You can buy a very decent printer/scanner for home office use from Canon for under $150. In fact, my Canon PIXMA MG 5220 was $85 on sale. Great price for a little workhorse of a printer.
All’s well, until you run out of ink. That’s when you learn that replacing the ink costs half as much as buying a new printer.
“It may sound crazy, but buying the replacement ink you need can cost you almost as much — if not more — than a whole new printer.”, says P.C. World.
Probably stupidly, I just spent $60 at Staples in the painful process of buying replacement ink for my cheap Canon printer.
Buy ink, or just buy a new printer?
A lot of people just throw away the printer and buy a new one, creating tons of electronic waste every year. Canon, of course, is not the only culprit. Epson, HP and all the other printer manufacturers do exactly the same thing.
The printers are so cheap because they are created to sell ink cartridges. That’s bad for the planet, and anything that’s bad for the environment, long-term, is bad for the economy too.
Since government clearly isn’t going to regulate this wasteful practice, it’s time for a big chain like Best Buy, Staples, OfficeMax, or Costco take a stand against the high cost of replacing the ink in cheap printers. Refuse to sell the cheap printers and expensive ink! Find a better alternative and pressure manufacturers into producing it!
Do any of you have the guts to take a stand for the planet?
I so agree – it’s outrageous. And add ‘blades’ and ‘batteries’ to the above, they are all serious grudge purchases! O (hi btw)
You’re 100% right, B.L.
I save more than 50% of the cost of ink by buying non-branded ink. I didn’t notice a quality difference between the branded and non-branded ink, and the savings are significant.
so many people i know throw away the printer and buy a new one. it’s an economy of waste. such a shame. i have tried unbranded ink. had a big disaster last time.
My last Canon printer lasted 4 or 5 years (and was relatively speaking economical from a non-branded ink perspective). I’ve had my current HP printer (less economical from an ink perspective) 2+ years. I once had one cartridge of bad ink and switched suppliers.
I’m in Israel so I can’t recommend where to buy non-branded ink in the US, but the printer companies make a lot of money from ink, so I don’t see the environmental problem you wrote about changing (unfortunately).
In Israel it’s a rip-off. just purchased epson printer 399NIS, the supplied cartridges last just 4 sheets, yes 4. Office Depot not interested, new cartridges (4) cost 424NIS, yep 25NIS more than the whole printer. Ridiculous, can by originals in the uk for half the price and compatables, well they really are cheap