I regularly report on interesting examples of “free stuff” left out for the taking on the sidewalks of Brooklyn. On an evening walk on August 11, 2026, I happened upon a free white HP printer in Brooklyn Heights. It is not uncommon to see free printers, but this one caught my attention thanks to a note.
Whoever left this printer was kind enough to tell anyone who may be considering undertaking the unpleasant task of carrying it some distance or another that it “kind of works,” a description my mother aptly noted applies to many new printers. I did not doubt that the printer at least “kind of” worked, but I left it for someone else to take since I already have a printer which works perfectly well and is relatively cheap to maintain.
But despite not taking the printer home with me, I had an article-related reason for documenting it beyond adding to my growing collection of “free stuff with notes” reports, which saw its last entry in my coverage of a free air conditioner seen out in the wild of Carroll Gardens exactly one week before I stumbled upon the printer.
But there was an additional reason I saw article potential in the free white printer beyond the presence of a humorous note. On February 25 of this year, I published an article titled Shiroi Printer – Visual Novel Review. Shiroi Printer, first published on May 28, 2018, is a very short Japanese horror visual novel. I technically reviewed its English-language version, White Printer, which is part of the same package.
The story of White Printer begins with the protagonist, a Japanese man just entering the workforce out of college, describing his adventures in learning cookery to save money on food. He had been struggling to read recipes off his phone when he stumbled upon something that would ease his culinary journey. I quote from my review, which in turn quotes the protagonist:
But the protagonist had a solution, or I should say that he had scavenged a solution. That solution, in a totally unexpected twist, was a white printer: ‘…I had found this white printer abandoned in the premises of the condominium where I was living and had only just brought it back to my room.’
The visual novel suggests that printers are just as finicky in Japan as they are here in the United States. But in this case, the protagonist found that the printer more than “kind of” worked.
Even so, the printer was really excellent. When I first picked it up, as a discarded second-hand printer, I thought I would be lucky if I could even read what was printed.
If only the previous owner of that printer had left a note on it. Perhaps something to the effect of “it kind of works well (not to brag)” or “it’s really excellent” would have sufficed. Of course, whoever took the printer in Brooklyn Heights would have had to transport it, whether by carrying it to a nearby residence or via a vehicle. The protagonist in Shiroi Printer found his discarded printer on the premises of his condominium. I suppose that made leaving a note about its condition a less pressing matter.
Of course, I noted above that Shiroi Printer touts itself as a horror visual novel, so one may suspect given the fact that a printer is effectively a main character, that this seemingly innocuous second-hand printer plays some role in the proceedings. Perhaps the first sign came when the fictional white printer printed a web page that the protagonist had never seen before. But on that subject I say no more here than in my largely spoiler-free review of the visual novel. As I noted in my review, Shiroi Printer can be played in your preferred web browser and only takes about 10-15 minutes to complete. For anyone who is curious about what is up with the fictional free white printer, the answer is one click away.
I suspect that the free HP printer in Brooklyn Heights differs from the white printer in the visual novel in several respects, with one being that the visual novel printer is described as being a high-end printer while the HP printer I saw left out for the taking in Brooklyn Heights looks like a budget choice (not accounting for ink and toner, of course, which have a way of quickly making budget-friendly printers something less than budget friendly). But with that being said, I suspect the HP printer worked fine for what it is, and I hope it found usefulness in a good home, perhaps printing recipes like the white printer of Shiroi Printer.
