Seeing Red Ink
An article in yesterday's Wall Street Journal (page D1) shines a spotlight (again) on the perverse economics of the desktop computer printer business. HP and Kodak have both dropped the prices on their most popular ink cartridges, but WSJ points out that there is less ink in the cheaper cartridges, in some cases so much less ink that the per-page cost when using the "cheaper" cartridges is higher than the per-page cost using the more expensive cartridges.
"So what?" you might say. Buying smaller quantities in a single package almost always costs more, per unit, than buying more in a larger package. Unfortunately, the "package" here is the same physical size, and how much ink is in a cartridge is generally difficult for the consumer to discern.
Inkjet printers are peculiar economically. They are sold at below manufacturer cost, with the expectation that the manufacturer will make money only on sale of the ink. The ink, furthermore, is pretty damned expensive for what it is. I had a color inkjet printer and simply stopped using it after I found that local shops would print my Christmas letters in color cheaper than I could print them myself.
A thriving third-party market in new and refilled cartridges forced the change. HP, Kodak, and Canon are hoping that consumers will see one of their almost-empty $15 cartridges beside a competitor's $20 cartridge and think it's a better deal. Comparison shopping is easier when standard quantity labeling is there, which it isn't-and putting just a squirt of ink in the same physical package that can contain five times more is a needless waste of the cartridge materials themselves.
We need to start thinking about print costs in per-page terms, including both printer and ink. Laser printers are much better in this respect, especially if you get them used. (Deals like this are uncommon but they're out there-and the 2100 is in my view the best printer HP has ever made.) I've used the same LaserJet printers (a pair of 2100Ms) for eight or nine years now, and even using HP's own cartridges, my per-page cost is way cheaper than most of the inkjets I've priced out. Color is much less useful than I thought it would be, especially now that you can get cheap digital camera prints from Walgreens or Wal-Mart.
The best way to win the ink wars game is clearly not to play.