Ink Costs are High!

Did you know that the costs of ink and owning a printer are similar to the costs of owning a car?

When you buy your first printer, you don’t stop to realise it will be like owning a car. But the two are quite similar purchases.

Gasoline vs. Printer Ink

When your gasoline meter is reading empty, you stop and think, "Well, should I save my money by":

Walking?
Using public transportation?
Going to the cheapest gasoline station?
Buying a more fuel efficient, hybrid or diesel fuelled car?

But what’s the point? Unless you plan on selling your car, you should be asking yourself: how much does gasoline cost today? Next choices are to fill up at either the nearest gasoline station or the cheapest petrol station, which may save you approximately $0.02- $0.04 per litre or per gallon.

The same applies for ink cartridges. When your printer reads low ink, you go to the store and are faced with a few options:

How much does the compatible brand ink cost?
Which is the cheapest brand of ink, compatible with my printer?
How much does a new printer, including ink cost?
If I refill, will the savings be worth the printing quality?

In both situations you have the option to replace your car or printer. When switching cars, like printers, you would still have to consider the long-term cost of fuel or ink for the new machine. When it comes down to it, the majority of decisions for your car or printer will be based around: how much gasoline will cost? Or, how much ink will cost? No matter what choice is made you’re always getting the “short end of the stick.”

Gasoline Costs

Generally you are aware of why gasoline prices are so high. It’s sold by the barrel to the highest bidder, and as demand is high the barrel is more expensive. When it’s refined to be compatible with our vehicles, the refinery and distributors (usually connected) add on a fee which covers their costs and enables them to profit. Finally, our governments tax the fuel.

Ink Costs

So now you’re asking yourself, “But why does ink cost me so much money?” Manufacturers, like HP, claim that ink costs are high because they invest up to a billion dollars into research and development. They advocate this as value for your money spent.

Ink Costs vs. Gasoline Costs

When your printer tells you that it’s time you replace your ink cartridge. You take out the cartridge, and usually, you will see a few millilitres of unusable ink still inside. How is that value for the money you spent?

When your gasoline tank reads empty, your car will still use the few litres/gallons of gasoline inside. If up to billions of dollars are being spent on research and development on ink technology, then why haven’t the manufacturers created a cartridge that will actually use all the ink inside?

Printer companies such as HP are spending up to a billion dollars in research and development, which you, the consumer, are paying for by buying their products. Yet, they don’t feel the need to disclose how many millilitres are in each cartridge. Claiming that it may mislead you, or confuse you. At least with our vehicles we can calculate the cost per litre or gallon. However, ink cost per millilitre remains unclear.

Owning a car and a printer are quite similar. You may have more information as to why you are spending so much on the cost of gasoline than you do the on the cost of ink. However, both these items are crude oil products, which always result in high costs for you, the consumer. You may be able to justify gasoline costs, but what about ink costs?

Since we have very little control over the costs of ink, consumers can take control of their own printing expenses by using ink saver software solutions such as PretonSaver™.

Compare Preton to other ink save options such as InkSaver, Ecofont and Ecoprint.