It’ll need to be a round of of every colour since so many printers will refuse to print a black and white document because one of the colour ink cartridges is empty, also it’s a colour you rarely use yet somehow is the first to run out.
In this imaginary scenario we can do anything. So that’s a full round of color for the table, and heck, why not for the whole VIP suite! Lets spray it like a rainbow round here!
While there is obviously cost in research and manufacturing the ink, they could 100% make it substantially cheaper. But they can make more money with expensive ink, and cheap printers.
If someone buys a more expensive printer, the company profits that once, and there will be a higher barrier to entry because not as many people are willing to spend that much up front on a printer. So while they could still up-charge for ink, fewer people would be buying it, but if they up-charged for both that would be fewer people buying still overall.
If instead they give away the printers for super cheap, even if it’s at a loss, then up charge a ton for the ink, a bunch of people will have printers that will routinely need more ink. Someone may see a printer on sale for $10 and think “what an incredible deal” and get it on an impulse. Now they’re stuck needing to purchase the ink to keep it functioning. That is a higher income spread over a longer period of time. Companies will always be able to profit more if they can get people to spend their money over time than if they offer a reliable product for a one time purchase.
OEMs. The documentation for every factory machine my company builds included a 3-ring binder of the entire system documentation as well as a print out of the schematics. Go ahead and try to convince a factory owner that paid us a quarter of a million not to include a 2 dollar manual.
Also I will sometimes print out complicated schematics and let my intern mark it up with pen. Sometimes you catch mistakes by changing your perspective.
Guys, just buy laser printers, assuming you have any need for a printer still in the year of our lord, 2023. 15 years ago my printer wouldn’t let me scan a document because it was low on magenta ink, so I took it outside and smashed it on the ground, threw it into the dumpster, drove to the store, and bought a Brother laser printer. During the entire 15 years since then I’ve had to buy toner one time, and I found it at the thrift store for $5. That’ll probably hold us over for the rest of our lives since we rarely need to print these days. Ink jets are shitty rip-off machines. Destroy yours today.
Amen I bought a used one from work for £20 8 years ago with a bunch of spare toners and I still haven’t used any of the toners. Do they actually go off?
You’re talking about an ink jet. I’m talking about a laser printer. The toner doesn’t dry out, it’s already dry. Our toner lasted us like 8 years before we had to replace it.
You can get a little Brother laser with network and duplexing for the same price as a cheap inkjet. It will be much cheaper to run and the ink never dries out. We do that and have an HP Envy with the Instant Ink free tier (10 pages per month with no rollover).
A laser printer is actually better for low volume printing. With ink cartridges, they dry up if you don’t use them within a year and will need to be replaced.
I’ve had my laser printer for about 12 years now, and only replaced the drum once since I print so little. Also, I have a Brother printer, which was roughly around $50 at the time.
You can literally buy an inkjet for £30, use it once with the dribble of ink that it comes with, never need to print anything again for 5 years and buy another £30 Inkjet to do it.
It’s cheaper and less bothersome than any other options for those that next to never need to print.
If you’re printing that infrequently, you could easily have your stuff printed elsewhere. But even for people that rarely print, a laser printer is going to be your best bet. It uses black plastic dust it melts to the paper, so it can go for years without “drying out” because there’s nothing to dry out.
The problem with comparing cost like this is how much you use varies drastically I use 35-40 litres of petrol a week commuting I might have used a litre of printer ink in the last 10 years
Sure, but that doesn’t change the cost of the liquid. It’s a direct comparison of the price of 1ml for each product. That’s not a problem, that’s just the cost of the liquid. People do the same thing with different metals, rocks, and whatever else you want to compare the price of.
You buy the printer. The printer is made out of wood and metal. If you hit it with a hammer your hammer will break. It communicates only over Ethernet. Uses the default driver of the most popular desktop OSes. If you call support a surly man yells at you and tells you that this isn’t fucking EAgames, you buy it you own it our business is concluded. You put whatever ink you want in it via a syringe. Your grandkids can inherit it when you die and it will still work. When it breaks you get out a screwdriver and pliers to fix it. The manual warning for electrical shock hazard is “if you are too dumb to fix it you deserve getting electrocuted. Please hire someone who can be trust with scissors to open this”.
You put whatever ink you want in it via a syringe.
You manage to make it not clog after I forget to print a color page for two weeks (make it a decade) and I will buy & recommend your printers exclusively for the rest of my life.
As long as you are happy, that is all that counts! Personally my color printing is like 14 pages every 7 months and that’s not enough to keep an inkjet happy, my samsung color laser on the other hand has been zero effort all that time.
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The margins are paper thin!
For those wanting to know what the ink costs for comparison it’s £2.04 per ml.
Next time I’m in the club and want to show how baller I am then I’m buying a round of HP light magenta.
It’ll need to be a round of of every colour since so many printers will refuse to print a black and white document because one of the colour ink cartridges is empty, also it’s a colour you rarely use yet somehow is the first to run out.
In this imaginary scenario we can do anything. So that’s a full round of color for the table, and heck, why not for the whole VIP suite! Lets spray it like a rainbow round here!
Why does printer ink cost so much?
While there is obviously cost in research and manufacturing the ink, they could 100% make it substantially cheaper. But they can make more money with expensive ink, and cheap printers.
If someone buys a more expensive printer, the company profits that once, and there will be a higher barrier to entry because not as many people are willing to spend that much up front on a printer. So while they could still up-charge for ink, fewer people would be buying it, but if they up-charged for both that would be fewer people buying still overall.
If instead they give away the printers for super cheap, even if it’s at a loss, then up charge a ton for the ink, a bunch of people will have printers that will routinely need more ink. Someone may see a printer on sale for $10 and think “what an incredible deal” and get it on an impulse. Now they’re stuck needing to purchase the ink to keep it functioning. That is a higher income spread over a longer period of time. Companies will always be able to profit more if they can get people to spend their money over time than if they offer a reliable product for a one time purchase.
Because people will pay a lot for it. Go figure.
They ought to go out of business. I mean who the heck prints stuff anymore?
Photographers.
OEMs. The documentation for every factory machine my company builds included a 3-ring binder of the entire system documentation as well as a print out of the schematics. Go ahead and try to convince a factory owner that paid us a quarter of a million not to include a 2 dollar manual.
Also I will sometimes print out complicated schematics and let my intern mark it up with pen. Sometimes you catch mistakes by changing your perspective.
This is why I’m going to hold onto my ancient inkjet without DRM until it dies. I can buy the no-name ink off amazon for $7 and it works just as good
I can’t remember the last time I printed something. Honestly.
Ooh Wee!
Guys, just buy laser printers, assuming you have any need for a printer still in the year of our lord, 2023. 15 years ago my printer wouldn’t let me scan a document because it was low on magenta ink, so I took it outside and smashed it on the ground, threw it into the dumpster, drove to the store, and bought a Brother laser printer. During the entire 15 years since then I’ve had to buy toner one time, and I found it at the thrift store for $5. That’ll probably hold us over for the rest of our lives since we rarely need to print these days. Ink jets are shitty rip-off machines. Destroy yours today.
I bought a Brother laser printer years ago and I’m still on the first full sized toner cartridge (not including the half sized one it came with).
My printer usage got cut drastically when I stopped having in-person D&D games.
I’m still on the factory toner cartridges after 15 - 18 years. They’re refillable, as are the replacements.
I got a brother laser free from work 5 years ago. Haven’t had to buy ink yet.
We were implementing 802.11x auth at the domain, for all network nodes and had to can a few printers that didn’t support it. A few of us for lucky 😃
Amen I bought a used one from work for £20 8 years ago with a bunch of spare toners and I still haven’t used any of the toners. Do they actually go off?
Eventually, but they’re good for thousands of prints.
Or they may be good for one print, depending on how frequently the printer is used.
Install a new cartridge, print one page, wait a year before trying to print again and you’ll need a new cartridge.
It’s a no-brainer why they practically give those things away.
You’re talking about an ink jet. I’m talking about a laser printer. The toner doesn’t dry out, it’s already dry. Our toner lasted us like 8 years before we had to replace it.
Indeed, I was. I’d lost the plot, thought the commenter above you had bought an inkjet. Thanks for the clarification.
Stop buying printer ink. Buy a laser printer and buy toner instead. It’s significantly cheaper.
deleted by creator
You can get a little Brother laser with network and duplexing for the same price as a cheap inkjet. It will be much cheaper to run and the ink never dries out. We do that and have an HP Envy with the Instant Ink free tier (10 pages per month with no rollover).
A laser printer is actually better for low volume printing. With ink cartridges, they dry up if you don’t use them within a year and will need to be replaced.
I’ve had my laser printer for about 12 years now, and only replaced the drum once since I print so little. Also, I have a Brother printer, which was roughly around $50 at the time.
This is great wisdom. Brother printers are very cheap and 3rd party consumables moreso.
This is what happens when you have a monopoly on the ink cartridges. It’s literally why they put chips in them - to force you to buy new ones.
Everyone should be able to enjoy Scotch old enough to buy it’s own scotch.
You can literally buy an inkjet for £30, use it once with the dribble of ink that it comes with, never need to print anything again for 5 years and buy another £30 Inkjet to do it.
It’s cheaper and less bothersome than any other options for those that next to never need to print.
If you’re printing that infrequently, you could easily have your stuff printed elsewhere. But even for people that rarely print, a laser printer is going to be your best bet. It uses black plastic dust it melts to the paper, so it can go for years without “drying out” because there’s nothing to dry out.
Wouldn’t it be cheaper and better for the environment if you print at your local library or office store?
The problem with comparing cost like this is how much you use varies drastically I use 35-40 litres of petrol a week commuting I might have used a litre of printer ink in the last 10 years
Sure, but that doesn’t change the cost of the liquid. It’s a direct comparison of the price of 1ml for each product. That’s not a problem, that’s just the cost of the liquid. People do the same thing with different metals, rocks, and whatever else you want to compare the price of.
Ok business idea
You buy the printer. The printer is made out of wood and metal. If you hit it with a hammer your hammer will break. It communicates only over Ethernet. Uses the default driver of the most popular desktop OSes. If you call support a surly man yells at you and tells you that this isn’t fucking EAgames, you buy it you own it our business is concluded. You put whatever ink you want in it via a syringe. Your grandkids can inherit it when you die and it will still work. When it breaks you get out a screwdriver and pliers to fix it. The manual warning for electrical shock hazard is “if you are too dumb to fix it you deserve getting electrocuted. Please hire someone who can be trust with scissors to open this”.
I have an ink tank printer that works pretty much like this. The tanks are translucent so I can even see the ink.
As long as you are happy, that is all that counts! Personally my color printing is like 14 pages every 7 months and that’s not enough to keep an inkjet happy, my samsung color laser on the other hand has been zero effort all that time.
sennheiser problem unfortunately, but you will have cult followers- try releasing it as open hardware? maybe
Never buy HP printers.
Even their laser printers are riddled with phoning home and cash grabs.
I got a second-hand Xerox laser printer a while back and it is the best printer I’ve used.
To save you a click, the comparison printer ink in the article is £2.04 per ml.
The article is worth reading though.