacturer, premium quality equipment that I just paid close to $25K for and they can't be bothered to give me a set of manuals that probably cost them $10? Got the machine to the site, set it up and had a problem, minor, but still something that needed adjustment. #1 I don't have a smart phone and #2 even if I did there is no cell service in the area, so I was done for the day. I about flew off the handle. I'm not naming the company because they have since made it right, sent me a full set of manuals at no charge, but why is this even a thing? Are these companies pinching pennies that hard these days? Some green initiative to save paper? Think that nobody uses paper manuals anymore? When I'm out in the woods/field/jobsite and have a machine down, the last thing I want to be doing is searching for a cell signal, trying to decipher diagrams on a tiny screen and handling a phone or tablet with greasy hands. Am I the only one that still feels this way? Hopefully not, we need to send a message to manufacturers that this is not ok.
The more companies (in general) pull this **** the more often I just tell them I don't have a smart phone.
It's like how they look at you when you hand them cash instead of the card or phone
They are also looking at a younger crowd. I went out for supper with a guy that owns a parts store. He is looking at opening an online store. The young people buy everything with their phone. He figures he's losing a lot of business to online sales.
I purposely pay cash now. Then I don't get prompted for a tip everywhere I go.
Ya, even if I have a "smartphone", I'm too cheap to pay some ridiculous amount for the data plan to download that stuff. A phone is still a phone to me and maybe a text message or two. If you want me to download something it will be with a laptop. They don't do QR codes. I can see that it would be handy if you had a phone big enough to read it and see the diagrams. My pockets aren't that big !!!
My lack of a smart phone is very intentional, I just don't need that distraction in my life. Smart phones are only popular because they have become a jack-of-all-trades. IMO they are uncomfortable to use as a telephone, aren't great for typing on or browsing the web, aren't as easy to use as a real digital camera and I don't need a TV in my pocket. I've managed to run two businesses quite successfully for the past 20+ yrs with a flip phone, a lap top and a pad of paper, don't plan on changing anytime soon. As for email, I just tell everyone I don't have it. There are a very few select customers and companies I give it to, but it's rare. I only give it out if I absolutely need to send or receive documents, I don't use it for correspondence at all. I can usually count on one hand the number of emails I send or receive in a month. If I worked in corporate America I would have zero patience for the barrage of useless email crap that gets sent every day. If anyone was wondering I'm 40yrs old, so by definition a Millennial. My views on technology are definitely not shared by most of my peers, I also seem to get a lot more done than many of them too.
I remember when a fax was a big deal. I had dealers fax diagrams of just about anything, kept them in a binder for later use. Dealers won't do that anymore.
I've been lucky, I've found a few dealers that are willing to help a guy out with stuff like that.
As to the owners manuals, I guess now getting a paper copy has to be included in your negotiations. I used to always get a service manual and parts manual thrown in as part of the negotiations for a new machine, now we have to beg just to get the owners manual. The other part that bugs me, from my research when you scan a QR code you are also sending information back to the company. I don't know what all personal data they are able to collect, but I know for sure they take and use anything they can.
I also see the trend these days for restraunts having QR codes on the tables instead of menus. I purposely avoid them.
As much as we all love the tech. It's becoming the biggest obstacle for intelligent humans to exist.
I have bought a few things that came with a QR code for a manual, I have always let them know I wasn’t pleased. Can’t imagine that with a machine of that value. I don’t like anything other than paper manuals, online manuals are not user friendly to me at all. I have a whole wall in my basement, for manuals and such. Paper just makes so much sense but I will say those huge manual can be a pain to flip through, without the binder opening up. lol
Grocery stores---items on special with a clip the QR code on the {shelf price tag}. I was standing in a aisle looking at coffee with that--a store manager walked by, {I have a flip phone--you folks do know your discriminating}. Blank look.
I rarely leave online reviews for products I buy, the exception being anything that comes with a QR code instead of instructions. Recently bought a combination padlock, instead of instructions on the back how to reset the combo, it had a QR code and a bunch of advertising crap in 10 different languages. I left a scathing 1 star review on the website. I've told people that too, same when they press me too hard to get my email, I tell them I don't know how to use a computer. Then they get real awkward and apologetic LOL But there is some truth to it being discriminatory, I know for a fact the piece of equipment I bought is something the Amish also use. If I were Amish I would find it down right insulting to be given a QR code instead of a paper manual.
I don't love the tech at all. I do like to use my laptop to compare products and get info on stuff but I only very rarely need it on my phone. I feel like "they" are working to make humans cell phone dependent and distract them from things that are actually important. AI ??? Give me a break ! Let's have some RI ( real intelliigence) and apparently, we now need to have a grade school course in CS ( common sense)
I have a burner e-mail I give out. Never have looked at it after I created it 6 years ago. I don't even remember the password. I am quite sure it has 1000's of un-opened e-mails, trying to sell me everything from fad diets to dick pumps......
I would have simply told them, that if you don't take that qr code to a printing outfit and get me ALL the manuals. I will just keep my $ and go some place else. This is how to fix the QR code manual deal. Oh just saw you have an option to buy them. I would still say nope not after spending untold thousands I won't. I'd say either to toss em in on the deal or take me out for a 200$ / plate,lunch, if not read the above. Gosh what ever happened to incentives to make a sale? I guess I need to become a sales person.
Yes I agree, it upset me to the point I would have returned the equipment. I think they realized this and sent me the full set of manuals free of charge and they never mentioned it again. This is something I'm very vocal about, I hope others will be too. Corporate America does indeed listen to the consumer, we just have to have a large enough voice to be heard.
Isn't it an OSHA violation to not have an operators manual in the machine?
You wou think so, wouldn’t you?
I don't mind the tech, but I do have a good comprehension of it's usefulness and unusefulness. I like being able to look things up on the phone, but don't like at all that it tracks me and sells my info. I think most of the internet will be found to be terrible for society, in the future. I think I'd be upset without paper manuals on a new machine also. That being said I spent a good 300 bucks or something for paper manuals for my backhoe that every time I've opened them I haven't found much info that I'm looking for and I've come here to HEF.
That is an interesting bit of information and one I hadn't considered. If so hopefully they will 'persuade' manufactures to include a paper copy again. I remember 20yrs or so ago when the little plastic tubes started showing up on equipment to keep the manual in, presumably for that reason. This QR code owners manual thing has just started fairly recently from what I can tell. Seems like Toyota and Ford are also going down this route with some if not all of their vehicles. Parents have each purchase new Ford vehicles lately, I know for a fact the 2025 Ford Explorer did not come with an owners manual, I'll have to see if the '23/'24 trucks did or did not.
Depends on what machine it is. Man lifts require the owners manual/ANSI documents to be onboard at all times.
I can find what I'm looking for in a 3 inch thick paper shop manual 100 times faster than on an electronic device. And I can use some torn paper markers and flip between the pages in the paper manual at lightning speed compared to the electronic device, also I don't need anti blue light glasses like I have on right now to do so. The led back lit screens are super bad for eyes.
I purchased a 24’ F350 that only came with a diesel supplement manual (Paper). There is an electronic owners manual that you access thru the radio screen. I find it impossible to use. I downloading a PDF version from Ford that I can reasonably navigate on my computer.
I still don’t have a operating manual for my 2010 Jeep JK. Came with a frggin CD for the operating manual and at the moment and probably never will again, have anything that could open it. Have looked a few times for one, in all the popular places and can never seem to find one. Still don’t know if it has any type of menu and can’t seem to find one.
I don't get why you can't name the brand? Maybe if enough people object to not getting a proper manual(s) they will change their policy and provide the manuals. I know the city here and some other outfits specify they want 3 copies of manuals for all equipment purchases. It's especially important if there are multiple operators. My track loader has a warning plate on the dash to fully read and understand the operators manual before operating the machine. There are a lot people here complaining about the new parking rules. The only way to pay is by scanning a QR code. I had to get someone to help me when I went to an equipment show a week ago. The even bigger issue is you can't see your phone if it's a sunny day and there's no shady area to make it easier. So much easier to just pay an attendant when you arrive or leave if you pay by the hour. Using a debit card to pay is a much better option than a QR code too. Can't imagine the outcry if you could only use a QR code to pay for gas.
This forum only comes in an electronic version, and I’m ok with that. I like everyone here, it’s free and if I’m tracked and my info is sold, it’s a small price to pay for what I get out of it. Best of all it’s painless! While I don’t like everything that comes with the latest tech, the smart phone is another tool I use to make my days and life easier. I agree all this tech and social media is poison. Mother Nature always wins- guess she’s good with a computer also. Im a grownup with a pretty good handle on things. I have spent some time locking down my devices to not track or share my information. I know it’s not 100% but I do what I can and accept the trade off. After 50 years I have accepted that most things are a trade off. With that being said, I still have the final say in the matter, I haven’t ruled out the next time I need to plug something in it will be my old two wire touch tone phone into a landline phone jack. Yes, I still have both.
I think it's much better to get paper manuals with a new machine. So much easier to read and faster to find something you're looking for.
Eventually you won't be able to get anything in print. Phone book used to be quite thick. I still get one, but it's more like a magazine. Most young people wouldn't know how to use one. The local parts stores can't function without internet. Wife works in a restaurant. They lost internet, so right off the bat, it's cash only. The young ones were lost at how to write an order by hand. The younger kitchen staff couldn't make orders without a ****. Wife had to show them how to actually measure the booze, and weigh the bottle at the end of shift. If we loose tech, the young people are screwed
The problem with all this tech it has done more to enslave us than ever would have been imagined in its infancy. Internet is fine, it just should have not become such a requirement for every aspect of everyones lives. Then they think they improve something on it and just make things worse. Email ? years ago I used it alot, now maybe once a month, its so difficult to use it now. Many old people and even some younger ones don't use or have a computer, I know many that don't have a cell phone. Yeah it (tec) can be praised and hated at the same time. I have an E manual for our one car, and the 4 volume (books) one as well, I can find the info faster in the paper books than on the computer.
Wish the edit button would last forever like on some websites. Anyway to add, the influx of this electronic crap, has opened everyone up to crazy theft. Theft from fishing scams, theft from hacking, and then there are all those TV ads that promote theft as well. In the old days before the mass electronic invasion these sort of thefts were mostly non existent. Oh lets not forget the electronic signature forgery devices that we all are forced to sign now. Imagine how that can be used in the wrong hands, mainly hackers that get into such systems. Your signature could end up on almost anything.
I remember when protecting the password on your debit and credit cards was big on the news and in advertisements. Then all of a sudden they have tap where you don't need a password or anything. Minimum amount you can tap is a $100 limit at a time (some people have a $500 or higher limit) but no limit on how many purchases under $100. You lose your card or forget it somewhere and anybody who finds it can buy a whole ton of stuff by the time you report it lost. So much for protecting your password. Now someone could have easy access to your money.
Wood-Mizer sawmill. I will say there are some at the company that still care and go above and beyond. The gentleman that I spoke with in the their technical service dept was sympathetic to my plight and sent me the full set of manuals as well as 5 extra blades for my troubles, all free of charge. He said that he had heard they (Wood-Mizer corporate) were going to digital only manuals but didn't realize they had implemented that yet.
I've stated this before, but IMO the peak of technology was about 2000-2005. Very little tech after that time period has done anything to actually make our lives better. Real innovation has long ago gone, they are now just trying to come up with new stuff to sell us, mostly things that we don't want. Sure things seem 'cool' when they first come out, but people quickly realize they are actually just a burden. Smart everything, touch screen everything, AI anything, they are all just ways for big tech to make money at society's expense. I might be wrong, but I think AI will be the next dot com bubble....
The peak of technology--1987, last of the 359's and the start of fly by wire, that's when things got ugly, DDEC I.
I've heard nothing but good about Wood-Mizer, glad they made this right too.