Ever since the dawn of printing at home, consumers have been fighting a battle between themselves and printer manufacturers. Using the razor blade approach, most manufacturers today sell inexpensive printers with high-cost cartridge replacements. Consumers, in response, have resorted to tactics, such as using third-party cartridges (therefore voiding all warranties) or have turned to opportunistic companies that have popped up to refill genuine cartridges. Either way, there is a bit of a battle going on here but that might be about to change.
As I usually do, I'd like to take a look back first. I remember the first printer I owned - a Commodore 1525 printer which, at the time, I thought was a 9-pin printer (turns out it was only seven pins). This was an impact printer (like a typewriter) that used ribbons full of ink to leave an impression on the page. Of course, the ribbons were expensive (I was a teenager at the time) and so I tried a technique of using WD-40 on the ribbons to get more "juice" out of them. It worked but I'd have ink on my hands for days.
When inkjet printers first came on the scene I remember trying both third party cartridges (with varying degrees of success) and also refilling them. In the end, for me, I found that buying genuine cartridges always worked best and although it was a little more expensive it seemed to be less aggravating to me overall. My overall solution was just a little different than most.
At home, I mostly print stuff in black and white. For this reason, I own a laser printer and use toner over ink for most of my printing needs. Of course, everyone is different and I do have a colour printer for those times when I need it. I also outsource some of my higher quality needs because some of the home printing not up to what I need (it mostly has to do with the quality of paper over the quality of print to be honest). I buy a $100 toner that lasts me three to four years (yes, I said years). Sometimes, I don't use the colour ink often enough and it dries out. Then I have to buy more cartridges and get frustrated by the whole process.
I was pleasantly surprised to hear that Epson is doing something a little different in the home market with their "EcoTank" solution that lets you fill tank reservoirs with actually ink instead of cartridges, reducing the per sheet cost to something a lot more reasonable. The downside? The printers themselves tend to be more expensive, or closer to their true cost of production.
EcoTank printers start at around $400, but claim to include around two years of ink. (Of course, that depends on how much you print.) Certainly for a small business owner or heavy printing user these are a much better deal. Pay more up front, and pay less for printing overall. The EcoTank solution also appears to be better for the environment as well, as the practice of buying a $50 printer and using up the trial ink and then starting all over again seems to be something many consumers do (dumping the entire printer in the garbage or at the recycler in the process).
Some have called this a "major innovation" and although I am not sure it's that, it does make you think about the process of what we are doing and how we are doing it. It will take consumers to make the change from pay later to pay up front when it comes to home printing. It also makes me think what is next. $100 razors that are self-sharpening and never need to be replaced? That's an idea worth embracing I think. Consumer habits are hard to change, however, and it seems like once we got to this place it's hard to change. I'm just grateful I no longer have ink of my hands, but even that may be changing.
Syd Bolton is the curator of the Personal Computer Museum and the manager of Information Technology at ACIC/Methapharm. You can reach him via e-mail at sbolton@bfree.on.ca or on Twitter @sydbolton.
