Saw this ad in a catalogue:
Colour laser printer, 22ppm mono and 5ppm colour. 32Mb RAM, 17s to first page, 600x600 dpi, network ready, USB, parallel.
4 new toner cartridges = $954
New printer (including 4 cartridges) = $799
Difference = $155
Hey, I may as well buy 2 printers instead of a printer and a spare set of cartridges. That way, I have a spare printer the cat can use! And when the toner runs out. I will just go and buy a new printer.
With the $155 I save, I can go out and have a great meal with friends (or buy a ton of gourmet cat food). Besides, it makes sense to replace the whole printer anyway as they have plenty of moving parts which will wear out sooner or later.
Are you nodding your head in agreement? If we take the prevalent short-term value-for-money and what’s-in-it-for-me excuses to look at the world, this absolutely makes perfect sense. But what about the real cost of this exercise? What do we pay in the longer term?
Sheer genius from a marketing and sales viewpoint. Get them in on the cheap machine and make money on the refills. Just like inkjet printers, and (for those of you who can remember it) Polaroid and chemical film cameras.
Sheer stupidity when you consider the big picture. Consumers will be trained to throw more away (the printer) in the “need” to save money. The planet will be rooted faster than ever before. Imagine this sort of thinking on a global scale. Does anyone give a damn anymore?
