[Kieron]

I just can't believe what a throwaway society we now live in. My old Epson printer bit the dust last week (i'd had it for four years), so I got a new HP Deskjet D1460 plus 2 brand new inks in the package (1 colour, 1 black) for the grand total of £18.99 (pcworld...)

I look on ebay and the inks on their own are £22.......

Even the sales assistant at the shop couldn't believe it.

Printer's great by the way....

[Steven]

Ink has always been expensive in proportion to the cost of a printer. Does nothing for landfill waste management though! Old saying that it is cheaper to just buy a new printer is an inconvenient truth

*coat*

[Kieron]

I just can't believe that you get the ink *with* the printer in the box though. And they are full carts, not half filled ones (before anybody says it....)

I could believe it if the ink wasn't included - that would make financial sense....

[PJTX100]

Yes, loss-leaders.

I purchase lots of printers for my company. Especially for new staff, it's far less hassle, and cheaper, to purchase a new printer than it is to buy replacement ink and recycle a printer that's come back in.

Having said that, the cost of environmentally-friendly disposal on printers tips the equation back the other way.

I trust you will be disposing with your old Epson in a suitably green way?

[CFC1]

Originally Posted by Kieron

I look on ebay and the inks on their own are £22.......

Don't the ink cartridges supplied with printers contain smaller amounts of ink? ... ie 5 mls as opposed to 11mls, say.

[Kieron]

Originally Posted by PJTX100

I trust you will be disposing with your old Epson in a suitably green way?

I've buried it in a time-capsule at the end of my garden. Along with my Sanyo Betamax, Binatone Pong game, Cine camera and Soda-Stream.

Seriously though, I lobbed it in the "electronics" skip at the local tip.

On that note, does anybody (probably the lads here) ever get the urge to jump into said "electronics" skip for a rummage.........?

[GaryB]

It's the same for lasers. My Lexmark colour laser cost just over £200. A new set of toner cartridges for it costs well over £300.

[Kieron]

Originally Posted by CFC1

Don't the ink cartridges supplied with printers contain smaller amounts of ink? ... ie 5 mls as opposed to 11mls, say.

No mate, not with this one - they are completely full.......

[PJTX100]

Originally Posted by Kieron

Binatone Pong game,

Best Game Ever!

My brother and I used to have the mother of all battles at this. 10 min rallies not uncommon.

Them were the days.

[nheather]

I have a Philips 2 blade shaver. The shaver itself is a mid-range model. The replacement blades cost about £26 per pair.

For the last three blade replacements, I've bought a bottom of the range Philips shaver with the same blades for £18.

Don't like doing it but I take the blades out and throw the shaver away.


Printers - recently looked at a laser printer. It was £40 complete with full toner cartridge. Price of replacement cartridge is £50.


Cheers,

Nigel

[Kieron]

Originally Posted by PJTX100

Best Game Ever!

My brother and I used to have the mother of all battles at this. 10 min rallies not uncommon.

Them were the days.

Haha, ah yes. The original "orange box" - the paddles (orange rectangles with silver pressed fronts and black knobs to turn) - plus it ran on "D-size" batteries......

"with four great games, Tennis, Football, Squash and 'practice' ?!"

[Peridot]

Originally Posted by Kieron

... My old Epson printer bit the dust last week (i'd had it for four years).

You got four years out of an Epson printer

Best I ever managed was two ... have switched allegiance to Canon now.

[Kieron]

Originally Posted by Peridot

You got four years out of an Epson printer

Best I ever managed was two ... have switched allegiance to Canon now.

We only stayed together for the sake of the kid... (scanner)

[PJTX100]

For info you get more ink if you milked a gnat vs the amount Dell put in their standard carts. And over £15 a pop each.

Scandalous.

[PJTX100]

Originally Posted by Kieron

We only stayed together for the sake of the kid... (scanner)

That's the trouble with celebrities these days. No commitment.

[dakara]

Originally Posted by Kieron

We only stayed together for the sake of the kid... (scanner)

I LIKE that. Clever stuff Kieron.

[Chris Muriel]

Originally Posted by nheather

I have a Philips 2 blade shaver. The shaver itself is a mid-range model. The replacement blades cost about £26 per pair.

For the last three blade replacements, I've bought a bottom of the range Philips shaver with the same blades for £18.

Don't like doing it but I take the blades out and throw the shaver away.


Printers - recently looked at a laser printer. It was £40 complete with full toner cartridge. Price of replacement cartridge is £50.


Cheers,

Nigel

The shaver story is the perfect one to cite in this thread.
The idea of selling a product for less than the price of its necessary consumables (razor blades) is known in the marketing world as a "razor sell" - cheap or free razor and make your profit on repeated purchases of new blades.
This was originally Gillette's "Razor and Blades" business model from several decades ago. Complete books have been written on the subject.

Chris Muriel, Manchester

[andykn]

Originally Posted by Chris Muriel

...Gillette's "Razor and Blades" business model from several decades ago. Complete books have been written on the subject.

Probably not a good holiday read.

[johntheexpat]

Disposable electronics - STB's....
I have a Philips DTR 320/00, which at 100€ wasn't cheap. But it worked better than my ultra-cheap first box. But there were always problems turning it on (no WAG jokes here please) but mostly it was good. Then after about 15 months rien,nowt,zip, no picture no visible signs of life. Paah. So we resorted to the old box and tried to buy a Wharfedale PVR in the UK (see a previous rant of mine here somewhere about that).

Now, I had read on another website (while being unfaithful to AVF I can't deny) about problems with the PSU on various Sky boxes, which were relatively easy to fix. So I investigated further and stripped my box down and what do you think I found? Two 16V 1000 microF capacitors that were obviously 'gone', (The tops were bowed outwards, like a circus dome) and two others that looked OK. So I ordered the capacitors from the other website (30p each plus £4 p&p plus VAT on top) and dusted off my 3yr old, never been used soldering iron.
Now believe me when I say I have no experience of using a soldering iron. I can use a chainsaw to fell a 100ft tree with suprising accuracy, but a soldering iron? No thank you. But after 10 mins I had swapped the two capacitors for new and decided to check the box and hey presto.. life!

Now what gauls me is that the box wasn't cheap, but the capacitors were. If one had failed, too bad but two going after 15 months means cheap capacitors. They probably saved a fraction of a cent by using them, but it meant that the box was almost a complete write off after 15 months, except I decided to play with it. Disposable electronics, for the sake of practically nothing saved by the manufacturers.

[AJUK]

I don't know if this is really that relevant but i'm quite certain mobiles come under this catergary, You don't actually pay for the phone just the 'contact'. Most people i know that are on contact seem to be getting free upgrades all of the time and there old phones just get chucked. Also from my personal experience phones stop working properly after 12 months anyway !!!

[mattrixdesign2]

Sell printer cheap (make loss or little profit), sell ink expensive (make lots of profit), same with the paper!

It ain't good for the environment, but it is certainly a good way to make money.

[Kieron]

Originally Posted by mattrixdesign2

Sell printer cheap (make loss or little profit), sell ink expensive (make lots of profit), same with the paper!

It ain't good for the environment, but it is certainly a good way to make money.

But it's not though. Surely it costs more to manufacture the printer and the ink and sell at £18 than just sell the ink at £22.

And that's why a lot of people bin their printer when the ink runs out. It's cheaper to go and get a new one with ink than ink on it's own....

[Ned Senior]

Originally Posted by Peridot

You got four years out of an Epson printer

Best I ever managed was two ... have switched allegiance to Canon now.

Epson R1800 just into it's 4th year!!! isn't heavily used though (perhaps there is a set number of print throughs till death do us part???)
am trying third party inks this time so hope it stays healthy
I find using epson paper makes for better prints than using cheapo stuff.

I found both canon and lexmark machines ( more than one instance for both marques) die after 12 to 18 months which raises the question WHY are they set electronically to do this?? and can it be proven??

cheers
Ned

[mattrixdesign2]

Originally Posted by Kieron

But it's not though. Surely it costs more to manufacture the printer and the ink and sell at £18 than just sell the ink at £22.

And that's why a lot of people bin their printer when the ink runs out. It's cheaper to go and get a new one with ink than ink on it's own....

They wouldn't do it if it didn't make money, I am sure it costs more to make a printer, but I am also sure it costs jack-diddly-squat to make the ink carts, they profit they make on them must be very high.

And yes some will bin the printer rather than buy new ink.

I know when my Epson clogged up and the cleaning processed didn't work I did not even consider fixing it, it went to the tip, and I bought a scanner, copier, photo printer all in one for about £60 - I reckon I have put at least 4 sets of carts in at £25/£28 a pop, plus I only buy the Epson photo paper, they must have made enough profit from me already - I know for a fact its a false economy to print at home, but I do it anyway.

Lots of electronics are disposable now, mobiles, pcs, consolse, TVs - they become worhtless so quickly - having said that I do try to sell on mobiles and consoles.

[Woodywizz]

Thanks Kieron for bringing this to my attention....our printer ran out of ink a couple of months ago and I begrudged paying £50+ for 2 new cartridges.

I'll buy one of these instead...cheers mate

[DVD-Man]

For anyone that prints out in colour a lot, please check out the CSS systems, surely has to be cheaer in the long run?

Liam

PS CSS = Continuous Ink System

[Ned Senior]

Originally Posted by DVD-Man

For anyone that prints out in colour a lot, please check out the CSS systems, surely has to be cheaer in the long run?

Liam

PS CSS = Continuous Ink System

I'd be scared of nocking a bottle over

but shall look further into 'em tomorrow

night all
Ned

[Kieron]

Originally Posted by woodywizz

Thanks Kieron for bringing this to my attention....our printer ran out of ink a couple of months ago and I begrudged paying £50+ for 2 new cartridges.

I'll buy one of these instead...cheers mate

Haha, £18.99, reserve online.

Great printer too!

[kav]

The first thing I do when getting a new printer is look at the cost of replacement cartridges. If you're interested in holding on to your printer after the ink runs out, I find Canon printers are the best value for money - reasonable initial outlay, pretty good quality of prints, and replacement ink cartridges are under a tenner - my wife picked up two colour and two black for £18 recently.

[Shady]

Originally Posted by Kieron

does anybody (probably the lads here) ever get the urge to jump into said "electronics" skip for a rummage.........?

...you would have to beat the skip trolls to it first !!! Whenever we take anything to the skip, as soon as it goes over the side the yellow-backed trolls are there raking over it and putting choice 'tat' to one side. Their caves must look lovely...