INTERESTING ARTICLE ON THE INKJET PRINTER INDUSTRY

martin

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Apr 2, 2004
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Cost of printer ink under fire

A cheap printer could turn out to be a costly buy due to the cost of
replacing the ink cartridge, a survey has found.

The price of inkjet printers has come down to as little as £34 but it
could cost up to £1,700 in running costs over an 18-month period, a
study by Computeractive Magazine has revealed.

Survey findings
Canon i560 - £129; cost of ownership over 18 months - £1029
Epson C44UX - £49; cost of ownership over 18 months - £1157
HP Deskjet 5150 - £89; cost of ownership over 18 months - £708
Lexmark z605 - £40; cost of ownership over 18 months - £1775

Consumers are at risk of being ripped off, said editor Dylan Armbrust.
"Replacement cartridges may cost as much or more than the cost of the
printer," he said.

The inkjet printer market has been the subject of an investigation by
the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), which concluded in a 2002 report
that retailers and manufacturers needed to make pricing more
transparent for consumers.
"Well over a year later our results suggest that consumers are still
at serious risk of being ripped off," said Mr Armbrust.

The Computeractive investigation looked at printers from the big four
manufacturers, Canon, Epson, HP and Lexmark.

The average life of a black ink and colour cartridge was calculated,
as was the cost per page of printing.

The cost of the ink was a big factor in driving costs up. Ink
cartridges vary in both price and the amount of time they last, from
manufacturer to manufacturer.

Responding to the survey, Lexmark said the research was flawed because
it did not compare like with like.

"We estimate people will purchase around two cartridges per year.
Customers who want to print a large amount should quite rightly look
beyond just the ticket price," said a statement from the firm.

Canon said it could not comment on the survey because it had not seen
it, but added that the cost of printers and cartridges reflected the
amount of money the company spent on research and development.

Last summer a report by Which? Magazine found that some printer ink
cost more per millilitre than vintage champagne.

It recommended people use generic cartridges which are often half the
price of branded products.
 
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martin@icanfixit.co.uk (Martin) wrote in message news:<e05a06fe.0412030546.5efd5ab1@posting.google.com>...
> Cost of printer ink under fire
>
> A cheap printer could turn out to be a costly buy due to the cost of
> replacing the ink cartridge, a survey has found.
>
> The price of inkjet printers has come down to as little as £34 but it
> could cost up to £1,700 in running costs over an 18-month period, a
> study by Computeractive Magazine has revealed.
>
> Survey findings
> Canon i560 - £129; cost of ownership over 18 months - £1029
> Epson C44UX - £49; cost of ownership over 18 months - £1157
> HP Deskjet 5150 - £89; cost of ownership over 18 months - £708
> Lexmark z605 - £40; cost of ownership over 18 months - £1775

I think either cartridges are REALLY expensive there or
somebody slipped a decimal point.

> Consumers are at risk of being ripped off, said editor Dylan Armbrust.
> "Replacement cartridges may cost as much or more than the cost of the
> printer," he said.

There's always a risk no matter what -- even if everything were free,
there'd be a risk of someone drinking a hundred cartridges of ink and
getting sick.

>
> The inkjet printer market has been the subject of an investigation by
> the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), which concluded in a 2002 report
> that retailers and manufacturers needed to make pricing more
> transparent for consumers.

Pretty dumb customer if they don't notice after buying the first set of
ink cartridges after the originals are used (when "losses" are
still minimal if they then decide to toss the printer and tell
their neighbors about it).

>
> "We estimate people will purchase around two cartridges per year.
> Customers who want to print a large amount should quite rightly look
> beyond just the ticket price," said a statement from the firm.

Which means that the canon cartridges in the list above were £300
each (18 months is three carts and when added to the printer cost ends
up at the amount listed). Assuming these are British Pounds, for
me to buy an *entire* set of 8-cartridges for my i9900 printer
(made by Canon carts) costs me £35 (converted). Duh... somebody
slipped a decimal point. I assume the i560 carts would be cheaper
with only half the number of carts (and three being the same carts),
so the i560's cart-set would cost me under £20 for a full set. Not
quite the £300 claimed in the article.

> It recommended people use generic cartridges which are often half the
> price of branded products.

Only £150 per cartridge?

Mike
 

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Dec 26, 2003
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Martin wrote:
> Cost of printer ink under fire
>
> A cheap printer could turn out to be a costly buy due to the cost of
> replacing the ink cartridge, a survey has found.
>
> The price of inkjet printers has come down to as little as £34 but it
> could cost up to £1,700 in running costs over an 18-month period, a
> study by Computeractive Magazine has revealed.
>
> Survey findings
> Canon i560 - £129; cost of ownership over 18 months - £1029
> Epson C44UX - £49; cost of ownership over 18 months - £1157
> HP Deskjet 5150 - £89; cost of ownership over 18 months - £708
> Lexmark z605 - £40; cost of ownership over 18 months - £1775
>
> Consumers are at risk of being ripped off, said editor Dylan Armbrust.
> "Replacement cartridges may cost as much or more than the cost of the
> printer," he said.
>
> The inkjet printer market has been the subject of an investigation by
> the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), which concluded in a 2002 report
> that retailers and manufacturers needed to make pricing more
> transparent for consumers.
> "Well over a year later our results suggest that consumers are still
> at serious risk of being ripped off," said Mr Armbrust.
>
> The Computeractive investigation looked at printers from the big four
> manufacturers, Canon, Epson, HP and Lexmark.
>
> The average life of a black ink and colour cartridge was calculated,
> as was the cost per page of printing.
>
> The cost of the ink was a big factor in driving costs up. Ink
> cartridges vary in both price and the amount of time they last, from
> manufacturer to manufacturer.
>
> Responding to the survey, Lexmark said the research was flawed because
> it did not compare like with like.
>
> "We estimate people will purchase around two cartridges per year.
> Customers who want to print a large amount should quite rightly look
> beyond just the ticket price," said a statement from the firm.
>
> Canon said it could not comment on the survey because it had not seen
> it, but added that the cost of printers and cartridges reflected the
> amount of money the company spent on research and development.
>
> Last summer a report by Which? Magazine found that some printer ink
> cost more per millilitre than vintage champagne.
>
> It recommended people use generic cartridges which are often half the
> price of branded products.


Computer 'Active' - if they were any slower on the uptake we'd need a
geologial sensor to measure their thought patterns... An article in Computer
'Active' isn't news - it's ancient history!
--
Facon - the artificial bacon bits you get in Pizza Hut for sprinkling
on salads.
 
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In article <coq2ju$mt8$1@newsg4.svr.pol.co.uk>, noone@here.com (?) wrote:

> An article in Computer 'Active' isn't news - it's ancient history!

So where would you recommend the OP find this sort of news while it's
still hot?

Jon.
 
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Jon O'Brien wrote:
> In article <coq2ju$mt8$1@newsg4.svr.pol.co.uk>, noone@here.com (?)
> wrote:
>
>> An article in Computer 'Active' isn't news - it's ancient history!

It isn't hot - it's so cold and past its sell by it's growing mould! One of
our MEPs (can't remember his name) made this announcement to the European
Parliament three years ago!



--
Facon - the artificial bacon bits you get in Pizza Hut for sprinkling
on salads.
 
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Archived from groups: comp.periphs.printers (More info?)

In article <lu4sd.28$I06.2@fe48.usenetserver.com>, misstick@lancre.dw
(Miss Perspicacia Tick) wrote:

> It isn't hot...

Yes, I know. What I was asking was: where would you recommend the OP go so
that, in future, he can see news items while they're still hot.

You've pointed out that the news story is history, so it must be obvious
that the OP doesn't know where to pick up hot news. As you seem to know
where to find it, I though it might help the OP if I asked you to share
the information with him.

Jon.
 
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On Sat, 4 Dec 2004 00:55 +0000 (GMT Standard Time),
Jon@NOonlySPAMbrowsingTHANX.com (Jon O'Brien) wrote:

>In article <lu4sd.28$I06.2@fe48.usenetserver.com>, misstick@lancre.dw
>(Miss Perspicacia Tick) wrote:
>
>> It isn't hot...
>
>Yes, I know. What I was asking was: where would you recommend the OP go so
>that, in future, he can see news items while they're still hot.
>
>You've pointed out that the news story is history, so it must be obvious
>that the OP doesn't know where to pick up hot news. As you seem to know
>where to find it, I though it might help the OP if I asked you to share
>the information with him.
>
PC Pro had an article about it two years ago, and another one this
year. I'm sure any reasonable computer magazine would have covered
this a number of times over the last 3 or four years. Then there's
this newsgroup, any number of sites, including, for example, Tom's
Hardware.

Hope that helps :)

--

Hecate - The Real One
Hecate@newsguy.com
veni, vidi, reliqui
 
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Archived from groups: comp.periphs.printers (More info?)

On 3 Dec 2004 11:47:13 -0800, gewgle@yahoo.com (Anoni Moose) wrote:

>> Survey findings
>> Canon i560 - £129; cost of ownership over 18 months - £1029
>> Epson C44UX - £49; cost of ownership over 18 months - £1157
>> HP Deskjet 5150 - £89; cost of ownership over 18 months - £708
>> Lexmark z605 - £40; cost of ownership over 18 months - £1775
>
>I think either cartridges are REALLY expensive there or
>somebody slipped a decimal point.

Cartridges for cheap printers really *are* expensive. I know someone
who buys a printer and when the ink runs out, just buys another
printer because of the price of the cartridges. Of course, he does
tend to buy Lexmark because they're cheaper...

>> Consumers are at risk of being ripped off, said editor Dylan Armbrust.
>> "Replacement cartridges may cost as much or more than the cost of the
>> printer," he said.
>
>There's always a risk no matter what -- even if everything were free,
>there'd be a risk of someone drinking a hundred cartridges of ink and
>getting sick.

There's pricing and then there's gouging.
--

Hecate - The Real One
Hecate@newsguy.com
veni, vidi, reliqui
 
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In article Jon O'Brien says...
> In article <lu4sd.28$I06.2@fe48.usenetserver.com>, misstick@lancre.dw
> (Miss Perspicacia Tick) wrote:
>
> > It isn't hot...
>
> Yes, I know. What I was asking was: where would you recommend the OP go so
> that, in future, he can see news items while they're still hot.
>
> You've pointed out that the news story is history, so it must be obvious
> that the OP doesn't know where to pick up hot news. As you seem to know
> where to find it, I though it might help the OP if I asked you to share
> the information with him.
>
> Jon.
>
The fact that nothing has changed makes it still relevant
 
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In article <MPG.1c1be25648b51d1498987d@news.xtra.co.nz>,
colincomma@yawhoo.com (colinco) wrote:

> The fact that nothing has changed makes it still relevant

But not relevant to my request.

Jon.
 
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In article Jon O'Brien says...
> In article <MPG.1c1be25648b51d1498987d@news.xtra.co.nz>,
> colincomma@yawhoo.com (colinco) wrote:
>
> > The fact that nothing has changed makes it still relevant
>
> But not relevant to my request.
>
> Jon.
>
The Inquirer or The Register usually have this type of beat up news
pretty quickly. Other sites may be to cosy with Canon,Epson and HP.