Computer printer cartridge conundrum. Can any of you computer/IT folks help me understand?

YEMTrey

So the printer at my desk ran out of ink.  I head over to the storage cabinet to retrieve another and there are none.  Hmmm.  Walk over to our IT desk and ask if we’re out of printer cartridges.  He smiles and hands me a box with a brand new printer in it.  I said, I already have a printer, just need a replacement cartridge. 

He said he can buy brand new printers with cartridges cheaper than he can buy replacement cartridges.  Told me to toss out the old printer and install this new one.

This has me dumbfounded.  How does this make any sense?  There’s got to be a market in here somewhere to make money?  Can any of you computer/IT people explain this to me?

northGAcock

HP (not saying you have one) makes their money on selling cartridges. It is a high margin item. The printers are the loss leader in their evil scheme. Printers are extremely cheap these days. Like tennis.....its a racket. 

Wowens

With inkjet printers are basically a freebie to get you to buy ink from them.  You can buy a printer with cartridges for about the same as the cartridges cost.

The catch is that the cartridges that come with the printer typically have much less ink in them than the cartridges that you buy separately.  Also it's much more time consuming to have to unbox the printer, and through the old printer, and all the packing materials away.  Plus it's a huge waste of materials, packing, and shipping.

buzd504

Wowens said:

With inkjet printers are basically a freebie to get you to buy ink from them.  You can buy a printer with cartridges for about the same as the cartridges cost.

The catch is that the cartridges that come with the printer typically have much less ink in them than the cartridges that you buy separately.  Also it's much more time consuming to have to unbox the printer, and through the old printer, and all the packing materials away.  Plus it's a huge waste of materials, packing, and shipping.

Totally this.  I'd also recommend laser in a business environment.  Much lower cost per page and better quality (except for photo).

HofstraJet

What they said. Plus, if IT is buying last year's model (or older or in bulk), the savings are even greater.

Laser printers are so cheap I'm surprised people still buy inkjet printers.

Webass

Printers are the razors.  Ink cartridges are the blades.

ColtsFan

I don't see many inkjets in an enterprise environment. HP Colorcube's is color is needed, otherwise they are using laserjets. Like mentioned above, inkjets are cheap, inefficient devices...why drop $40 on cartridges when you can buy a new printer for $45...that's their approach, anyways  

JethroVA

One small glitch is that a new printer comes with a "starter" cartridge that runs out quickly.

Skiddymarker

There are a number of businesses around that sell "OEM equivalent" cartridges for about 50% (As George Carlin would have said not sure how you can be OEM equivalent, you are either OEM or you're not) There are also some places that refill jet cartridges, but have never seen this done succesfully more than once. On an ink jet printer the cartridge is the actual print head, so once the ink is used, the head is worn as well. 
For a business laser is the way to go. 

HofstraJet

If you have the time and patience, I believe Staples has some sort of ink rewards program.

ToTheMax

northGAcock said:

HP (not saying you have one) makes their money on selling cartridges. It is a high margin item. The printers are the loss leader in their evil scheme. Printers are extremely cheap these days. Like tennis.....its a racket. 

Not just HP, most manufacturers do this.

The way around this is to buy generic ink cartridges. Though many printers have DRM (that's probably not the right term) on their ink cartridges and just complain that you put in a generic one (they still work, for now, but complain).

RRP

Since we are on the topic of bashing printers I have an Epson that confounds me. I only print in black...but at least once a year it starts warning me that either my blue, red or yellow cartridges need to be replaced. Then as the warning gets more serious sounding if I don't replace the color cartridge it says then it will quit printing the black! As soon as I replace it then the black goes right back to printing just fine!

saluki2007

RRP said:

Since we are on the topic of bashing printers I have an Epson that confounds me. I only print in black...but at least once a year it starts warning me that either my blue, red or yellow cartridges need to be replaced. Then as the warning gets more serious sounding if I don't replace the color cartridge it says then it will quit printing the black! As soon as I replace it then the black goes right back to printing just fine!

They have time stamp chips in them.  Once it hits that date the ink becomes "expired".

RRP

saluki2007 said:

RRP said:

Since we are on the topic of bashing printers I have an Epson that confounds me. I only print in black...but at least once a year it starts warning me that either my blue, red or yellow cartridges need to be replaced. Then as the warning gets more serious sounding if I don't replace the color cartridge it says then it will quit printing the black! As soon as I replace it then the black goes right back to printing just fine!

They have time stamp chips in them.  Once it hits that date the ink becomes "expired".

Really? I did not know that but it sure makes sense. Thanks!

Shiff

Epson makes some printers that use a continuous ink supply system that you refill from large bottles of ink. They are cheaper in the  long run.  There are pros and cons to this approach and you can do a Google search to see them.

Since this is a corporate environment, I'm surprised your IT department hasn't installed network attached printers with a color laserjet printer in each area. This is a much cheaper approach with no need to buy everyone their own printer and cartridges.

DoubleEgger

I'm suprised you are still printing at work. I haven't printed anything work related in years. Everything is paperless now. 

YEMTrey

We are mostly paperless.  There are certain trade execution forms that I have to date and sign then attach as a pdf and send, lol. 

SemolinaPilchard

RRP said:

Since we are on the topic of bashing printers I have an Epson that confounds me. I only print in black...but at least once a year it starts warning me that either my blue, red or yellow cartridges need to be replaced. Then as the warning gets more serious sounding if I don't replace the color cartridge it says then it will quit printing the black! As soon as I replace it then the black goes right back to printing just fine!

Printers, at least some of them, use colored ink when printing black.
http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Inkjet-Printing/Don-t-want-to-use-color-ink-when-printing-black/td-p/2551327

HofstraJet

RRP said:

Since we are on the topic of bashing printers I have an Epson that confounds me. I only print in black...but at least once a year it starts warning me that either my blue, red or yellow cartridges need to be replaced. Then as the warning gets more serious sounding if I don't replace the color cartridge it says then it will quit printing the black! As soon as I replace it then the black goes right back to printing just fine!

Following up on what @SemolinaPilchard said, check your printer default settings in Windows/Mac - be sure it is set to print in black only. Sometimes the printer puts some color in with the black.

jonnymack

That's why they call those printer cartridges "Black Gold".

SaintJohnsEgger

YEMTrey said:

We are mostly paperless.  There are certain trade execution forms that I have to date and sign then attach as a pdf and send, lol. You can date and sign PDFs or Word documents. No real need to print to sign.

SaintJohnsEgger

JethroVA said:

One small glitch is that a new printer comes with a "starter" cartridge that runs out quickly.

Another glitch is that a new printer may not be plug and play. Lots of printers these days are wireless so they would have a different MAC address and get a new IP address assigned so you would have to reinstall the printer in your OS.