How Much?

Well, she'll probably never buy an Epson again. Unfortunately, she'll be equally slapped with the insight that every god damn printing brand pulls the same cheap shots.

Yeah, all the printer manufacturers pull this sort of thing. You can combat this in a couple of ways:

1) Buy a printer with popular appeal. That'll ensure the cartridges are available for a long time and at lower prices.

2) Install a continuous inking system (if you're printer can handle one). That'll save you a large amount of cash in supplies.

3) Buy online. You can save buckets of money. I've never, ever paid $45 for a inkjet cartridge. That's a ripoff.

and then there are the companies who make printers with 4 seperate ink cartridges and train the sales men to use the line: "you'll only have to replace the colors you use the most." and (of course) all cartridges empty at the same time. so all 4 have to be replaced for a hefty fee.
sorry, touchy subject. color laser printer on the way.

I've had pretty good luck using a refill kit with my Epson 980 cartridges. I've also started buying Rhinotek brand cartridges from buy.com which are significantly less that Epson brand. My photo-quality prints may be a little more dotty than they should but the vast majority of my printing doesn't need the best color quality.

Mmm, then there are the customers that think that when you print white text reversed out from a black field, your printer is using "white ink" to do it.

Caveat emptor. That's what Consumer Reports is there for!

It is such a scam

A friend of mine said to me today:
"All college business majors should be required to take a class on ethics."
Not business ethics, mind you, rather ethics ethics. If you know what I mean.

*grin* That reminds me of my Staples experience last month. Pretty proficient with printers and computers in general, I marched over to the desk and pointed to the one I wanted. {an aside, why are they locked up behind the desk anyway?} It was for the Cannon portable printer and understandably the cartridges are on the small side ... I'd brought along one to make sure it was the right thing. The cashier kept on going on and on about how small the ink container was, slowly it became a freak show of sorts .. all the damn staples cashiers merged over to see the freakishly small ink container. I stood back and watched in amazement ... smirking because I knew that they'd start stocking more of the tiny printers so that more idiots can come in looking for ink monthly. Eh, that was long, apologies.

How quickly we forget that just a few years ago we were in awe that we could print photo-quality at home at any price. And that was when An Epson Stylus Photo cost $400, and ink was at least 25% more expensive than now. No more fuss with photo labs. Predictible results. And MUCH cheaper. We now take this awesome technology for granted and begrudge the manufacturers for having the audacity of desiring a profit. The nerve!

If you want to piss and moan about something, why not level your sites at more worthy targets --- like running shoe companies who aggressively market $200 shoes to children and the impovrished. Or car companies convincing soccer moms that they need 4x4's and V8 engines.

I, for one. have no problem with the aggressive costs involved with high-end inkjets. These things improve our lives and deliver real value. And a profit is required in order to continue to innovate.

Looks like the real criminal part hasn't been mentioned yet. Not only do replacement ink cartridges cost an arm and leg, but the cartridges that come with the printers are not full. Depending on the vendor, they range from 1/4 to 1/2 full. Ethics in business..

I have to agree with Marshall. That's the price you pay... shop around or deal with it.

Go to epson.com (or whatever the us derivitave is) and buy your ink from them.

a. you get the high quality if your printer happens to have any photo archival properties, or if you care
b. they are much less than 45.00!