Comments on: What is the Real Cost of Owning a Printer?

By: John Trevathan

John Trevathan — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 14:46:18 +0000

In the past I have saved considerable money having my cartridges refilled by a local company. !!Surprise!! Lexmark has now programed their printers so that they will not operate with refilled cartridges not made by Lexmark. Result; my two Lexmark printers, both less than 18 months old will go on Craigs List or in the next garage sale.
All of us are suckers for putting up with this. We know that companies must made a profit but like with an automobile, give us some clue as to how much it’s going to cost us over some reasonable period of time.

By: cost of printer ink | Printer Ink Austin

cost of printer ink | Printer Ink Austin — Fri, 13 May 2011 18:28:49 +0000

[...] The American Consumer Institute – » What is the Real Cost of Owning a Printer? The Lack of Industry Standards Leads Consumers to Overspend $6 Billion for Home Computer Printers and Printer Ink. A major study released by the Institute found that … [...]

By: Genealogist’s Viewpoint — Buying a Printer | Family Tech

Genealogist’s Viewpoint — Buying a Printer | Family Tech — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 14:19:53 +0000

[...] comparison of cost per page is approximate, based on your personal printer usage. One source, the American Consumers Institute, estimated the cost of printing with various printers from a low of about 4 cents a page to over 16 [...]

By: Jason English

Jason English — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 04:57:22 +0000

It’s well known that most, if not all inkjet printers are not cost effective for any kind of volume printing, especially when factoring pictures into the equation. Kodak inks and printers are a good deal, but still expensive in the long run.

Another factor not stated here, and something many people don’t realize, is that inkjet cartridges often have a tendency to “dry out” when not used often, or if stored improperly, adding more cost to the ownership of an inkjet printer.

Laser printers, though more expensive initially, are a MUCH better deal in the long run, both in the cost of toner, and for the fact that they tend to break less often (fewer moving parts). They also generally provide faster printing of multiple pages, especially in black and white.

Hope this information is helpful.

By: Manipulations of Printer Companies | You Are Being Manipulated

Manipulations of Printer Companies | You Are Being Manipulated — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 07:30:48 +0000

[...] about your printer ink cost? Most of you won’t care, but for those that do, there are some good resources out there. Personally, I tend to buy Canon printers, because their costs are fairly low and they have [...]

By: Do not print this post | You are being Manipulated

Do not print this post | You are being Manipulated — Sun, 02 May 2010 05:31:01 +0000

By: Have You Seen the Free Printer Deal?: The True Cost of Buying and Using Computer Printers — Seniors on Computers Senior Computing

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 17:32:59 +0000

[...] of replacing the ink in the printers they acquired for very reasonable prices. For example, a report by the American Consumer Institute in October, 2008 evaluated 13 common home printers that retail [...]

By: Printer Refill Expert

Printer Refill Expert — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:28:17 +0000

I have to take exception to the statement that Average Consumers do not “print that much.” The fact is that consumer printing is increasing at an exponential rate.

Small offices (home offices), small business start ups, computer use at home for office work, kid’s home work, etc… all demand paper with ink or toner. The problem is that printer manufacturers continue to increase the cost of the page by reducing the amount of ink or toner in each cartridge. You used to find up to 40ml of ink in HP’s color cartridges. Now, you are lucky to find 5 to 8 ml’s.

They use this a 5% coverage calculation to figure how many pages you can print per cartridge and that doesn’t work for most people. If you print photos, aren’t you looking at 100% coverage?

That’s 20 times more ink usage per page than the manufacturer claims….

That’s why I use sources other than the manufacturer’s ink for refills. It used to cost me over $500 to buy all four cartridges for my color laser printer. Using high quality sources (such as sohojet products), I can get the same yield and quality for about $200.

Just a thought for you guys…

By: Peter de Jong

Peter de Jong — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:44:19 +0000

This cost of ownership calculation for inkjet printers cannot be right. Average consumers do not print much. Therefore printheads clog up. If the printhead is not exchangeable by the user (i.e. Epson) repair is very costly. User-exchangeable printheads can be integated with the inkcartridge or are separate units (HP uses both systems). That is why HP inkcartidges seem so expensive. They are not. The user-exchangeable printheads garantee the highest possible uptime for the printer together with the lowest possible operating cost.

By: Tony

Tony — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 04:53:43 +0000

Kodak printers offer very low cost printing. I know because I bought one when the were first offered. However,I have spent AT LEAST 15 hours on the phone with their technical support as well as receiving 3 replacement printers and numerous ink cartridges and heads. Their tech support people are great but the fact remains the product is seriously flawed. They offered me a 30% discount coupon for the purchase of a new one. I passed. The 5500 All-In-One goes on the curb tomorrow.