Refilling Your Desktop Printer Ink Cartridges

By Shaun Parker

With huge numbers of households (and most small businesses) now owning and using at least one desktop printer, the cost of new desktop printer ink cartridges remains a cost concern for the majority of printer owners.

In recent years, all the major desktop printer manufacturers (including HP, Lexmark, Epson, Canon and Brother) have introduced smaller, faster machines that have a smaller footprint on your computer desk.  This is a benefit, however one of the things that was sacrificed was the size of the desktop printer ink cartridges.  They have become smaller thus containing a smaller amount of ink.  Naturally, the price stayed the same, effectively driving your printing costs higher.

Just a few years ago, in the 1990's time frame, the desktop printers being produced then would take a black inkjet cartridge containing 40ml or more of ink.  The most common HP45 is a prime example, containing 42ml.

A tri-color cartridge would typically contain 30ml or more such as the HP78A (38ml) one of the more commonly used cartridges. I am showing HP examples have been used here, but other manufacturers also produced and sold desktop printers with bigger cartridges.

At the turn of the 21st century the prices of digital cameras and desktop printers became much lower. The printer manufacturers realized there was a tremendous amount of  profit to be made selling printer consumables to the mass market, then growing at a phenomenal pace.  Such a pace continues today.

Supplying desktop printers at an incredibly attractive price was a short-term expense, but leading to a longer term gain by way of very profitable ongoing cartridge and photo-paper sales.  They could have given the printers away and still made a profit on consumables such as ink and paper.

Having successfully established this way of marketing some years ago, more recently the manufacturers have gradually reduced the amount of ink supplied with the printers from new, and inside the cartridges sold later.

These days a typical cartridge for a new desktop printer will contain less than 10ml of ink many just 5ml. That's 5ml - one teaspoon.  Not very much ink and it tends to run out at the worst possible time.

Many of the cartridges supplied with just 5ml of ink are the same size as earlier models supplied with much more liquid inside. The reduction simply means cartridges need to be replaced more frequently, keeping the profit stream coming.

As the printer manufacturers are all too aware, there is a huge market in non-branded printer cartridges, from which they make no profit.

Another thing the manufacturers did was to introduce model changes more frequently, using different ink formulation.  This tends to discourage other manufacturers from making a competing ink product.

The after-market (compatible or remanufactured) cartridges invariably contain more ink than genuine branded ones, and can cost considerably less to purchase, however, the manufacturers countered by voiding the warranty if competitive ink products are used.

The desktop printer manufacturers argue that the ink quality is not as good and contains impurities that can clog the print heads.  Comparative studies have shown this not to be true.

Many ink cartridges (like most HP and Lexmark, and some Canon models) can be recycled, even though the manufacturer have marked them ' for single use only.

There are many places where one can refill or buy a refilled cartridges such as Office Max, Office Depot, Walgreens, etc.  The empty cartridge is thoroughly cleaned out, refilled with closely-matched inks, and test-printed to ensure quality.

Many of the remanufactured cartridges contain 2 or even 3 three times the amount of ink offered in the same branded cartridge, giving the end user the choice of original branded goods, or perhaps considering a recycled unit for a lower price, that will last a lot longer.

The desktop printer manufacturers have seen their once mighty profit stream slow to a trickle.  The public is not exactly stupid and has taken advantage of the remanufacturing or refill options available to them.
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