It’s taken me a while to understand how printers work. See, it’s a scam. That is why they’re always on sale. You can always get one “included” in a package deal when you buy a computer. The printer cartridges are always included. Many of them now claim that they’ve improved the printing quality by providing five different ink cartridges in colors like cyan and magenta. Are you kidding me? I think I’m going to buy my next car in cyan!
It’s a shell game. It makes me crazy! See, the printer is the bait. The cartridges are the pay-off. Depending on your printer usage, I’ve found each cartridge or group of cartridges will print anywhere from 8 – 37 pages before they have to be replaced. If you print photos, you might get 2 or 3 8X10’s. No wonder I stopped printing my photos myself and just send them to CostCo online (I was so proud when I figured that out).
Some clever companies have found ways to help out the poor printer consumer by selling non-name-brand varieties at a substantial reduction in price. And, sometimes they even work — for a day or two. But, you’ve instantly invalidated your printer warranty the moment you’ve put one of those bastard child cartridges in your precious HP or Epson printer.
I have a simple question. WHY CAN’T THEY MAKE PRINTER/INK CARTRIDGES THAT LAST???
Let’s not even talk about those alignment pages and color bands that are supposed to show you how to set your printer for the best clarity, color, and quality. I’m still trying to get the ink off my hands from the last time I pulled off one of those protector tape labels and got black ink all over my favorite white polo shirt!
What happened to pen and paper? Or the mimeograph?
Update:
Thank you for your wonderful comments! Given all of the interest in lowering our printer ink costs, Boomer Tech Talk did some searching and came up with Print Country which provides viable cost saving alternatives for printer ink and toner cartridges. This on-line retailer has high customer review ratings. Please let us know how it works out for you at Print Country.
