Freitag, 20. April 2012

Ink prices.


nk prices than I started collecting typewriters, I oougnt new Pelikan riooons for two or tnree typewriters 1'0 got tnat dian't nave a working ribbon. L ended up paying more for tne riooon tnan for tne typewriter, since I bougnt them in tne local papetery. Ihen typewriters still olacked in every orfice, riobons were cneaper, tney coated a fraction of tne price one paid for tne typewriter. This cnanged, but only since tne aemana in typewriters nas become very little. on the otner siue, printers today cost much less tnan a typewriter. Sure, a printer doesn't nave tne same functionality as a typewriter, out 1 tnink tney‘re oasically comparable. A typewriter, let's take tne Hermes 5000 as an example, woula cost over 2000 Fr. today, printers are sole for less tnan 100 lrancs. The thing tnat maxes printer manufacturers a good investment is ink, they sell ink cartriages ror prices tnat maxe ouying a new printer almost cneaper. And some have ridiculous restrictions: Some printers neea rull cartrioges or all colours, if you print clack-ana-wnite, it won't worx witnouth cyan anc magenta ana maybe some special otuer inxs. or if your printer also offers scanner and fax runctionalities, it won't work until you get it new ink. In a proprie- tary ink cartriuge tnat only one manuracturer.nas, of That's now you inc ease sales and maze scrap bigger. I think tne typewriter's system is fairer. mascninengeschrieoen.o1ogspot.com corona Four witn one of tnese oily Pelixan rioans anu Slightly mia- alignea riooon vio- rator - Any tips? This awesome post was brought to you by the mighty Typosphere
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5 Kommentare:

Bill M hat gesagt…

Even if a ribbon costs me $20.00 I can get more out of it than a $20.00 ink cartridge.

20. April 2012 um 01:29
Richard P hat gesagt…

Oh yeah, the ink cartridge and toner cartridge business is exploitative and ridiculous.

20. April 2012 um 03:04
Miguel Chávez hat gesagt…

I'm fortunate in that respect, I think. In Mexico, typewriters are still in the lower part of the depreciation curve, where they are still considered "obsolete, no-longer-functional antiquated office equipment" by most people, and only a few geeks like me think of them as "collectible". That said, it is still posible to get new ribbons in several large office supplies stores for about $5 USD a package with two ribbons. Not exactly cheap, but not as expensive as the typewriters. And being made of cotton, they last for a long time, so it's an investment that can be amortized over an extended period of time.

20. April 2012 um 05:38
Miguel Chávez hat gesagt…

... As for printer inks, there's a not-so-small industry here that sells refurbished cartridges for many brands and models of inkjet and laser printers. You can even buy "Do it yourself" kits to refill your spent cartridges, though that's a risky business because some printers won't accept generic ink. I've seen many a dead printer (HP mainly) that died because its ink condcuts got clogged with generic ink. But like you say, these days it's cheaper to buy a new printer than fixing an older one.

20. April 2012 um 05:42
Rob Bowker hat gesagt…

In the UK at least, printer manufacturers have to recoup any losses on cheap printers in one or two years with original brand cartridges. After that, the market is open to third party replacements which are inevitably cheaper - though not always as reliable! My worst experience, ironically, has been with hp-specific Pelikan replacements. Ink everywhere but on the paper! My solution - don't use a printer. There's hardly any need.

20. April 2012 um 14:37

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