Printer Ink Tips and Tricks

The Canon Pixma MX310 will set you back about $75 initially. The replacement ink though, is another (expensive) story.

You know what’s great?  We live in a throw-away society.  Think about it:  Forty years ago, what did you do if your TV exploded?  You called a repair man.  The same applied to nearly any appliance back then, from blenders to vacuums to lawn mowers.  What about now?  We just throw the old crap away and buy something new.  When you repair your old junk, you’re taking food off the tables of sweatshop workers everywhere.  Be a good citizen and just buy something new.

Nowhere is this fact more apparent than in the home printer market.  Head on over to any Staples, Best Buy, or Wal-Mart, and you’ll find cheap printers for $75 or under.  Cheap is good, right?  Right.  Now, you’re obviously going to need a few replacement ink cartridges.  There’s lots of important printing to be done, and those color cartridges run out fast.  Be prepared though:  Once you make it over to the ink aisle, you’ll be facing the hideous monster of $20-$40 per ounce of ink.  Wait, what?

Let’s review:  A brand new color printer (which comes with ink cartridges) will set you back $75.  New ink cartridges will cost at least half of that, probably more.  How does this make any sense?  It doesn’t.  The only logical explanation is that all of the big printer manufacturers ordered way too many printers from the factories, and now they are retardedly overstocked.  Way to go guys.

So where does that leave you, the consumer?  You’re stuck with the choice of either buying two ink cartridges, or buying a brand new printer.  Admit it, you’d choose the new printer:  Not only is your old one dusty, but the new model has the letter X in it!  It’s obvious that the Printer X5000 is better than that lame old Printer 4950.

Of course, there are…other options.  For starters, you can order refilled or discount cartridges online, which usually cost a fraction of the original price.  You can also refill your own cartridges by ordering a refill kit, but c’mon, that hurts the big businesses.  Those guys need to charge $40 per ounce to feed their families.  You wouldn’t want to take away those executive’s dinners, right?  Not supporting big business means you’re against capitalism, and that makes you a communist.  You don’t want your neighbors to know you’re a communist, right Ivan?  Right.  Now bend over and get out your check book.

Looks like cats don't like high ink prices either...

Originally found from: Cat Vs. Printer

Hello blogosphere!

I'm a 30-something professional freelance writer, and I'll be chronicling my journey toward reducing printer costs. You see, between my work (contributing to various locally-based magazines and newspapers) and personal hobbies (photography and keeping up with interesting news articles), I have in the past spent around $200 to $300 a month solely on replacing the ink cartridges on the 4 different printers I own.

I'm a big fan of printing anything interesting I encounter on the Internet out and reading it offline, as I don't like staring at the computer screen for prolonged periods of time. In a given day, I'll print several photos, in addition to 5 or 6 current news articles, as well as a personal journal entry and a few scanned pages for the scrapbook. In addition, I love the sound that printers make when they work. To me, it's soothing, and there's nothing better than savoring a freshly printed document. So I pretty much use my printers whenever I can find an excuse or reason to.

That all adds up to a good amount of ink consumption, and so I'm forced to fork over the cash for a run over to the nearest office supplies store.

I'm not willing to cut back on the amount of printing I do on a daily basis though, and so in the past months I've been trying to look for ways to save on ink. I've had success saving money on ink cartridges through online merchants like 4Inkjets and 123Refills, and I'd like to share with you my positive experiences with those companies.

Ultimately, I started this blog because I'd like to share what I do find in my research towards saving on printer ink. If I can save a few folks some cash, that would make it all worthwhile. And to be honest, I enjoy writing - it's cathartic. Almost as much as I love printing.