Printer ink cartridges are certainly pricey to purchase. Have you ever thought about the real reasons why printer ink is so expensive? Ever wondered why printer ink is even more high-priced than human blood; or some of the finest French champagne? If you are one of the masses who still have not gone “paperless” in life, then you are going to keep paying these big-ticket prices for your ink. It’s never going to go down much in price; and it very well may continue to rise. The ink cartridge manufacturers are counting on you to keep them RICH!
Why is printer ink so expensive?
In one word: Profit. In multiple more words: an explanation (one good one anyway). You see, printer ink is expensive because it can be. Major ink cartridge manufacturers, like HP, Dell and various the printer manufacturers, like to make money, and who doesn’t? So you can’t really blame them for jacking up the price on something that so many people demand. Also, as mentioned, there are various really large entities that compete to sell you this printer ink. Huge demand and expansive competition tends to drive prices up in any market. You can see Konica Minoltas A3 printers directly on their site, check them out today to find out how they compare to the competition.
Now, the printer ink cartridge manufacturers contend that they are righteous to charge their exuberant rates for printer ink. In fact, reps from Hewitt-Packard made it known that printer ink:
- Requires massive funding for ongoing research and development;
- Must be able to withstand temperatures up to 300 degrees F;
- Must resist vaporization;
- Must be squirted through jets at 30 miles per hour;
- Must deliver at a rate of more than 36,000 drops per second;
- Must travel through the tip of a nozzle that is only 33% the size of an average human hair;
Good argument, at least on the surface. However, I ask why there needs to be so much ongoing “massively funded” research and development. Hasn’t it all already been done? Sure, there’s always room for improvement, but one might think that they would have ink jet printer technologies pretty well honed by this point. For those that continue to use ink jet printers, how much more improvements are really necessary? It seems like modern printers are pretty amazing already.
Ways to Save Money on Your Printer Ink & Cartridges:
- Purchase refilled cartridges instead of new ones;
- Use third-party printer ink cartridges;
- Purchase your own printer ink cartridge refilling kits;
- Switch to a laser printer if you mainly use black and white;
- Purchase XL printer ink cartridges instead of smaller ones;
- Buy in bulk to obtain significant discounts;
And the BEST way to save money on printer ink cartridges:
Don’t buy them at all!
That’s right, if you simply make the environmentally responsible decision to go paperless, then you can just keep digital records of most of your documents. Ask yourself how many hard copy printouts you really MUST have – and then adjust accordingly. The best way to save a lot of money on printer ink cartridges is to not do so much printing, of course.
