Why Is Printer Ink So Expensive?

liquids are more precious than printer ink, but that’s not because ink is expensive to make. How can HP— and its handful of competitors in the highly concentrated printer market—get away with charging these kinds of markups?

  • ch00f@lemmy.worldEnglish
    12·
    7 days ago

    Two printers. One costs 3x+ more than the other.

    Ink for the cheap printer: $54 for 440 pages of black and since the cartridge combines color and black, you have to throw the extra ink out.

    Ink for the expensive printer: $14 for 6000 pages. I couldn’t even find the official Epson ink since there are so many third party options. Epson doesn’t have to lock down their ink because you paid full price for their printer.

    • Jerkface (any/all)English
      7·
      6 days ago

      I had a chance to get an Epson last week and I bought an HP instead because it advertised more ink in the box. “Great,” thinks I, “I’ll never likely print 3000 pages, and I’ll just throw it away if I ever do. Suckers!!”

      I get it and I find out that it’s bricked until you register an account and it calls home; won’t print unless it’s signed up to auto-order new ink. I’m sure there are ways of ameliorating this, but they got me. They fucking got me. I knew it was a scam, I thought I was smarter, but nope, they got me. Fuckers.

      • qprimed@lemmy.mlEnglish
        3·
        6 days ago

        time to return a clearly defective product. boomerang that crap right back at the store/mfcr.

    • LostXOR@fedia.io
      2·
      6 days ago

      I have what’s basically the HP version of that second printer. It was easy to set up, works well, and still hasn’t run out of its initial ink after over a year of moderate printing. You definitely get what you pay for.

      • naeap@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        1·
        6 days ago

        I bought a color laser printer (HP) and got a 3rd party toner, if I run out - because it’s a local company doing recycling and so on

        I’m now even a bit ashamed, because I can’t really support this local company, because I haven’t had the chance to even put their toner in, as the initial ones still work now after fucking 6 years. And we even had some time, when we tried printing some photos in high quality (and corresponding paper)

        Don’t know how long it will hold up, but as I’ve pretty much moved to a paperless office, this initial toner kit will probably survive longer than my company…

  • bluGill@fedia.io
    8·
    6 days ago

    Because you/consumers put up with it. It isn’t hard to find plenty of people who how to shop for total value and so there are printers that use cheap ink out there too for those willing to pay for real value.

  • slazer2au@lemmy.worldEnglish
    61·
    7 days ago

    How do they? Because there is enough illusion of competition that anti trust investigations won’t be launched.

  • superkret@feddit.orgEnglish
    3·
    7 days ago

    Printers are cursed abominations unleashed upon our world by Those No One Dares Mention.
    One of the secrets of the printer “manufacturers” is that they don’t actually know how printer ink is made.
    They just know they have to chant the incantations written down by hands unseen on scrolls bound in human flesh, sacrifice a sysadmin, and a new shipment will materialize in their warehouse.

  • Mickey7@lemmy.worldEnglish
    31·
    7 days ago

    Same thing with razors and razor blades. Sell the razor at a loss and make a fortune selling the blades

    • Num10ck@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      7 days ago

      King Gillette basically invented the captured customer. check food prices in airports and theme parks and movie theatres and ballparks.