Printer ink makes me mad[emoji36]

Marc1548

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Just been into Curries to buy an Epson Orange photo black ink cartridge for my printer. surprise surprise nil stock only a multi pack £69 [emoji44]. The printer only cost £45 including ink.
So it’s cheaper to buy a new printer, & throw a perfectly good one in the skip, & recycle what ink is left over.
& all the inks run out at different times, so buying individually (if you can find them) costs even more.
I know there are cheaper inks online but Iv found them to be not nearly as good.
Bit of a rip off if you ask me!
Anyway rant over, I feel so much better now[emoji3]
Anybody know of a very good photo printer that costs more than replacement inks?
 
Bear in mind that many printers come with “demonstration” tanks that contain half or less ink than the replacement cartridges, but yes I do think they are a rip off in general...
 
£13 in Asda at the moment.
 
I get my genuine Canon ink from 7dayshop.com. But they have been out of shock for 3 weeks. Curries etc are very expensive for ink.
I also agree just got a printer for my Daughter at Uni, and the ink was £10 more than the cost of the printer.
 
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Printer ink is that expensive that only last week a shop which specialises in ink cartridges here at Folkestone was broken into and the whole place emptied out. Hardly surprising as apparently printer ink is worth more than gold weight-for-weight.
 
Eye drops to treat ocular hypertension (Xalatan) are more expensive than printer ink - £8.80 (NHS prescription charge) for a teaspoonful.

I usually get my genuine Canon inks from 7dayshop and keep a complete set "in stock" rather than waiting for them to arrive. If I need them in a hurry, I've found Premier Inks relatively cheap inexpensive and they usually arrive in a day or 2 after ordering.
 
I have just replaced a canon printer that took just two cartridges 1 bl 1 colour , bought a older canon model that’s takes multiple cartridges . When they run out I,ll use the ink shop in town , non genuine but I have used them in the past and they work fine
 
Its a simple model, sell the printers at a loss to get the consumables business. Selling printers cheap encourages people to buy. The true costs should probably be printers starting a few hundred then much cheaper cartridges.
 
Its a simple model, sell the printers at a loss to get the consumables business. Selling printers cheap encourages people to buy. The true costs should probably be printers starting a few hundred then much cheaper cartridges.

Not only that... all the marketing is directed toward photo printing. All product advertising seem to show pictures of colourful photos being ejected from there printers.
End result... Ink lasts about as long as a strawberry pavlova. Not very long with my family, I can tell you.
 
I think there was supposed to be some kind of national investigation about pricing of ink around 10 years ago. Lots of publicity, no action after.
I often wonder who was bought off or threatened off, or it if was just a political statement to look good to voters or distract from some other issue that needed hushing up.

I remember several people I knew getting quite excited at the proposed investigation as it might mean they would be able to afford to run a printer. Most people I know rarely print anything as its just too expensive and they do not bother to go all through the internet printing palava, so everything stays on disks or portable media or sent via email.

I find myself wondering if they dropped the price a bit, if there would be a surge in printing. Still, low volume sales, huge profit, why bother to be reasonable?
 
Looked at the HP instant ink scheme?

Before someone suggests 3rd party carts, remember to check they will not void any warranty.

If you use a lot and care about the quality of the print then the HP scheme is a really good idea. When I looked at it the prices were surprisingly fair.

Meanwhile, I bought an Epson all in one for £27 and a full set of 3rd party cartridges for £6.79. When they violate the warranty and it fails I'll buy another. Just like I did when my fully warrantied Pixma came up with its "end of life" error message.
 
I have just read article from anther forum, which suggests even more skullduggery from printer manufacturers
1. Not fully filling cartridges, as already mentioned here.
2. With the imbedded chip, stop working after a pre determined number of pages printed, regardless of how much ink is left.
3. Clean the printer head more often than is needed ie every time you switch on. Using up ink
4. Heavy use of ink printing test page
There are probably a few more aswell [emoji36][emoji36]

I
 
All my empties go to a local charity who sell them to refillers. Our local council also takes the plastic wrapper that genuine Canon carts have round them as well as the boxes and bags.
 
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