Inkjet Printer Ink - More expensive than Champagne!

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  Posted by: Jamie  (IT Director) 11/26/2012 at 8:54am

Inkjet printers seem to have some fascination with keeping themselves clean. The inkjet cleaning cycle typically involves spitting ink into an ink absorber within the printer with the aim of keeping the ink nozzles clean and clear - However, cleaning cycles can be very wasteful of ink. Typically in one round of constant printing to empty a cartridge, many cartridges meet near their yields, but when compared to printing the same number of pages over time, a recent article in "Which? Computing" found the following:

Huge differences in the cost of printing 50 pages in one go, when compared with printing the same number of pages on an occasional basis over eight weeks.

For an HP Officejet Pro 8500A Plus, it cost £2.50 ($4 USD) on a one-off basis, compared with £17.48 ($28 USD) over eight weeks – a mark-up of over 600 percent. HP refused to comment.

Canon said the (cleaning) system is needed 'to provide the print quality users expect,' and Epson rather cryptically said 'there are many factors that influence the yield of an ink cartridge'.

In the same study, inkjet printer ink was found to be more expensive than champagne - and not that cheap $8 per bottle stuff either. When compared to Dom Perignon champagne, printer ink drop for drop is around 240% more expensive.

Laser printer toner, on the other hand, is much more cost-effective. Laser printers do not require the same cleaning process, and are cheaper and more efficient to operate than their inkjet counterparts. Are you still printing to inkjet printers? Call us today to come out and do a free no-obligation printing assessment at your home or business. Just think, with the money you'll save you can buy some of that fancy champagne for the holidays.

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The Cost of Printing

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  Posted by: Jamie  (IT Director) 10/31/2012 at 9:29am

I recently encountered two of the same HP printers at two different customer locations. The HP Laserjet P1102W - the 'P' stands for 'Pro', so it has to be good! However, the last time I checked, professionals weren't keen on throwing their money away every time they print something.

The math is simple - take the price of the printer cartridge, and divide by the amount of prints the manufacturer suggests you will get out of the cartridge (Let's not even get into the fact that you never get anywhere near that amount!). In this case, the HP 85a cartridge retails for $69 plus tax - let's round up to $75 - and the cartridge is good for 1600 pages. In case you didn't want to do the math in your head, it costs 4.6875 cents every time a page comes out. Did I mention the printer itself costs about $130?.. and that the fuser, rollers, and other parts are bound to go out too?

Let's take a different approach

Let's try something different. Over at Cline's we have a bullet-proof 35 page per minute printer with 2 paper trays, double the print resolution (quality), and, you don't even have to purchase it! I will personally deliver it and set it up to print for you - free of charge. Cline's will put the printer on a full maintenance plan for just $35 a month that includes 250 prints, and anything over that is just .02 per page (that's 2 cents, or less than half the cost of the HP, if you're keeping track). That includes not only toner, but any parts, labor, or service on the machine. Is it jamming? Call Cline's. Can't figure out how to load the paper? Call Cline's. Need toner? Call Cline's and we will hand-deliver it to you.

The clear choice

Don't get sucked in by the big box store's 'low' upfront costs. The truth is, they lose money when they sell you the printer, and they make up for it on the toner and other consumables. The next time your low toner light comes on, just call Cline's!

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