At work, we all have HP laser printers with non-HP cartridges that work just fine.
Now I know why the ink cartridges from wallymarts crap out three days after installation...
The article does not make the distinction between a COUNTERFEIT (a non-HP/Epson/Lexmark) and a refill or knock-off. The first instance is a violation of law. The second is a decision that many of us make to buy products that are clearly marked as being compatible or refills, but NOT the official product.
My HP LaserJet CP1518ni cost me $199 new, a great price. It would cost me more to buy it a new set of four (CMYK) cartridges. The knock-offs are $20 each, and are good enough for my use. Once in a while you get one that spills and makes a mess inside the printer. It is STILL worth it even accounting for that.
If the printer companies, e.g., HP, don’t play fair, why should we?
When I managed an office, our vendor was selling HP cartridges for an excellent price, so I stocked up. A couple months later I installed one, and it wouldn’t print because it had passed its expiration date. I checked the wrapper and sure enough, there was an expiration date. The cartridge connected with the time/date on the PC, and it simply would not print. Boy, was I ticked off!
Finally, I changed the time and date in the PC before installing, and it worked right away with no problem. I reset the correct time and date it was fine. There are a lot of reasons to hate HP, and that’s mine.
I have been using Brother multi-function machines for years. I always buy non-OEM cartridges off of Ebay for a small fraction of the OEM price and have never had any issues.
I’d rather pay fedex/kinko’s $.07 per page than deal with this garbage.
(Mind you, I use paper as rarely as possible, not to be green, but just because it’s a hassle. That and because why spend $60 on cartridges that will go bad before I finish them vs. $2 at Kinko’s...?)
I am so glad computers have given us a paperless world /s
There wouldn’t be a market for counterfeit printer inks if the companies that manufacture the cartridges would cut their prices.
H.P.’s inkjet cartridges are not cheap and you can go through them very quickly.
It’s time for H.P. And the other printer companies to become proactive and cut their prices.Maybe even supply ink refill kits so there would be less wasted plastic in the form of cartridges.
What’s this “ink” stuff?
Is that related to sealing wax?
“In addition, the ink and toner cartridges are more than just containers—they’re complex (read: expensive) pieces of technology.”
What bunk.. If they were so complex and expensive, the knock offs would not be able to be sold so cheap either.
Reality is, they essentially give you the printer and then rape you for the ink.... charging far more than its weight in precious metals for them.
Black and white laser printers are the only way to go. I’m into my sixth year with an HP 400 class model. I just replaced the toner cartridge for the first time. The first one was good for over 4500 copies. With paper, that was about 2 cents a page. Ink dries out and is way, way overpriced.
Most of the new toner cartridges are rated with both a total number pages printed and an expiration date.
Let’s say the cartridge is rated at 5000 pages and you print 5000 pages, with each page having only a period on it. Your toner cartridge is still full, but it will message you that you are out of toner.
Same thing with the expiration date. Say you install a new toner cartridge print a few pages, then shut it down and the next time you use it is after the expiration date. Once past that date, you get messages to guilt you into replacing the toner cartridge.
I have a Brother laser jet at home and I like it because it will continue to print after sending you the warning message. The warning message is annoying but I keep printing until the print quality degrades and then replace the cartridge. Usually 3 or 4 months after the first warning message.
I utterly, unabashedly, and enthusiastically support the ink counterfeiters.
Printer companies make pikers like big Pharma and Lockheed-Martin blush with embarrassment.
Our office mimeograph is going on the fritz. What should we replace it with?
If you want to be sure you are getting genuine printer ink cartridges buy them on eBay. No....wait....never mind!
Flo-Tec toners work fine
Businesses are starting to use blockchain / distributed ledger technology in the supply chain to stop counterfeiting.
It may not stop the counterfeiting where the consumer is aware he or she is buying fake merchandise, but at least protects consumers from thinking they have legitimate products when they are actually fake.
To bad we haven’t figured out how to do this with Republican politicians.
I want to buy an Alps...to print decals...
Still running an HP LaserJet 4 which is maxed out in RAM (32Mb). For what I need to print, it does the job just fine. If I want to print pictures, its so much easier and economical to go get them printed at the drug store or wallyworld plus they are printed on photo paper (which isn’t that cheap to begin with.)