Cartridges Cost Me Thousands – Berto

Cartridges Cost Me Thousands – Berto

A new printer can cost anywhere from $100 for a basic model you might use at home to more than $1000 for a  multifunction model that can scan, copy and fax as well.

Many consumers are astonished when it comes time to replace the empty toner or ink cartridges that came with the printer.

According to Choice, the cost of ink cartridges will end up costing more than the printer itself. The business model applied by printer manufacturers is the “Razor and Blades” model. Printers are sold cheaply to encourage buying. Ink cartridges that are always needed to be replenished are sold at a high price to compensate for the low printer price.

But just how expensive can printer ink be?  One standard black ink cartridge may cost about $40. This may sound reasonable until you realise you may only have 10mls of ink in the cartridge. The amount of ink in a cartridge varies from 8 ml to 127 ml depending on your inkjet printer. That means printer ink is amongst the most expensive liquids in the world—more than $8ooo per litre – which is surprisingly more expensive than these five items:

• Champagne
• Crème de la Mer
• Human blood
• The world’s most expensive coffee
• Chanel No.5

Berto has taken the opportunity this month to poke some fun at the cost of printer cartridges, reflecting on the point that you don’t need to store them. You can sell them to collectors who will reuse and remanufacture them..