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A push to clarify ink cartridge labels
An HP 96 black ink cartridge
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KAI RYSSDAL: OK, so true story. My 11-year-old had a school project due the other day. Eleven-year-olds being 11-year-olds that means he didn't get around to printing it until the night before. Which explains why I was running out to the office supply store at 8 o'clock that night to buy a new ink cartridge. Ours, of course, had run dry with no notice -- $35 later we were all set.
But wouldn't it be great if you could actually tell when one of those things was getting set to expire? As it happens, the National Conference on Weights and Measures meets this weekend and it will take up the case of the humble ink cartridge.
Ashley Milne-Tyte reports.
Ashley Milne-Tyte: So I have a small Dell home printer and looking at the cartridge that's in there now, it doesn't say anything about either how many pages it could print or how much ink it contains.
The packaging doesn't say anything either. The National Conference on Weights and Measures would like to change that. It sets standards for weighing and measuring everything from mulch to hydrogen to pasta.
Max Gray heads Florida's Bureau of Weights and Measures. He says when it comes to ink cartridges, the labeling rules are fuzzy. Manufacturers can say as much or as little as they want about how much ink is in the cartridge, or how it performs.
Max Gray: All of this lack of clarity into what should be required to be labeled on a printer ink cartridge or a toner cartridge used in copiers led me to feel that maybe this should be addressed.
So consumers know what they're getting for their money and can start to compare cartridges side by side like products in, say, the supermarket.
Charles LeCompte of Lyra Research says manufacturers will not be keen to clarify on packaging how far their ink goes.
Charles LeCompte: They realize it's gonna set in motion a dynamic that will drive down cartridge prices over time. Which is what they fear the most -- they like their business model.
Ink brings in a lot of money. It has to be replenished all the time. LeCompte says ink is a big reason why HP's printer division is three times as profitable as its PC division.
Dean Gallea heads computer testing at Consumer Reports. He says he's never calculated how much consumers pay per ounce of ink, but...
Dean Gallea: It's way, way up there. It's probably one of the most expensive liquids that you can buy.
If you dig around on manufacturer Web sites you can get an idea of a cartridge's lifespan. An HP 96 cartridge, for instance, churns out a maximum of 860 plain black pages, according to HP's Web site. The cartridge costs about $34. Another cartridge from a different manufacturer might cost $20 and print 285 pages.
Gallea says manufacturers should focus on the number of pages you can print rather than how much ink each cartridge contains, because that doesn't tell people how long the cartridge will last.
Gallea: The number of pages that you get per unit volume of ink can vary between the different ink formulations and the different manufacturers, so it's not a clear indication of what the page count would be.
All this and other weighty matters, like pelletized ice cream and moisture loss in dried pasta, will be considered when the National Conference on Weights and Measures meets this weekend. Printer manufacturers and ink producers will also be there to consider the labeling issue. But it could be a while before consumers can compare cartridges based on their labels. The National Conference won't vote on the matter 'til July at the earliest.
I'm Ashley Milne-Tyte for Marketplace.
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I think that some listners didnt understand the point of what the weights and measures folks have issue with. When you buy most things, you know what you are getting. When you buy a product you know what you are getting and what it costs. You have to buy printer supplies on faith because the printer folks dont want you to know what you are getting for your money. Several years ago the Buffalo News did an article and calculated that if you were to fill your cars tank with 1992 Dom Perignon it would cost $15,400 while HP78 ink would cost $139,900.
In an article on page B-1 of the Wall Street Journal, Sanford C. Berrstein said that in 2004 80% of HP's $5.6 billion in operating profits came from Ink and toner supplies for HP's printers.
It is not about folks with printers in their home, it is about what has been called the largest un-audited expense in business today.
So you think ink jet printer ink is expensive, do you? Try liquid pharmaceuticals.
Example 1: Lovenox, used to prevent deep vein clots in some patients. 0.4 milliliter syringe, 40-milligram active ingredient, $30.
Example 2: Bortezomib, an anti-cancer drug. Twenty milliliters, 2.2 milligrams of active ingredient, $3500. I'll do the arithmetic for you; that's about $1.6 million per gram of active ingredient.
What the story does not mention is the amount of coverage on the page. Having worked with printing and mailing industry for the last 10 years or so, the one thing that none of the ink or toner manufacturers can accurately determine is how many pages you can print. Back when I was shopping for high speed cut sheet printers 110 to 180 pages per minutes as well as copiers, the one thing everyone prices out their supplies on was 5 percent page coverage. Most of what we print at home, like pictures have a lot more coverage than 5 percent of coverage and therefore will use a much larger amount of toner or ink.
If you are curious as to how much 5 percent is, think of a standard business letter, double spaced with the address typed on the top. This is what the toner / ink manufactures are using that their guideline as a page.
Hope this helps you all to understand the issue better.
Thanks.
The Kodak "print & prosper" printer/ink i had would not print a Black & White page unless both the Black and Color inks are replaced. After I replaced both carts, whenever i print print B&W only, my color ink well goes down with the black ink well.
You Print and Kodak Prosper.
If you buy your inc cartridges or toner from staples, you will always see how many pages a cartridge yields. For example, go to http://www.staples.com/Deskjet-F2110-HP-All-in-One-Printers/cat_CL163820. The number of pages is listed clearly on the website and also on the packaging. Some cartridges can print more pages then others and will be more expensive, but it's possible to compare prices of refillable cartridges before buying a printer. The cheaper the printer is, the more expensive the refill cartridges are. Also, when you first buy a printer, the cartridge that it comes with it usually print fewer pages than a refill cartridge that you will have to buy when it runs out.
My Konica toner cartridges have a chip in them which disables printing after a preset number of pages, even if there is plenty of toner still left in the cartridge. Shaking the cartridge (a trick to get old cartridges printing) doesn't work. It's really agravating!
I was surprised I heard no one on this article mention the fact that many printers, by design, often do not accept printer cartridges - ink and toner - made by third-party manufacturers. I have personally had this problem with Dell/Lexmark printers. Lexmark, in particular, makes (or made; I haven't looked for them in a while) certain entry-level inkjet models with 'starter' ink cartridges at such bargain prices that it was actually more affordable to *buy a new printer* than to replace the ink cartridge. Also, the HP 45 Black cartridge did have an ink level indicator on it, and others (Epson and Canon, primarily) often had transparent casings to at least view the ink level, but since then most of those indicators have gone away. In any event, if your printer will not reliably accept third-party cartridges, then the alternatives for comparison are largely meaningless. Proper labels are a step, but compatibility is another requirement.
I searched for cheap cartridges for ever and found treasure mountain.
My last order was for $20 less than the retail set of the 6 Epson cartridges. I got 5 sets and a spare black. I got 31 tanks of ink; the tanks equal 2X Epson's load of ink. That is ~10X the ink for $20 less. Staples rebates $2 per cartridge or $62 back on an $80 expenditure. Don't play the game; I never think twice before I print what I want.
That IS NOT free but close. Check IZZY @ www.ccs-digital.com.
This story was biased to my mind. I have had and use an HP printer for a number of years. I have used HP ink cartridges, remanufactured cartridges and other types. Most have worked well. For ordinary household use, they work well. I can’t speak for cartridge use for tens or hundreds of copies; I don’t do this sort of thing. My printer gives me the choice of print from “Fast Draft†which works wonderfully for single quick reference copies up the gamut to “high quality.â€
The printer itself has a setting which will tell me the percentage of ink LEFT in the cartridge.
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