Printers are one of the biggest rip-offs in computing today. Companies like Hewlett Packard (HP) and Cannon throw together a bucket of cheap plastic parts and charge you $150.00 for it. Then, they price gouge you for the ink cartridges.
CNET.com analyzed the cost for inkjet printing and reported that the costs ranged from 14 cents to $1.32 per page. If it costs 21 cents per page and you print only an average of two pages per day, the annual cost of ink would be more than the cost of the printer.
The ink cartridge for a low end HP printer, containing only one tiny ounce of ink, costs a mind boggling $30.00! That's price gouging, and all printer manufacturers are doing it. That's called PRICE FIXING and it's illegal. To add to the rip-off, some of them put all the colors into one cartridge. Then you have to buy a new cartridge when only one color runs out, wasting the remaining ink.
This price gouging makes it impossible for businesses like direct marketing or mail order to survive. The only way you can protect yourself is to refill your own cartridges. Most people feel that it is too difficult or too messy to refill cartridges. But for the cost of a new cartridge, you can refill your old one 12 times (per color).
If your business on average prints 200 pages per day, refilling cartridges could bring your costs down from $15,330.00 to $1,277.50 per year. This is based on 21 cents per page, your actual cost per page could me much higher. With this kind of savings, you can afford to screw up a few cartridges while learning. If you spill some ink, you can afford to re-carpet the entire house.
A good place to get inkjet refill kits is MIS Associates. They provide detailed online well-illustrated step-by-step instructions. The same idea applies to laser printer toner cartridges. Can you afford to pay $400.00 every time your HP 1200se toner cartridge runs dry? A good place to get toner refill kits is TonerRefillKits. They also provide detailed online well-illustrated step-by-step instructions. You can refill the 1200se cartridge for only $12.95! (after one time $12.95 purchase of tool kit.)
Printers are one of the biggest rip-offs in computing today. I don't know why the FTC is not investigating illegal ink cartridge price fixing by printer manufacturers. For now, the way to protect yourself is to learn how to refill your own cartridges.
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