We touched on this subject a few days ago in a post titled, Change Font to Save on Printer Ink. Not everyone agrees that Century Gothic is the most attractive font, so here is a list of eight other fonts you can use to save some money when you print.

Number one on this list, Century Gothic, is the font that will save you the most on ink use. Fonts then follow in order of how much ink they use.

1. CenturyGothic

2. Times New Roman

3. Calibri

4. Verdana

5. Arial

6. MS Sans Serif

7. Trebuchet MS

8. Tahoma

9. Franklin Gothic Medium

Which of these is  your favorite?

Last week, HP settled a patent dispute with one of the largest manufacturers of off-brand printer cartridges. HP claimed that this company was using chips (on the cartridges) that violating patents held by HP.

Epson and Lexmark have also filed claims, in the past, against makers of off-brand printer cartridges. Why are companies like HP, Epson, and Lexmark doing this?

Taken at face value, they are protecting their intellectual property, the design and technology that they built in to their printer cartridges. And, I cannot disagree with this. They spent the time and money to design a specific printer cartridge, they should reap the benefits of that time and money. Off-brand manufacuturers should not be allowed to “rob” these companies.

But, if you dig a little deeper,  you come across the suggestion that these companies are just trying to protect their profits. Off-brand cartridges are less expensive than the manufacturer brand cartridges. In order to uphold printer cartridge prices, companies like HP, Epson, and Lexmark need to make sure the less expensive cartridges are not an option for consumers.

Next time you read about one of the large manufacturers in a law suit with a off-brand cartridge maker, take a second to review the facts. Is the suit legit, or just a way for the manufacturer to protect its profits.

Are printer manufacturers protecting their intellectual property or are they protecting their profits? Let me know what you think. Thanks!

Has anyone seen the latest Lexmark television commercials? They feature “ink monsters”, two dripping splattering black ink blobs named the Moolah Sucker and the Inkosaurus. The two monsters symbolize, as Lexmark puts it, EVIL INK. What is evil ink . . . High priced printer ink cartridges.

Lexmark created this ad campaign to promote their latest line of inkjet printers, the Vizix series. The entire campaign is built around a $4.99 black ink cartridge.

While I use the term ridiculous in the title of this post, it is not the actual commercials I find ridiculous. I find them very creative. How can you not like an evil blob of black printer ink. Who doesn’t feel that way? What I do find ridiculous is Lexmark’s reinvention of their printer division. Not that a company cannot reinvent itself, but that a company that made a whole lot of money creating evil (expensive) ink is now going 180 degrees and trying to profit from being the anti evil ink. But, are they really anti evil ink, or have they just found a nice way to conceal their true intentions. Let’s take a look.

Lexmark, along with all other printer manufacturers (excluding Kodak) held tight to the model that if they sold inexpensive printers they could sell more expensive printer ink to put inside the printers. They wanted to get their printer in  your hands at a minimal cost and then reap the benefits of you continually purchasing printer cartridges. But, Lexmark forgot one thing. To make a quality printer! At one point I would have to say that Lexmark was the king of low cost, low quality inkjet printers. As consumers learned more about the lack of quality, they quickly began buying printers madeby other manufacturers.

As Lexmark saw their printer sales dropping they decided that they would discontinue all non-profitable printer from their printer line. Big mistake! Now they were the sellers of high priced, low quality inkjet printers. Combine that with expensive printer cartridges and you get a situation where no one wants to buy a Lexmark printer.

Now comes the reinvention. Inspired by Kodak’s high priced printer, low cost printer cartridge model, Lexmark has now released a series of printers that use a $4.99 black ink cartridge. They’ve also come out with their evil ink promotion to help sell these printers. Two things to consider though:

1) What are the quality levels of these printers? I have not had the chance to use one, but if Lexmark hasn’t addressed their quality issues they probably aren’t going to be to successful.

2) Why be the expensive printer company (more on this later)?

When Lexmark joined Kodak in promoting cheap ink it meant that two of the six major inkjet printer manufacturers were trying to change the market. Granted, these two are numbers five and six when it comes to printer sales, but they also have a lot less to lose if consumers take to this model and force the other manufacturers to lower their prices. I can’t disagree with their logic, or maybe I should call it a gamble.

Lyra Research posed an interesting question when it asked if cheap ink will really sell printers. Meaning, will inexpensive printer cartridges really get consumers to buy a printer? I’d have to say no. If cheap ink were the key, the sale of compatible (third party brand) and remanufactured ink cartridges would be much larger than it is. As further evidence, Kodak has yet to meet any of its stated sales goals and sales of Lexmark’s Vizix printers have yet to live up to Lexmark’s expecations.

Okay, now here is where I justify my “ridiculous” comment. If you read the fine print on the commercials, and Lexmark print ads, you will notice that in order to get the non-evil ink cartridge,  you need to buy a printer that costs $200 to $300. Not a bait and switch strategy, but how are you going to feel when these commercials peak your interest in a new Lexmark printer and you head out to the store only to find that you need to sped $200-$300 to take advantage of the savings? It will sure make that $150 HP printer look good! You could buy $150 in HP ink cartridges before you’ve matched the cost of the Lexmark printer.

Finally, it seems short sighted for Lexmark to say they want to make their money on the printer and forgo profits on the repeat purchase of printer cartridges.  Well, at least that is what they want us to think. Let’s face it, they are trying to be the “good” company. The one that solves the expensive ink problem. Problem is, they have now become the expensive printer company (Kodak too). What’s better, being the expensive ink company and having your printer in someone’s home/office, or being the expensive printer company and having  your printer sit on the retailer’s store shelf. I think I’d take my chances with the former.

What are your thoughts on all this. Take a minute and let me know. Thanks!

I came across this contest. Interesting idea to promote some interest in Kodak’s latest line of printers and printer cartridges.

The question posed is:

“What would you do with an extra $100?”

If you have the most original answer, you could win a $250 gift card. Actually you don’t even need to have an original answer. You just need to provide a comment and get chosen at random.

The contest is based on the premise, proposed by Kodak, that Americans overpaid for printer ink last year. From what I derive from the blurb, we each overpaid by $100. In total we all overpaid by $5 billion.

Keeping in mind this is $100 per year, worth saving, but in the grand scheme not all that much, I got  good chuckle when I read the following:

If you had an extra $100, would you take the gang out to a sporting event or spruce up your kitchen? Or maybe you’d splurge on shoes or just pay a few bills.

A sporting event? I live in San Diego, the last time I checked it cost that much for a single ticket to a Chargers game. Take the gang? Not on $100. I could maybe buy a few beverages for the gang. Spruce up the kitchen? Only if a few porcelain roosters, fake plants, and some pot holders count.

Come on Kodak, you’ve got to come up with something better than this. Actually, I should not blame this on Kodak. The contest was found on the Divine Caroline web site. Yes, I am providing a link to the site. Not sure who Caroline is, but if anyone wants to get in on the $100 it will be easier. Kodak is providing the gift card though.

I do have to say that reading the responses was very interesting. Love to hear what the people have to say.

Let me know what you think about all this. Thanks!

Let’s revisit my Cheap Printer Means Expensive Ink post from the other day. I rereading the post I did not feel that I was as succinct as I should have been. Maybe I should spend more time editing, but that’s not really my style. So, here’s my second attempt.

The logic is that the less you pay for a printer, the more you will pay for printer ink (for the over the life of the printer). Printer manufacturers need to make up for the cost of producing that printer, but they need to get it in to your hands to do so. How do they do this? They sell you the printer at a low price and then make their profits on the reoccurring purchase of ink cartridges for the printer.

This opens us to possibility that the more you pay for a printer, at the time of purchase, the less you will pay for ink cartridges (for the life of the printer). With a higher retail price the manufacturer can recuperate more of their development and production cost, thereby needing less money from you in reoccurring printer cartridge purchases.

I think that regardless of how much you pay for a printer . . . . $99 . . . . $199 . . . . $999 . . . The manufacturer is going to reap the benefits of your reoccurring printer cartridges purchases. Why would a business say, “You know what, we covered our costs and made a healthy margin on the purchase of that printer. Let’s discount the printer cartridges.” Not going to happen!

We are talking about Business 101 here, the goal is to make money (like it or not). Making money allows us to innovate new products and to continue to hire employees (a bunch of other stuff too). So, why not use an ageless marketing plan to do that for your business. By that I mean selling a product that depends on a consumable product for continued use. It’s a very successful business model.

Buy  your cheap printers. Buy your expensive printers. You know you are going to have to buy ink for them at some point. Be it sooner, or later, you are still going to have to buy it if you want to continue to use your printer. Yes, it may be expensive (in some cases), but alternatives exist. Find them. Or, don’t buy a printer.

That’s my two cents. Let me know that you think. Thanks!

Here’s a tip to help you save some money on printer ink cartridges.

If you are in the market for a new inkjet or laser printer take a minute to check the printer’s “what’s in the box” information. This is typically somewhere on the box the printer comes in. If the store you are shopping at does not have any boxes on display, ask a representative to bring one out for you. If you are shopping online, this information should be published on the web page that provides all the technical information about the printer. If the online vendor does not publish this, give them a call and ask.

Why do you want to read the “what’s in the box” information? Because you need to see if you are getting full capacity ink or toner cartridges. Printer manufacturers often put low-capacity, or starter cartridges, inside new printers. It’s just enough ink or toner to get you started printing, but you will soon need a new cartridge. This usually does not happen in higher priced printers, but it has been fairly common practice with lower priced printers.

Printer manufacturers are making it a little more difficult to get this cartridge information off the box, but it is still possible. You just might have to do a little more research.

If you’ve got any tips on finding out what capacity of ink, or toner, cartridge comes with a new printer, let me know. Thanks!