On 2016-08-21 3:37 PM, S Viemeister wrote:
> On 8/21/2016 3:24 PM, Bruce wrote:
>
>> LOL. My toner dries out before I get to use it up. So I print for free,
>> in a way. Use it or lose it.
>>
> That's why, when our old inkjet printer died, we switched to a laser
> printer.

I was paying a lot for ink cartridges when I had a colour ink jet
printer. I was replacing cartridges at least once a month. I got fed up
and bought a laser printer because I had learned that the cost per page
was so much cheaper.

The printer was about twice the cost of the ink jet model but I figured
I would use it enough to save money on the long run, plus having faster
and higher quality printing. Thanks to my experience with replacing
ink cartridges I went out at the end of the first month and got a new
toner cartridge to have on hand. Holy crap. Ink was costing me about
$30 per month, but the toner cartridge was IIRC $113.95. I was not
thrilled ..... at first. I had that printer for more than three years
before I finally had to replace the cartridge.

I had that printer for about two more years before it started having
loading problems. I took it into a shop for repair. The techie told be
it would be about $150 for parts plus labour. He showed me a printer
they had on sale for $230. He showed me that my toner cartridge was
almost empty. It didn't make sense to repair the old printer when I
could get a newer, better and faster printer... with a full cartridge.

That was the first summer I had retired, 12 years ago. It was just a few
months ago that I replaced the cartridge for the second time, so I am
getting 5-6 years out of a cartridge. If I get four years out of a $110
cartridge it sounds like a pretty good deal compared to spending close
to $350 per year for 4 years.... $1,400 for ink vs $110 for laser.