Comments on: Ink Scam!

By: Henry Tamke

Henry Tamke — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 19:15:16 +0000

SCAM: I have a Lexmark x2480 printer. I print 2 blank crossword puzzles a day using only black ink. I get a message to order more ink well before the ink actually runs out. I have to order a new print cartridge every month at a cost of $30. each. Thats 12 cartridges a year at a cost of $360 a year. SCAM INDEED!

By: oldest one

oldest one — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 04:40:04 +0000

Printers are a big scam. I’ve seen all the tricks. These companies know what they are doing and it never stops. That’s why printers are so cheap.

By: me

me — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 11:09:20 +0000

Just go on ebay, you can buy bulk HP ink that you can inject into your used cartridges. You can get enough ink to refill about 100 color inkjet cartridges with about $60. From my experience you can refill a cartridge quite a few times (roughly about 10) before they start to degrade. Just make sure you don’t get the universal ones that clog your print heads. Using this method I am able to print tons of full color images everyday with just a few pennies.

By: nathan

nathan — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 00:15:52 +0000

If only someone had enough money to start a buisness to produce off brand ink cartridges so that there would actually be some compitition everything would be great… not to mention all the money to be made

By: jorgine jensen

jorgine jensen — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 18:51:23 +0000

Type your comment here. My Brother printer is a huge scam. When i am out of just one color it will not print at all! not only that when I remove the “old Empty” cartridge it is NOT empty at all or even near it!AND I had not barely printed more than a couple of pages of color!!!This is forcing people to buy something the same way a Mafia run business forces people to be a consumer against their will! They have cornered the market. AND JUST as important perfectly good printer end up in the landfill because people can’t resell them and no one want to buy!! what an Environmental insult!! The Gov should step in and make stricter regulation on this ridicules market! Make something that lasts is reasonable to run and everyone wins not just the GREEDY big business who are no different that price gougers and MAFIA Monopolizers!! If they were really smart they would look at the important BIG picture and stop encouraging and contributing to this dangerously throw away society!! Can it really be true that no one has the power to stop this OUTRAGEOUS BULLSHIT?

By: The Prius of Printers - Laser Printers « Technology on the Cheap

The Prius of Printers - Laser Printers « Technology on the Cheap — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:04:21 +0000

[...] your inkjet printer costs about 300 to 500 times the cost of gasoline, according to research by the American Consumer Institute. So if there was technology that would let you save ink in the same way that a hybrid car saves [...]

By: C Hawk

C Hawk — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 04:16:14 +0000

You shouldnt have to chose between printing and not printing based on the price of cartridges. If you spend more on ink than you do in food for a family of 4 there seems to be an issue.

By: Frank Murphy

Frank Murphy — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 23:35:38 +0000

I use a Canon printer for photo, and use a lot of ink. I think that there are seven cartridges in the machine. Cartridges are about $10.00 each. I bought a refill kit from “The Printer Filling Station’. Easy to use, and saving $. All cartridges have been filled multiple times without a problem. I have also used “Laser Monks” for refill cartridges for my general purpose HP printers. Just don’t buy bulk until you try one or two.

By: The American Consumer Institute - » Reader’s Digest Interviews ACI about Potential “Back to School Savings.”

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:51:42 +0000

[...] http://www.theamericanconsumer.org/2008/09/16/ink-scam/ [...]

By: steve

steve — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:10:47 +0000

Mike,

If have just proved that consumers are not getting enough information to make the right decisions about selecting a printer. You, unfortunately, made a mistake in your printer’s ink cost. The printer you selected has 4 cartridges. By just looking at the cost and yield for one cartridge, you have been misled into thinking that it is cheaper. It is not. All of these cartridges are in operation at the same time, to lesser degrees. In fact, the black cartridge runs as you print in color and they fire periodically even when idle to keep the head clean.

The printer you compared to this model has only two cartridges. So you are comparing $60 of ink in your printer to $20 of ink for the other. The correct way to do this is by weighting the cost per page for all of the cartridges used in each printer. Our analysis does this. While there are many factors that contribute to printer costs (the price of the cartridge, efficiency of the print engine), the more cartridges used in a printer, the higher the cost per page. Also, note that the cartridges that came with your printer will run out soon. They were slack filled to get you started. Now, with all that said, the printer you selected is better than most. And, you are correct, if you don’t print, you don’t save. To take usage into account, see http://www.consumercalculator.com for help.

I hope that helps the next reader