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!