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."

[templar]

Anybody know if those Lexmark refill-the-cartridge kits really work?

Takes a lot of practice and then the results are not top notch from my experience. The black cartridges seem to work better than the color ones when refilled. I've found that cutting a color cartridge top off and using the little clear plastic insert inside the top as a drilling template for the next cartridge seems to be the best idea. The black cartridges already have a hole in the top or you can make one with a small drill or thumbtack. The color ones have a clear palstic shield inside the top part of the cartridge and it needs to be exposed by taking the top off (breaking it off crefully). Careful drilling using an insert from a trashed cartridge for a guide (and noting which color goes in which compartment) seems to give better results. I'm thinking about vacuum packing one sometime after I've done a refill (to get any air out) and see if that works better.

Overall, I'd reccomend against the refill if you have to depend on the cartridge working on demand at all times. Or at least have a factory cartridge stocked for emergency use.

[Voltage]

Dear Queen Jadis: Don't buy them if they are too expensive! Nobody really needs them, of course you might want them, but these are two different things.

[Queen Jadis]

Dear Voltage. If you read my posts your will realise that I am not the one complaining about the price of cartridges!!!! I am complaining about something else.

[Revolting cat!]

Why does a roll of toilet paper cost as much as a much bigger roll of paper towels?

[William Terrell]

There seems a wonderful market for a razor blade sharpener that returns the true edge.

[hemogoblin]

Thanks - I will heed those instructions. I have pretty good hands for fixing stuff, and nice small tools, so I think I'll give it a try. If only to take a smack at Lexmark.

Oh, if only everyone would just go electronic. that's what's making these ink-squirting monstrosities necessary.

[mountainfolk]

For general information. We have an old HP deskjet 520 that we refill from a kit that SAM's club sells. Kit name is STRATITEC and fills various HP, Cannon, Epson, Compaq, Lexmark, Apple, Brother, Okidata, Xerox. Phone # on package is 888-336-4418. Web site is www.easyinkjetrefill.com. Has 5 colors, 3 blacks. Very inexpensive.

[Russian Sage]

Why Do Ink Cartridges Cost So Much?

Think Gillette and Bic. There's your answer.

I don't really see the answer there. Gillette and Bic make big profits by selling very cheap blades.

[madison10]

I think this is a comparison between Gillette and Bic...Bics are cheap throw-aways. Gilletes are keepers for which you buy rather expsensive blades. Buying the cheap printer rather than new cartridges is like buying the Bic rather than the Gillette.

Correct me if I am wrong

[hford02]

I was sucked into the save big with a laser printer myth. Laser toner cartidges are $120-150ea and it takes four of them, and color lasers eat drums($150) and oil rollers(60) voraciously. I figure that my $1500 Laser costs about 2.5x as much as my HP or Epson inkjet... We print consistently 750-800 pages of color a week so our expendables are very consistent. I recently bought a large Epson printer with huge refillable cartridges which will finally get my costs to the .05-.10/page range after 6 years of trying everything else.
The other alternative of a bulk ink system is great for a volume user.... just remember that those $150 printers do wear out (two HP's and and Epson in 3 years).

[Russian Sage]

Go paperless.

There is a lot of merit behind that suggestion.

You obviously don't do most of your reading on the Lazyboy.

[MatthewViti]

why on earth do lucky charms cost close to six dollars?? why is a 25c pack of big red 50c at the a-rab gas station??

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

It's all gwb's fault with his ties to BIG INK

[rdb3]

I don't really see the answer there. Gillette and Bic make big profits by selling very cheap blades.

And HP, Epson, and Lexmark make big profits by selling their ink. A razor is worthless without a blade, right? So a printer is worthless without ink or toner.

Got it now?

[PJ-Comix]

Has anybody else here ever tried the ink injection kits? I tried it ONCE and it was a DISASTER! Am I just a klutz or is it almost impossible to successively inject ink into the cartridges?

[PJ-Comix]

I use black ink cartridges nowadays because it is a lot cheaper. 95% of the time all I need is black ink anyways and if I do need a color printout, then just put it on a floppy disk and take it over to Kinko's for a printout.

[FreedomCalls]

Well clearly what is called for are Congressional hearings to determine why they cost so much. This can be followed by the appointment of an "Ink Cartridge Czar" who will monitor ink cartridge prices and report back to the President. After that we can have a flood of legislation making the selling of high-priced ink cartridges illegal. The IRS will need to impose a progressive tax on cartriges. The BATFE will have to add another division "The Ink Cartridge Enforcement Division" to persue those who buy high-priced cartridges. The BATFEI will then investigate the connection between high ink cartridge prices and money being funnelled to Al Qaeda and to prevent the importation of printers that can only accept high-priced cartridges. And so on and so on until we have an cabinet-level Department of Ink Cartridges. The 52nd President (a Republican) will campaign on the need to eliminate this department, but the 54th President (a Republican also) will decide to keep it rather than eliminate it because he needs the "printer-moms" votes since a part of his campaign promises was to be the "printer President."

[Russian Sage]

And HP, Epson, and Lexmark make big profits by selling their ink. A razor is worthless without a blade, right? So a printer is worthless without ink or toner.

Got it now?

No. You haven't explained why blades are cheap but ink is expensive.

The razor blade business model reaps profits by grabbing market share. The blade companies still have to be reasonably competitive in the price of their blades. What's not real clear is, why don't the printer companies appear to be competitive on ink prices?

[rdb3]

You haven't explained why blades are cheap but ink is expensive.

That isn't the point. The point is that the printer companies have us by the short and curlies because without ink or toner, we can't print.

What's not real clear is, why don't the printer companies appear to be competitive on ink prices?

Because they don't have to be. I'm not saying this is right, but that's just the way it is.

[Ichneumon]

[Go paperless. There is a lot of merit behind that suggestion.]

You obviously don't do most of your reading on the Lazyboy.

You obviously don't own a laptop computer. ;-)