Why Do Ink Cartridges Cost So Much?

PCWorld.com ^ | 8/28/2003 | Tom Spring

[Born Conservative]

Consumers revolt over the cost of inkjet cartridges, even as printer prices plummet.

At $22 per quarter-ounce, a Hewlett-Packard color ink-jet cartridge is more expensive, by weight, than imported Russian caviar.

Observing such high prices, Connecticut research consultant Zel Dolinsky wants to know the reasons for them. "How come, with printer prices falling, ink prices are still so outrageous?" Dolinsky asks. "I'm appalled."

[Born Conservative]

I tried 3rd party replacement cartridges once, and they did not perform nearly as well, and they did not last.

I'm equally disgusted with the "trickery" of Epson with my current printer. It gives a graphic image of the supposed level of ink remaining in each cartridge, and then warnings each time I print that I need to purchase a new cartridge. I have purposely not changed it, and still am able to print, despite the graphic showing no ink remaining in my black cartridge.

[Huck]

I use an epson for a little business venture, but I was able to purchase a special bulk ink cartridge system that feeds the cartridge from bottles through little tubes. It's special ink. Maybe they have such a contraption for regular ink?

[rdb3]

Why Do Ink Cartridges Cost So Much?

Think Gillette and Bic. There's your answer.

[steplock]

They're expensive because they GIVE you the printer!

Pay me now -or - Pay me later. Old saying but still is true. I can get you a brand new 1200 dpi ink jet for $9.99 and $40/refill
OR
you can go the better way and buy a laser - big bucks up front - lowest cost/page overall

The last I checked (it's been a while) a laser printer would cost ~$.04/page whereas the color inkjet could run upwards of $0.30/page.

[stands2reason]

I knew before reading this that Lexmark was the worst. Their ink is 40$, 20-30% higher than other makers.

[Junior]

Go paperless.

[cmsgop]

Think Gillette and Bic. There's your answer.

No Kidding! When it's time for a new cartridge, I just buy a new Mach 3 razor, it's cheaper that way.

[JimVT]

I bought the IMS ink refill system which looks like a ten year supply.

My only complaint was that the particular HP cartridge instructions I needed were not in the manual so I gambled on a "similar" cartridge. Bad idea!

When I went to the IMS web site there were the full instructions for the HP 20 cartridge...so next time I'm ready.

Screw HP and their $50 cartridges.

[Willie Green]

I have purposely not changed it, and still am able to print, despite the graphic showing no ink remaining in my black cartridge.

That's a violation of WTO agreements.
Mexico can sue you personally for reparations.

[chachacha]

I've been filling HP color and Black cartridged for years. For $100.00 you can purchase (3-Pints color + 1Pint Black) enough bulk ink to refill cartridges at a small business for over a year. I've filled the Black cartridge seven times before repalcement of the cartridge is necessary and the color five times.

Very cost efficient.

[fishtank]

No way.

I like killing trees.

[Wright is right!]

I'm printing right now with an Epson that cost 79.95 and uses two $30 carts. It ALMOST makes sense to replace the entire printer when the ink runs out, since a new one comes with two new cartridges. There was a story on FR here not long ago about a store that was selling inkjet printers in the $40 range. Ink for the color printers cost more than that. And customers were doing exactly as I'd mentioned - when the ink ran out, they just bought a new printer.

Michael

[rdb3]

When it's time for a new cartridge, I just buy a new Mach 3 razor, it's cheaper that way.

I used to do the same. Now I use an old-school straight razor. Got the leather strap, too.

[Windcatcher]

I have an old Epson Stylus Photo EX and I use a CFS (Continuous Flow System). It uses 4oz. ink bottles and tubes that run to a custom print head. It takes a night or so to set up, but it seems to work well. There are two issues with this setup however:

- This particular printer uses an internal droplet counter to tell when a cartridge needs changing. That means that I have to reset the print head occasionally when the printer erroneously thinks it's empty. Not too hard really, just slide a thin screwdriver behing the print head and twist to trip the cartridge insertion switch. Have to do it once for color and once for b/w.

- If a nozzle gets *really* clogged, you have to unplug the cartridge and insert a cleaning cartridge. Of course you'd have to do this with standard cartridges anyway, but unplugging the CFS cartridge lets air into the system and it can take up to an hour to purge it again.

Still, having 4oz. bottles for every color (as opposed to 16ml black, 8ml cyan, 8ml magenta, 8ml light cyan, 8ml light magenta, and 10ml yellow) is *really* nice.

If I was buying a new printer, I'd definitely recommend getting an Epson 1280 and CFS kit.

[ErnBatavia]

But if the new ones are like my two previous (one an HP and an Apple), you only get a half a dose starter kit with the new printer.

[Atlas Sneezed]

They are the companies' ink cartridges. let them price them the way they want to. (Or need to, considering the immense R&D investment to provide the goobers out there with $100 printers that make fast, quiet, durable images,)

[bwteim]

Go paperless.

There is a lot of merit behind that suggestion.

One could download software for Windows or Linux to create PDF files, or for price of a modest inkjet printer or a couple of cartridges, buy Adobe Acrobat (not Reader) and then create, touch up, colorize pdf files to your heart's content, exchange them via email, etc. Other options include using OS X, it has built in ability to create PDF files from within any application, no Acrobat needed.

Nice thing about Adobe is that you can password protect files, create forms, etc. Never once need to touch a printer.

[Dan(9698)]

>>>...still am able to print, despite the graphic showing no ink remaining in my black cartridge.

The trick to refilling cartriges, is to refill before they are completely empty.

If they get completely empty they get a bubble of air in the bottom and that "plugs" them up. You have to then put them in a jig and suck the air out the bottom.

That works, but sometimes you have to do it more than once.

If you refill before they are completely empty they do not get bubbles down where they can cause problems.

After refill, tell your printer that it is a new cartrige and it resets the indicators.

I have been doing that with a Lexmark for about 3 refills each without a problem.

[Publius6961]

You're lucky.
Canon, HP and Epson all have embedded chips on their cartridges to turn themselves off before they're empty.

Oh yes, that prevents third party suppliers from producing cartridges that work. A two-fer.

[lepton]

It gets a bit silly when the printer with cartidges is $82, and the replacement cartridges are $74.