Here’s some information direct from the folks on our customer service department. They say this is a frequently asked question.

Many of our customers like to purchase a few cartridges at a time. It helps them save on shipping costs, and it allows them to have some cartridges on the shelf  as back up when the one in their printer runs out of ink. Their main question is how they should store these additional cartridges.

First, you should keep them in their original packaging. Do not unbox or unwrap them. The manufacturers package them a certain way because they know the cartridges have to sit on a shelf, either yours or the retailers, for a while. The packaging they use is designed to protect the cartridge while it is on the shelf.

Second, store the cartridge in an upright position. Now, you might ask how you are to know what the upright position is if I just told  you not to open the packaging . . . It’s an easy answer. Cartridges are usually packaged with their print heads facing up. All you have to do is store the (unopened) cartridge box in an upright position.

Third, store the cartridge at room temperature and out of direct sunlight. If the area you are storing  your cartridge gets to warm (direct sunlight will make it to warm) the ink inside your cartridge will start to bubble. When this happens you will find your cartridge leaking when you open the packaging.

Finally, try to avoid shaking your cartridge at any time. This can cause leaking, especially if you have unpackaged the cartridge and removed any of the protective tape from its print head.

Hope this helps. If you’ve got any cartridge storage tips you’d like to share, take a minute and let me know. Or, maybe you have some leaking cartridge stories you could share. Thanks!

There is a theory in the online world that one should go out and contribute to the blogs of others. When you contribute you also leave a link that leads back to your web site or blog. This is an excellent way to develop a following at your blog, but also show that you are a source of knowledge in your area of business. The goal is to contribute something meaningful to both you and the blog you are posting on.

With that said, there is a printer cartridge refilling company that is doing just the opposite. CARTRIDGE WORLD IS SPAMMING ME. Not me specifically, but my blog.

I logged in this morning to find the following comment:

Submitted on 2010/04/23 at 10:03am
Shop Cartridge World…..they are awesome. 100% satisfaction. You never walk away with a coupon. You walk away with a working cartridge. Check them out for your toner reman’s. Great price, great quality.

This is accomplishing exactly what Cartridge World hopes to achieve (get their name on someone else’s blog), but this is the perfect example of blog spam. There is absolutely nothing of value in the comment they have posted. Are they expressing a unique view point? No. Are they writing to educate you about some aspect of the printer cartridge world? No. Again, nothing of value, just Cartridge World spam.

Let’s take a look at what they wrote:

“You never walk away with a coupon” – Well maybe not a coupon, but sometimes with some frustration. Cartridge refilling is not a void of any kind of failure rate. Refilled cartridges do fail. So maybe you don’t get a coupon for a free refill. Maybe you just get  your empty cartridge back and an apology. Frustrating after you’ve made the drive to your local store, waited the 20-30 plus minutes it takes to refill your cartridge, and got your hopes up that you’d be saving some money. To be fair, you may also walk away with a working cartridge and a few more dollars in your pocket.

So Cartridge World, thanks for the spam. I end each post with an invitation for anyone to let me know what they think about the post for that day. This includes anyone at Cartridge World or any of their franchises, but take some time and leave something of value. Something my readers will benefit from. In the end we’ll both benefit too.

Anyone have any comments on Cartridge World’s blog spam tactics? Anyone have any comments on Cartridge World’s refilled cartridges? Take a minute and let me know what you think. Thanks!

I received an comment on the post I wrote the other day about getting rich with Kodak ink. Dan O’Day, who commented on the post suggested that:

But if you spend $100 to $200 more for a printer whose higher cost is recouped after using 3 (or 4 or 5) cartridges, isn’t that a good investment?

This got me thinking more about the potential savings. I decided we should take a look together.

I did some quick online shopping, at the manufacturer web sites, and found  you can purchase the Kodak ESP Office 6150 printer for $299. I think looked at the features and found a comparable HP printer, the HP OfficeJet Pro 6500, for $199. Difference in cost of $100.

For the purpose of this exercise let’s say you decided to save the $100 and go with the HP printer. You’ve saved $100 and can now put that toward purchasing printer ink. Now, let’s say the average printer cartridge costs $25. For the $100 you saved you will be able to purchase 4 printer cartridges before you’ve matched the full price of the Kodak printer.

Dan’s question is a good one, and here is why. He says that Kodak is a good buy if it only took you 3-4 cartridges to recuperate the additional cost. Is it? I have to ask how long will it take you to use the 4 cartridges you purchased when you saved that $100 dollars. On average, printer users buy a new cartridge every 3-4 months. If you are one of these folks it will take you a year to spend the $100. Probably not to bad. But, what if you are one of those folks that uses 1-2 cartridges a year? Now you are talking about 2-4 years to recuperate your $100. Probably not a good deal.

Remember also, that if you spend that $100 extra for the Kodak printer you are going to spend just under $50 on printer cartridges in the same amount of time you would have spent the $100 by buying the HP printer.

Now, I stand back and look at all I have just written and I say . . . Huh?

Okay, as we first mentioned the other day we are not talking about a lot of money here, $50-$100 a year. That’s $4-$9 a month. Not huge savings, but a savings none the less. Is it enough of a savings for Kodak to build an entire marketing campaign around?  You make the call.

My recommendation. Kodak’s proposed theory would work for those that are higher volume printers. Maybe those that use 3-4 cartridges every month or two. If you use any less than that, you should probably take the immediate savings and choose a different brand printer.

If anyone is looking for a good deal, check out Amazon.com. You can purchase the Kodak ESP Office 6150 printer for $185.93 and the HP OfficeJet Pro 6500 Wireless for $150.49.

So, thanks for the comment Dan. You are welcome to come back and leave your thoughts any time. For everyone else, you need to weigh in on this topic. Leave some comments. Thanks!

Today’s inspiration was a Kodak radio commercial. The commercial touted the high cost of using your inkjet printer because of the high cost of printer cartridges. The commercial mentioned a web site (www.printandprosper.com) that customers should go to and find out more about Kodak’s printers. Well, I had to take a look.

Wow, I love marketing! When you get to the web site you start to see a theme that makes you think you can create personal wealth through using Kodak printers and cartridges. You are met with “Spread the Word. Spread the Wealth,” and “What has high price ink cost you?” It reads as though we could solve our economic woes by buying Kodak printer ink. Kodak says that Americans overpaid for their printer ink by $110 last year. One hundred Ten Dollars! I don’t want to discount the value of even one dollar, but that’s $9.16 per month. Eliminate one or two trips to Starbucks a month. Eat one less meal a month at a restaurant. Funny Kodak has decided to build a whole marketing campaign on people throwing away $9.16 a month. I hate to say it, but that is what that amount of money is . . . Throw away money.

I then watched a video about how I can print and prosper with Kodak. Wow! It starts with:

Do you suffer from anxiety? Despair? Anger? You may have an unhealthy dependence on overpriced ink.

What? Now we are talking about printer ink causing psychological disorders. I wrote something about his a few months ago, but I was joking. Can Kodak be serious? I’d have to think so because the video is based on the various steps used to end addictions.

I could go on forever with this, but just take a minute to watch the video yourself. When you do so, please remember the following.

Yes, Kodak offers printer cartridges that are priced less than those made by other manufacturers. But, Kodak offers printers that are priced higher than those made by other manufacturers. You will most likely spend $100-$200 more on a Kodak printer than you would on the equivalent printer made by another manufacturer. Where are the ink savings now? You could have used that $100-$200 in savings to buy yourself 3, 4, even 5 ink cartridges.

So, what did you think of Kodak’s video? Let me know. Thanks!

I’m not sure that I am here to justify inkjet printer refill machines, so we’ll see where this goes and by the end I’ll be able to tell for sure.

Today I am inspired by a story I found about Ink-O-Dem, the biggest manufacturer of the inkjet cartridge refill machines you find in CostCo, Walgreens, OfficeMax and a bunch of other retail stores. Ink-O-Dem sponsored a contest at the Wake Forest University School of Business. Teams of students were challenged with developing strategies for financially justifying, marketing and promoting inkjet refilling services in today’s challenging business climate. Wake Forest does have an Ink-O-Dem refilling machine in it’s on campus book store.

Let me take a stab at this.

Financial Justification:
I’d imagine the finances behind one of these machines are quite compelling. Think about all the complaints made about the cost of manufacturer brand printer cartridges. Now think about the materials that go in to making that cartridge. One could argue they are expensive, but you are getting tangible goods for your purchase. If we look at ink refill machines we see you are paying a lot less (often 50-70% less than for a new cartridge), but you are supplying all the materials (all the materials that make up the cartridge). The machine is only supplying the ink (and possible a cartridge cleaning before refilling). Based on most retail refill costs you are going to pay $9.99 to refill your black cartridge. It is not uncommon for the current line of HP printer cartridges to hold about 20ml of ink. Some quick math shows that you are paying 50 cents per milliliter of ink.

For those that like to throw around the idea that printer ink is more expensive than gasoline, the ink in ink refill machines is more expensive than gas too. A milliliter of gas will cost you about 1.5 cents. As we said above, a milliliter of ink will cost you 50 cents (Assuming my math is correct. I used $2.95 for a gallon of gas. Let me know if I am wrong).

But, for the consumer, $9.99 sounds like a total bargain. What about Wake Forest’s book store? Is it profitable for them to have this machine? You bet! The book store invested a lot of money in the refill machine. These things are expensive, but given the cost structure after purchasing the machine, they should make their money back fairly quickly. Why? Because unless Ink-O-Dem put the book store on some outrageously priced maintenance/service plan, the only real reoccurring cost is for the ink they must purchase to fill the cartridges. My guess is that it is only costing the book store pennies to refill your cartridge. Don’t let this get you upset. Remember, they do have to pay for the expensive refill machine and then earn a profit (this is financial justification, remember).

Marketing/Promoting Inkjet Refill Services:
Probably pretty easy on a college campus. Most college students are concerned with caring for the environment. Additionally, most college students are on a limited budget. Sounds like the perfect place to market a product that is environmentally friendly and money saving. The Ink-O-Dem refilling machines are just that. The core marketing ideas are right there, put whatever spin you want on them.

All this said, can I justify printer refill machines? Yeah, I can. They are a good idea for those using cartridges and for those owning the machines. I’d just prefer that people not think they are getting the deal of a lifetime when they get their cartridges refilled. Comparatively , you might be paying the same amount for the ink you get from a refill machine as you do for the ink in a new cartridge (if you could break out what the ink by itself costs). You also need to be aware of the higher failure rate that goes with refilled ink cartridges. If you are comfortable with these two things, then yes, tell everyone you got a great deal.

The ink that comes out of these machines is expensive too. The overall cost is less than you pay for a new cartridge, but remember, you are getting a new cartridge with that higher price. You pay the refill service just to put ink in a container you already own.

From an environmental perspective, there is no argument. Refilling is better than buying new. Plastics in landfills are hard on the earth. By refilling you reduce the number of plastics that go in the landfills.

What are your thoughts on ink cartridge refill machines? Take a minute and let me know. Thanks!

Our web site, www.pacificink.com, turned 10 years old today. Happy Birthday!

Ten years ago we officially launched Pacific Ink.com and have been on an amazing journey ever since. A big thanks to our very first customer, (R.N. in Knoxsville, TN) who ordered just a few hours after we launched the web site, and to all those that have followed since (as of this post L.J. in Long Beach, CA is the last person we have thanked).

Here’s to many more years to come!

The folks at Google are hard at work creating a cloud printing application that will allow you to print from any of your web connected devices (desktop, laptop, mobile, etc) to any printer, anywhere. The project, named Google Cloud Print, is still in development but would submit and manage print job requests and then route them to the printer of your choice. This is an amazing idea with tremendous possibilities, but there are a few road blocks to be cleared before it becomes reality.

First the application would have to be monitored through a registration or sharing process. Most folks don’t want to open their printers up for any one in the world to use. You’d really only want to share your printer with a select group of people. Not sure how I feel about giving others access to print on my computer. I’ve given them my email address and they send me a lot of junk. Now they can print that same junk to my printer, wasting my paper and ink. No thanks! The application for businesses is potentially more intriguing. It certainly takes the pressure of developing and maintaining networks between companies with multiple offices. The savings would be considerable.

The biggest road block is every model of printer that is still in use today. That’s right every one of them! Each of these has its own driver and is not cloud enabled. Google says they are creating a piece of software that bridge the gap and enable these printers for cloud printing. But at this point there is a catch. The software might only be available if you use Google Chrome. Chrome is Google’s Internet browser. Fans of Firefox and Internet Explorer might have to consider a change if they want cloud printing.

In an effort to expand their reach, Google would like printer manufacturers to build printers that are cloud enabled. These printers would not require a PC connection or drivers. Printer manufacturers are already developing printers that don’t need a PC, but no drivers? Drivers have a lot built in to them. One important feature is the ability to prompt you when your ink cartridges are running low. Is Google essentially asking printer manufacturers to give up their ability to sell printer ink? If so, they are never going to get manufacturers to build cloud enabled printers.

What’s your opinion of Google’s vision. Let me know. Thanks!

I’m writing this for those that like to use the cartridge refill services to refill their empty cartridges. I won’t go in to my opinion of these types of services, but will agree you will save some money . . . if you are willing to put up with the potential hassles.

So, don’t be fooled by your printer manufacturer. Despite their best efforts to convince you otherwise, refilling your printer cartridge cannot void printer’s warranty. In the past, printer manufacturers worked really hard to convince you that refilling your empty cartridge, or using cartridges they did not manufacture, would void your printer warranty. Funny thing is that in all my years doing this (10 next week) I never came across a printer manufacturer that officially went on record with this. Never did HP, Lexmark, Dell, Epson, Canon, or any other come out any advertising that said you would void your printer warranty if you used a cartridge they did not make. Never did a spokesperson step forward and make this proclamation. No where in a printer user manual this statement exist. And yet any printer user has had his worry. Where the heck did it come from?

I don’t know. I can say that I have heard printer techs (still hear it) and retail sales people (the folks in retail stores that sell the printers) say this. Are they the ones to blame? Most printer user manuals have some vague language about things that will void your warranty. Is it a matter of folks reading between the lines? Maybe seeing something that is not there.

Well, let’s just make a declaration right here . . . Refilling your cartridge WILL NOT void your warranty. There’s legislation that says so (Magnuson-Moss Warranty Improvement Act, Sherman & Clayton Antitrust Acts). Put briefly, both say that a printer manufacturer cannot force you to use a particular brand of printer cartridges in their machine. It’s like Sony telling you that if you own a Sony DVD player you will void your DVD’s warranty if you play anything but movies from Sony Pictures. You cannot be penalized because you choose to try an alternative to the manufacturer’s cartridges.

So, refill away. Give alternative brand cartridges a try. Your warranty is safe.

What have you heard about the potential of voiding your printer’s warranty? Better yet, let’s get to the bottom of where the voided warranty rumor started. If you have heard it, who did you hear it from? If you’ve read it, where did you read it? Thanks!

Good question, what is the deal with our web site? Well, it is undergoing some changes (obviously!). Pacific Ink has been showing the same face for about 2-3 years now, it’s about time for a change. As part of the change we are testing some different looks that hold some different navigation patterns. The goal is to make finding the cartridges  you need even easier. I’ll even take suggestions as to what you might think is the best way to help customers find the cartridges they need. Any suggestions?

So, yes, there are changes, and they are good ones. Check back often and see what is happening, then take a moment to let me know what you think about it. Thanks!

Lexmark is providing me with quite a bit of entertainment . . .

This morning I stumbled across an article titled, “SMBs sound off on pesky printing predicaments”. Looking at the headline one would think this article would be full of information from SMB’s (Small Business Owners) about their experiences with printers. You then read the first paragraph, which says:

Lexmark International, Inc. (NYSE: LXK) today announced results from a survey(1), which identified popular printing problems facing small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Known for its proven track record of helping businesses in document-intensive environments save money and increase their productivity, Lexmark offers SMBs prescriptions to help take the pain out of these pesky printing predicaments.

The first sentence really made me believe we were going to get something good. But, I should have focused a little more on the second sentence. Because all I was reading was a written advertisement for Lexmark’s products and services. Bummer! But, if you read between the lines you can get some information as to what gives SMB’s a headaches.

1) Cost of printer cartridges

2) Cost of printer paper

3) Paper jams

4) Wasted printer ink (getting the most amount print possible from a cartridge)

5) Replenishment frequency of printer cartridges (how often SMB’s need to buy new cartridges)

Do these ring true for you?

The survey was conducted by MarketTools on behalf of Lexmark, meaning Lexmark paid for the survey. My guess is that they were looking for some material to create their marketing around. This is a good idea, find out what your customers hassles are and then address them. I got a laugh because Lexmark was so blatant in the manner in which they addressed the issues (read here). Have a problem? This is how a Lexmark printer can solve it. Reading it was quite entertaining.

Since I am not Lexmark, I will try to provide answers to these issues in a very general way.

Cost of printer cartridges
Yes, then can be expensive. Look for remanufactured or compatible cartridges. Get  your cartridges refilled. If you are an “OEM only”, then look for reward programs that will give you money back on your purchases. Also take a look at the multi pack cartridges.

Cost of printer paper
Yes, this can get expensive too. Best bet is to go electronic and start creating .pdf’s. You can spend a fair amount of money purchasing software that will help you do this, or you can locate some free programs online. Microsoft Word/Excel and Open Office both have features that allow to you to save, or print, to an electronic file. Google Docs does too.

Paper Jams
Best bet . . . Quit using paper and just go electronic. That will solve your printer cartridge cost issue too! Paper jams are a pain, but they can be prevented. Check out our post, 11 Ways to Take Care of your Printer, to find out more about preventing paper jams. Finally, if you do end up with a paper jam, check your printer’s user manual for directions on how to clear it.

Wasted Printer Ink
Getting the most amount print possible from a printer cartridge is very important. You printer will warn you when your cartridge is low on ink. It is important to remember that this is  warning. You are not actually out of ink yet, but you should get prepared and have another cartridge ready to go. As cartridge ink levels get low, the thought is that they do not print with the same quality as a full cartridge. If quality is a concern, use the cartridge that is low on ink to print drafts with (stuff that you aren’t to worried about appearance). Save the full cartridge for the stuff that needs to look good.

Replenishment Frequency
Cartridges are a consumable and do need to be replaced. If the frequency with which you need to replace your cartridges is a problem for you, you may want to see if a high yield version of your cartridge is available. Cartridge manufacturers are now making standard and high yield inkjet and toner cartridges. You pay more for the high yield, but you are getting more ink and toner, and should have to replace less often. Your other option is to stock up. Whenever you buy cartridges, buy a few. This way you will always have those extras on hand when the one in your printer runs out. Instead of heading out to the store, just get one out of your drawer. Just make sure you replenish your stock before you use them all. You might also save a little money buying cartridges this way. Many retailers offer multi-packs. There is a slight discount when purchasing 3-4 cartridges rather than just one.

So, what do you have to say. Any complaints you’d like to share? Any tips that will help others? Let me know. Thanks!