The Recurring Computer Printer Dilemma

[MineralMan]

Recently, my HP printer indicated that it needed a new black cartridge. #15 it was. So, I fired up Amazon and used my wife's Prime account to log in. I thought I'd buy a couple of refilled ones, like I did last time. Oops. No longer available. Well, never mind, I can afford a brand new HP one. Oops. $37.95 for one black ink cartridge. "WTF?" I asked myself.

Now, I recognize that my printer is a few years old, but it still works perfectly. All I wanted was a reasonably priced black ink cartridge, for pity's sake. But, no. There isn't a cheap black ink cartridge. And never mind that the #78 color cartridge is about due to be replaced, too. I noticed that the reds were slightly faded the other day. How much does that one cost? Well, that one seems to still be available as a refill. About $20 with shipping. So that's almost $60 for the ink cartridges.

I'm caught by the HP ink cartridge monopoly. Oh, yeah, my trusty old HP scanner, too, no longer has drivers for my new Windows 8.1 machine, so I'm out of a scanner, too. It was working fine, too. What the hell?

Off to Target. There, I found an HP all-in-one printer/scanner/copier with no wireless network capability for...wait for it...$49.95, complete with cartridges. It uses the #61 series of cartridges and I see that they're widely available as cheap refills. So, out with the old and in with the new. Plug it in, hook up the USB cable, turn it on, and I'm done. Printer, scanner, copier. $50.

I should be good for three or four more years, now. Then I'll be back to the same crappy dilemma again. Damn!

Anyone want an old HP printer and scanner? I'll give them to you free if you drop by. But, there's no driver available for the scanner, and it'll cost you $50 for the two ink cartridges. What a deal, eh? You can have the other old HP printer, too. It even prints in duplex. Ink cartridges? I don't know. I got rid of that one when HP made its cartridges obsolete, too.

[man4allcats]

1. My ancient HP Deskjet 940c uses the same #15 and #78 cartridges.

I buy the knockoffs cheap at http://www.HouseOfInks.com . They work just fine. Now that you have a new printer you'll have easy access to cartridges, but whoever takes your old printer might be able to use this info.

P.S.: I love my old Deskjet 940c. It's outlasted four PCs and it's still going strong.

[NutmegYankee]

2. That was the classic Lexmark problem.

A new printer was cheaper than the cartridges. Unlike HP though, the rollers on Lexmarks would get hard and stop feeding the paper, so after a year or two, the printer was junk anyway.

[SheilaT]

3. I've taken to ordering my

ink cartridges from Staples or Best Buy. I'll get a coupon of some kind, and then they do free shipping.

The next printer I buy I'm going to see if I can get one that only uses black ink. I was quite miffed recently when it refused to print anything at all because I was out of color ink. I mostly only print up documents anyway.

[tammywammy]

4. You might try contacting some local charities and see if they're interested in the printer.

The local homeless shelter will take darn near anything.

[dilby]

5. Companies take a loss on the printer because they are making a killing on the ink.

$40 for ink that costs them $1 to produce.

[hunter]

6. A Brother laser printer and Kodak color photo quality printer are still okay with generic refills.

But I despise these games printer manufacturers play. I don't play. I buy my ink and toner in bottles.

In a better world I shouldn't have to figure out how to "cheat" the system or get my hands messy.

Please, sell me a printer that's as indestructible as some of my old dot matrix printers were. I have a few in the garage and I'd bet they still work, noisy and as slow as ever.

Sometimes I think a retail store receipt printer would be nice for some of the stuff I print. Sure, they print on a roll of paper 3" wide but they seem to be free of the "critical need detector" that consumer grade printers suffer.