Printers are cheap but printing gets expensive. When purchasing a computer system, a printer is usually the least expensive part, but with $10 to $30 printer ink cartridges, printing quickly becomes the most expensive peripheral over time. Fortunately, by avoiding a few simple mistakes, users can reduce the cost of printer ink.



Remember this – printer companies want you to buy more ink. So, the “normal” quality will likely be much nicer than what is necessary. It is important to remember the purpose of a particular print job. While a resume or photo may require the highest quality, a memo or a joke to share can be printed at draft quality without affecting its effectiveness. This will save a lot of printer ink. Also, color printing is more expensive than black and white. For example, the HP Deskjet F380 has one black ink cartridge and one color cartridge. The color cartridge actually has three separate colors. If one of those runs out, the whole color cartridge needs replacement, even if there is still plenty of the other two colors. So, by using black and white unless color is absolutely necessary, printer ink costs can be minimized.



The wrong sort of printer can also make printing very expensive. The cost of printer ink can make a cheap inkjet printer end up costing many times more than a professional laser printer in the long run. From the Hewlett-Packard home page, an HP 02 black ink cartridge prints 660 pages and costs $20, or 33 pages for a dollar. A HP 42X laser toner cartridge costs $249 and prints 20,000 pages. That’s 80 pages for a dollar, less than half the cost per page compared to an inkjet printer. For large volumes, the difference grows quickly.



One of the most effective ways to reduce costs is to not always buy new cartridges. Refilling cartridges can be done at many shops or with home kits. Essentially a printer ink cartridge is am electronic spraying mechanism attached to an ink tank. Once the tank is empty the cartridge is empty. However, the spraying mechanism still works. So, by refilling the ink tank, a user can extend the life of an ink cartridge and reduce cost. Remember that the mechanism will break eventually, reducing quality or simply not printing at all. Some toner cartridges can be refilled as well, with the same benefits and problems. So, for a $20 dollar advertising contract pitch, everything probably should be brand new. But for coupons and emails, draft quality with refilled ink cartridges will save a lot of money. In printing, proper judgment prevents expensive printing mistakes.