08.23.07 My New Printer

Have you noticed how ALL companies and businesses claim to have the best interests of their cherished customers above all others?

They ALL have sales designed to save us money. ALWAYS! Even undertakers have special deals. Unlike the travel agency, which offers a "Fly Now - Pay Later" vacation, the undertaker offers a "Pay Now - Go Later" package. They say it will put your mind to rest before the rest of your body is laid to rest.

But today, it's the manufacturers of printers that I would like to address. Since they aren't listening, I am posting it for the rest of the world to read.

Until yesterday, I had a laser printer for black & white work and an ink jet printer for color jobs. They served me well for almost 5 years except that I had to pay for them over and over again. Factory toner cartridges cost nearly as much as the printers.

No matter what their advertisements claim about customer satisfaction, manufacturers of printers primarily want our money. The stockholders and Board of Directors insist that the company get as much of it as possible. CEOs are paid salaries directly related to the success or lack of success in attaining this goal.

The biggest hurdle printer manufacturers have to overcome, is the fact that buyers of printers want to save money. So, manufacturers offer printers at bargain prices, which use expensive ink. Everyone is happy for the life of the first ink cartridge. After that, they win and we lose.

If I had a choice, I would choose a good printer for a reasonable price that uses reasonably-priced ink cartridges. But manufacturers don't get rich that way and there are not enough people like me to create a market. Most people prefer to live under the delusion that they are getting a bargain even if it costs them more.

I did what most people in my position have done and bought generic printer cartridges online. I discovered that companies which sell cheap generic inks are also obsessed with getting my money. If their ink clogs my printer nozzles or dries up in the cartridge two years before the expiration date, they will exchange the cartridges for others of equal value and sell the ones you sent back to the next customer (like Wal-Mart did with the defective fluorescent tubes I returned).

After five years of trying different inks with similar results, both the laser and inkjet printer got their fill of that diet and went on strike. This happened in perfect synchronization, so I know it was a printer conspiracy. I decided that if they are going to die together anyway, I might just as well get one printer that does both black & white and color. I headed for BestBuy because they had a special sale on the HP Color Laser Jet 2600n printer and I have a BestBuy Reward Zone card. As I said above, I had no choice.

Unfortunately, this was not the end of my printer miseries.

When I unpacked the printer, I noticed that the usual yellow tape that holds things in place for transport was missing. I carefully checked the box again and saw that there were two layers of cellophane tape on the bottom of the box. That is not a good sign! When I set up the printer and tried a test sheet, a message appeared telling me that I needed to replace the cyan cartridge. The manual said that I could "override" this setting, so I tried it and printed a "Supplies Report." The report stated that magenta was also nearly gone. The following day I packed the printer in its box and returned to the store.

The lady at the service counter first tried to tell me that this was normal. They often print test sheets to make certain that a printer functions properly. I showed her the report that told how many copies had been printed and that two colors good for 2,000 copies were exhausted. I suggested that one of her colleagues probably has an HP 2600n Color Laser Jet Printer that needed ink. She condescended to let me exchange the printer. This time I got a new one and it works fine. I will be happy until one of the cartridges is empty and I have to pay $85 for a replacement. There are four cartridges, so that would be about $350 for the set!

I paid only $299 for the printer with all the cartridges. Go figure!