6d ago

Capitalism is when you most efficient allocation of scarce resources

www.dailydot.com

"America is crazy": Walmart customer discovers it’s cheaper to buy a whole new printer with ink in it than ink refills

“America is crazy”: Walmart customer discovers it’s cheaper to buy a whole new printer with ink in it than ink refills

Economics @lemmy.ml

fort_burp @feddit.nl

6d ago

Capitalism is when you most efficient allocation of scarce resources

www.dailydot.com /news/printer-cheaper-than-ink-refills/

12 comments

A long time ago I worked at one of the big office supply stores and this was "true" back then too. The caveat was that the ink that came in the printer was usually only half full. The printers themselves were sold at a loss and the companies made their money on selling the ink.
- I thought that's always been the business model for inkjets since they were invented. Same as game consoles and Gillette razors. Vendor lockin is very lucrative since people are lazy and don't understand sunk cost.
- We would do this because the ink usually dried out before we could use the all. First chance I could afford a laser printer, I jumped on it. Found one in a rummage sale for $10. Toner was $15 for third party, cheaper than ink.
Cory Doctorow said in a recent essay that at this point, it would be cheaper to print something using Kentucky-Derby-winning stallion semen than HP ink.
She shouldn't have made it a national news story. She should have just swapped the ink cartridges and returned the printer lol.
Y'all need to switch to laser printers. ~~ink~~ toner lasts forever and is dirt cheap.
If you need high quality color prints, have them done at Walgreens or something.
Also the laser jet toner doesn't dry out.
I had a inkjet printer and wasted a lot of money on ink. And if I tried to save it to only use it when I really needed it, I would often find it was dried out by the time I used it.
LaserJet printers cost more. But they make that cost back on 1 drum toner refill.
Last time I bought laser jet ~~ink~~ toner for my little brother black and white printer, I paid $15 for 2 drums.
Each toner drum lasted me almost 3 years of casual printing.
(I'm a grad student and mostly used it to print research papers cause I'm old fashioned and like to read paper and write on it. ).
I definitely spend way more on paper than ink.
Get a laser printer. (Used, On Facebook marketplace; if you are poor like me).
- Laser printers don't use ink. They use a dry powder called toner. Check here for more info:
  https://www.ldproducts.com/blog/whats-the-difference-between-a-toner-cartridge-and-a-drum-unit/
  Good on you for making the switch. I used to work at Staples around 2006 while in high school, so I saw the insanity unfolding regarding ink costs. Back then Staples even sold a DIY ink refill kit. Then inkjet printer companies started using DRM Chips that would scan for competitor inks, and would lock-out the printer if you weren't using Genuine OEM inks. We should've nipped this in the bud back then. Also, that new inkjet printer mentioned in the article has only like half-filled ink cartridges. We called them a "starter set". Same applies for new laser printers. About half-filled toner cartridges. "Starter set".
  
  wtf i thought they used lasers??
  
  Yeah I had also tried refil kits and "refurbished" ones.
  Gave me endless problems.
  I bet you dealt with a lot of pissed off people regarding those kits.
BTW if you have a non HP printer from before like 2015, or pretty much any other brand of inkjet printer made after you can just buy bulk ink online, cut into your old cart, put the new ink in and itll work the same. You pay like $20 for what would probably be over $200 worth of ink.

12 comments