- Joined
- Feb 25, 2011
- Location
- Australia
Everyday liquid that costs 5k per litre
- Thread starter Gremmyboy
- Start date
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2012
- Location
- UK
That is quite insane when you think about it. Why have printer manufacturers been able to rip us all off for so long?
Hang on a tic.....
they say that there is 6.5 ml of ink in the colour cart which means $5654 per litre.
I know i am splitting hairs here.... but you dont just pay for the ink. When calculating the cost per litre on petrol.... did they include the cost of the car? If an empty cartridge costs $24 to make alone... the price of the ink drops dramatically!!!
When I was a kid... I also remember often wondering why we can have so many cows in Ireland, and so few oil fields... yet milk was still more expensive per litre than petrol. Many a sleepless night as a 10 year old while I pondered that one....
they say that there is 6.5 ml of ink in the colour cart which means $5654 per litre.
I know i am splitting hairs here.... but you dont just pay for the ink. When calculating the cost per litre on petrol.... did they include the cost of the car? If an empty cartridge costs $24 to make alone... the price of the ink drops dramatically!!!
When I was a kid... I also remember often wondering why we can have so many cows in Ireland, and so few oil fields... yet milk was still more expensive per litre than petrol. Many a sleepless night as a 10 year old while I pondered that one....
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2004
- Location
- Bexhill on sea, England
My first thought (before I followed your link) that it might be SuperGlue... but that only works out at something like £400/litre.
Although I do agree printer ink is a total rip-off - that article is misleading, because the price isn't just for the ink (which would be worth pennies) - but for the whole cartridge, including the electronic and printing elements.
KK
Although I do agree printer ink is a total rip-off - that article is misleading, because the price isn't just for the ink (which would be worth pennies) - but for the whole cartridge, including the electronic and printing elements.
KK
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2004
- Location
- United Kingdom
Which you still chuck out after a single use, by DESIGN I suspect too. There are many companies that offer recycling and refilling of spent cartridges, but the printer companies do their best to put a stop to it. One trick has been to hard wire failure into the electronics of the cartridge, so even when it is refilled, the printer refuses to use it because it shows as empty. This is why you cannot refill Epson cartridges with a home use kit. There is underground software to "crack" some Epson cartridges so that you can refill them and make them show as full. Another trick is to make them show as empty when they are still about a third full, and it then being impossible to override this and force the printer to keep using the ink till it actually runs out.
On top of this, they constantly advise users to always use the genuine cartridges, and that use of third party cartridges can give you poor quality output and invalidate the guarantee.
Manufacturers should produce their own refil kits, which can be used for as long as the electronics in the cartridge work, which I'll bet is more than one lot of ink.
It has also been said that printers are sold at lower than production cost, with the money being made off the ink.
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2009
- Location
- the land of snow and maple syrup
We just chiuck the printer and buy a new one when the cartridge is empty. A new cartridge costs about 60 bucks; a new printer is about 40 with ink
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2004
- Location
- United Kingdom
Complete insanity from an environmental point of view, but the government don't seem too bothered else they would put a stop to it.
They may well come unstuck in the EU, as there are moves to make manufacturers pay up front for the disposal costs of their product, which will stop them selling them at stupidly low prices. If users chucked away mountains of $40 printers instead of piles of $60 cartridges, the manufacturer would LOSE money with this trick.
Users have to learn to check the price of ink before being seduced by the price of the printer. Lexmark over here have the cheapest printers, but just wait till you need a new cartridge
Lexmark also provide many of the "free printer" offers when buying a new PC. It is how I got my first printer, a Lexmark free with the PC, but almost £30 per cartridge, and it took 2. My next was an Epson, more expensive, but cheaper ink. Now it seems Cannon are even better, cartridges under a tenner, and individual inks, rather than a single colour cartridge.If you live in the UK and you owned a lexmark Inkjet printer between 1997 and 2001 and complained about it... chances are you spoke to me at some point. 
Before I got in to this gambling game I worked as the head of their inkjet printer complaints department .... so you can probably guess how many times I heard ''Your cartridges cost WHAT??''
I saw recently that they were pulling out of the inkjet printer market.... I guess the refill kits were making the business model unworkable for them.
Just a word of warning for you printer buyers out threre... using 'non brand' ink almost always voids your warranty.... so just like playing blackjack on a slots bonus... it's a gamble folks. If the printer is less than a year old and ink leaks, they can and will just tell you to buy a new one. Ye have been warned.
Iano
Before I got in to this gambling game I worked as the head of their inkjet printer complaints department .... so you can probably guess how many times I heard ''Your cartridges cost WHAT??''
I saw recently that they were pulling out of the inkjet printer market.... I guess the refill kits were making the business model unworkable for them.
Just a word of warning for you printer buyers out threre... using 'non brand' ink almost always voids your warranty.... so just like playing blackjack on a slots bonus... it's a gamble folks. If the printer is less than a year old and ink leaks, they can and will just tell you to buy a new one. Ye have been warned.
Iano
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2004
- Location
- United Kingdom
If you live in the UK and you owned a lexmark Inkjet printer between 1997 and 2001 and complained about it... chances are you spoke to me at some point.
Before I got in to this gambling game I worked as the head of their inkjet printer complaints department .... so you can probably guess how many times I heard ''Your cartridges cost WHAT??''
I saw recently that they were pulling out of the inkjet printer market.... I guess the refill kits were making the business model unworkable for them.
Just a word of warning for you printer buyers out threre... using 'non brand' ink almost always voids your warranty.... so just like playing blackjack on a slots bonus... it's a gamble folks. If the printer is less than a year old and ink leaks, they can and will just tell you to buy a new one. Ye have been warned.
Iano
Hardly relevant if buying a new one is cheaper than buying the ink.
I think consumers have grown wise to this tactic, and watching many Gadget show reviews I see that the ink (cost per page) is an important factor when deciding which printer tops the list. When the remaining ink runs out on my Epson, it's down the tip with it, to be replaced by a Cannon, all ready and waiting in stock next to me and my gambling PC. The Lexmark went down the tip 2 years ago, but I stopped using it long before that due to the cost of the ink.
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2004
- Location
- Up$hitCreek
Very timely post as my multi-function printer here at work is low on inks and due for all new cartridges - 1 each of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. I buy 'high yield' so I only have to change them out about once a year @ $125 for all four in one pop. I usually have to change the black cartridge once in between the all cartridges annual change out, which is around $38. The printer/multifunction cost us about $199 on sale 3 or 4 years ago.
I've always had horrible luck with refills/remanufactured/generic brand cartridges - leaks, globs, uneven color, smears, dried up .... never had a good experience with them, so I always go right back to paying thru the nose for name brand.
This is a small business, I'm the only one who uses the printer. I can only imagine the cost of having hundreds of printers....
I've always had horrible luck with refills/remanufactured/generic brand cartridges - leaks, globs, uneven color, smears, dried up .... never had a good experience with them, so I always go right back to paying thru the nose for name brand.
This is a small business, I'm the only one who uses the printer. I can only imagine the cost of having hundreds of printers....
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