Ink for ink jet continue to go up

Ink for inkjet printers is one of the most expensive liquids on the planet, and manufacturers have found a new way to extract excess profits: reducing the volume of cartridges, writes The Guardian. In the illustration: cartridge for HP300 printer sample 2002 (left) and 2010 (right). The size of the ink sponge is reduced, although the size of the cartridge has remained the same.

The Epson T032 color cartridge of sample 2002 has the same physical size as the Epson T089 cartridge of sample 2008, but the first one contains 16 ml of ink and the second one contains 3.5 ml. HP has a similar situation: a decade ago, the best-selling cartridge for the HP300 contained 42 ml of ink and sold for about $ 33, and now a 5-ml cartridge is sold for $ 20. The full cartridge is labeled as HP300XL and is sold for $ 30-38.

All three leading manufacturers of inkjet printers - HP, Epson and Canon - adhere to the same tactics and reduce the volume of cartridges. For example, the recently introduced Canon PGI-525BK cartridge contains 19 ml of ink, compared with 26 ml in a 2005 BCI-3BK cartridge. In addition, Canon also has models of the XL series, that is, cartridges in the same package, but refilled to their full capacity.

Independent experts believe that manufacturers are pushing users to replace cartridges more frequently, and the emergence of XL cartridges is just a marketing ploy for more profit. Experts say that the cost of production of ink is only a few euros per liter, and the cost of assembly of cartridges is about 50 cents apiece. Thus, users are offered to overpay ten times more than the cost price. With this business model, manufacturers can generally distribute printers for free.
')
The worst situation with color printers when the manufacturer makes the combined cartridges for all colors. In this case, the consumption of ink of one color entails replacing the entire cartridge, while the volume of capacity for each of the colors can reach a tiny 2 ml. The way out is the use of cartridges, which provide for the replacement of each of the colors separately.

Getting extra income on consumables is a standard business model for printer manufacturers. They have decided to sell the printer itself at cost or even cheaper than the cost price, and to get the main profit through the sale of cartridges.

A key element in this scheme is the fight against manufacturers of "counterfeit" cartridges and "fake" ink for printers. For example, HP’s marketing department at one time prepared a special presentation entitled “Why are printer inks so expensive?”.



HP chief marketer Tom Brown explained that printer ink is rightly one of the most expensive liquids on the planet. HP spends $ 1 billion a year on R & D ink research. There are studies that prove that HP disposable cartridges supposedly last longer than refillable cartridges. The company believes that accounting for the cost of a milliliter of ink is generally incorrect accounting, and in fact you need to focus on the cost of 1 print made on an inkjet printer. So, the cost of one page printed on Officejet Pro printers has remained at about the same level since 2009, despite the reduction in the size of cartridges, thanks to the use of more advanced technologies.