Do you drink vintage champagne everyday? No, I thought not! However, if you use your printer everyday you may be paying more for ink, than for a glass of vintage champagne.
A study carried out by “Computeractive Magazine“, found the price of inkjet printers in the UK, has dropped to as little as £30 ($88), but it could cost up to £1,500 ($4,400), in running costs, over an 18-month period. “Which?” magazine, produced by UK Consumers’ Association, report that printer ink can cost more than that vintage champagne.
I have always used the services of Cartridge World, a refill shop, to recharge my cartridges, but I had a shock recently, when the colour cartridge for my Lexmark printer couldn’t be refilled. To buy a new one would cost $84.95. Over twice the cost of a refill, and just under the cost a new Lexmark, at $99. Investigations revealed that cartridge costs for the $99 printer were just as astronomical. I don’t use colour that often, so I haven’t renewed my cartridge, and will use a copy shop for colour printing in future.
Another method of getting value for money from your printer cartridge, is to refill it yourself. A few years ago printer-ink refill kits were advertised on TV, and you can still buy them from companies like Toner Express, and Inkjet Refill.
Some printer manufacturers have realised that allowing people to refill the cartridges lost them money. They have come up with subtle ways to thwart this. One is the voiding of warranties for damage caused by a refilled cartridge. This has led to companies that refill your cartridge, to offer their own guarantees against damage.
Another method, is to install a chip on the cartridge. Printer software on your computer reads data from the chip. It tells you when the cartridge is empty, which is not always when it is actually empty. Some cartridges have a ‘use-by date’ on the chip. If you haven’t used all the ink by this date, the software reports this, and stops you using the cartridge. The cartridges can also have a serial number, the software remembers this number. If you refill a cartridge that the software has previously reported as full, the software will not let you use it.
For those with heavy printer use, Inksaver, software, can be installed to reduce your ink consumption. It costs US$35. “PC World” ran a test of Inksaver, and concluded it “is convenient and works well enough to justify its $35 purchase price, with some caveats.”
If you want to reduce the money you spend on printing, it may also pay to read “Make Your Ink Cartridges Last Longer” and a printer FAQ from Mwords.
