"BAR" wrote in message
...
Tim wrote:
OK, so my printer cartridge dies. the little HP 45.

I went to the local "china-Mart" store and was shocked at how much a
little plastic cartridge with some kind of coal dust can cost.

I don't print much. I don't have much reason to, but dang!

Somebody said in the case of their older Lexmark printer the cartridge
was higher than getting a new printer with cartridges preloaded.

amazing.

Keep your eye on the ads and when you see a $69 printer, buy 10. When the
first one runs out of ink throw the whole thing away and open up the box
with the second printer.

That is sad but true. A lot of plastic goes to the dump. Just did that
with my HP C3140. Great printer, so was it's replacement and nothing at all
wrong with it. But needed a new set of ink and I was looking at $70 for new
ink. So I pulled out the one I got with the last computer for $29.

Looking at the cartridges, my guess is they cost HP about $1 to make. 3000%
markup. But the printer is subsidized knowing people need the cartridges.
Being a low usage user, they last quite a while. I think they also count on
people printing pictures, which eats them fast.

Wish there was a easy cheap way just to refill them without the mess.