Printers. We still have them.
Even though we all try to go paperless, we still get some new paper thrown into our life every week. Bills, reminders, legal notices, checks, ads, and more.
We also keep printing paper. Tons of businesses still want you to fax them stuff. People still want you to print that PDF file and sign it, then scan it and email it back, or mail it in.
That new apartment or house you want to buy or rent? It’s going to require you signing on paper.
Online sites like Amazon offer cheaper ink cartridges, resulting in more people going to the alternate shops to get their refills instead of the official stores. Such sites make owning printers an affordable experience.
With 2012 in full motion, you would imagine that the prices of supposedly dying trends would decrease in order to drive up interest and usage.
You and I would be mistaken in thinking that.
Looking at the actual printer manufacturers, I can see that the ink cartridge price seems to be actually going up, or at least not decreasing.
Every store that sells printers has discounts on those printers, online and offline. Almost none of those official manufacturers have discounts on ink cartridges, though.
Why is that?
Why are the official printer manufacturers like Epson, Brother, Canon, HP, Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp, Toshiba, Lexmark, Dell and Xerox selling ink cartridges at such high prices?
Printer prices going down. Official Ink Cartridge Prices going up?
How can a good cheap Lexmark printer cost $45 at BestBuy or Fry’s without discounts, yet the single black ink cartridge costs $23 and the single color ink cartridge costs $25 for that printer when bought directly from Lexmark? That comes out to be more than the price of the printer itself.
You have to go online or into a small store to find cheaper prices, or even cheaper alternatives. Online stores usually buy ink cartridges in bulk, and thus get better prices. They can then pass on the savings to the customers while competing with the ink cartridge companies.
One wonders what the printer companies are thinking. Ink is selling well, so anything they’re thinking is what they’re sticking with.
Is the philosophy “Sell cheap printer and charge a lot for the parts needed to run the printers?” still applicable in today’s world where paper usage is said to be decreasing very fast?
Or is the new philosophy “Charge as much as possible since the era or printouts is fading away!” the new business model adopted by the printer manufacturers?
Either way, the printer companies are not reducing their ink cartridge prices.
This is not a new question. In fact, I’m sure everyone else also goes “Ink cartridge is dead again?” whenever it needs replacing.
A Decade Old Ink Cartridge Pricing Question
PC World once asked the question “Why Do Ink Cartridges Cost So Much?” – back in 2003.
It’s 2012, and official ink cartridge prices have not come down at all. ”Unless you’re buying your ink from a non-official manufacturer, you’re going to be paying more money than the printer itself.
What do you think? Is your printer’s ink cartridge ready to be replaced?
Excellent question! We were shopping just this past holiday season for a new printer to replace our outdated one, as it doesn’t feed the paper well and often gets a jam. The prices of many of the printers themselves weren’t too bad. We started to get excited thinking it wasn’t going to be as costly a project as we had thought, and then we started looking at the price to buy ink for the printers. Buying the ink to start using the printers in many cases was more expensive than the initial cost of the printer itself! Crazy!
Good job Bes, that’s exactly right, absolutely outrageous 10 years later and no improvement in the situation.
And you also did well to point out the absolute absurdity of two cartridges together posting more than the entire printer!
That’s the same question i have all this time, i just can’t figure it out. But i go with the non manufacture, to save me a lot of money. can’t afford to spent much money this day. Thanks for the post.
so true… i couldn’t agree more with you, thankfully i know how to take care of my ink cartridges so i don’t have to buy new ones even when i have problems when refilling.
Thanks,
Indeed… desktop printers should really be given away free with a set of ink cartridges. As you say, offices small and large still cough out a fair amount of print, destined sooner or later for the dustbin. Cheap printers subsidise the real money spinner – our need to constantly feed them with ink – it has been that way since the advent of the home printer and I can’t see that changing for a few years yet!
I have a laserjet and an inkjet that i use on a regular basis for my business.. No kidding, it costs me around $100 to replce the ink cartridges in my inkjet and around $120 to replace the ones in my laserjet. I have tries buying the generics and the refills but they never seem to work right. Inevitably I end up with a mess or a clog or some other problem. It seems as if these printer companies have a pretty good racket going.
what you sad is right the cost of the ink cartridge’s is very high.
printer companies are not reducing their ink cartridge prices because even though there is less usage. the ink cartridge’s are important for some sectors. ex: most of the bills are printed. so there are equal important .
Of course companies manufacturing cartridges might suffer financial crisis or sudden bankruptcy if they decrement the price of the cartridges……
So true. We still need the printers..still can’t live with it. I hope the ink cartridges will be cheaper already.
ya…without printers its really hard to do office work…hope link cartridge must be cheaper than a pen……
We made our office 100% paperless and matter of fact we also only have 1 printer left in the whole office and if you are caught printing something unnecessary you have to by the whole office lunch at the local cafe.. Something fun but yet punishing to make a statement around the office these days. Cost of ink and paper alone can kill your bottom line these days lol.
So the printer makers can make money, printers are so cheap these days they have to make money some way
These are debatable reasons, but I think it certainly boils down to greedy money makers! Ever tried recycling, works for us though it does depend on the quality of print you require.
Ink cartridges aren’t all expensive it depends on what printer you buy, how many it takes, whether you need inkjet ink or laser toner, and also where you live.
Ink cartridges have gold chips that’s why they are very expensive.
I have the same question. I totally agree with you
I thing…. it is good question for the office worker because without printers its really hard to do work of office. so, i am also doing job in office and i think, it is very good for us that we can refile and change the cartridges of the printer. After it, we can be able to do works.
I heard something like (may or may not be true) microsoft barely makes anything off each xbox 360 console sold, but they make money from every game, xbox live accounts, and other things. I don’t know how true it is but it’s the same philosophy.
That’s the question every time comes in my mind when i am going to buy the new Cartridge, but i never think on it.
Great question, I wonder the same thing a few times a year. I also wish all printers took the same cartridges.
Ink cartridges are very costly. Epson has some printers with inktanks in which you don’t have to take out the cartridge, instead you have to just pour ink into the tanks directly which are kept outside the printer and are connected to the printer through thin tubes.
Ink tanks are very good alternatives to ink cartridges. Although the print quality is a bit inferior. But it is worth every cent.
It seems like a flawed business strategy. Printers themselves are more or less given away nowadays, while cartridges remain to be crippling expenditures. Luckily the age of printouts is dying, it won’t be long until we don’t have to pay so much anymore.
I have an inkjet and i used it for my business purpose seriously it cost me lot in refilling. please suggest me some better option.
Why do you think? It’s not a secret – that’s how manufacturers makes most of their revenue, and unless they find another way to offset that, inks will keep being expensive for the foreseeable future.