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Farhad Manjoo at Slate says your computer printer may be lying to you. He bought a cheap laser printer a couple years ago. When the machine decided it was out of toner, it stopped working. But the last page it had printed looked just fine. Manjoo was puzzled:
I’m a toner miser: For as long as I’ve been using laser printers, it’s been my policy to switch to a new cartridge at the last possible moment, when my printouts get as faint as archival copies of the Declaration of Independence. But my printer’s pages hadn’t been fading at all. Did it really need new toner — or was my printer lying to me?
By using the power of Google, he stumbled upon Fix Your Own Printer, and found a dead simple hack that has allowed him to use the same toner cartridge for another eight months and hundreds of pages.
Manjoo’s article includes tips for circumventing the “smart” sensors in these devices, which attempt to predict how much ink and toner remains. Manjoo notes that tricking your laser printer is fine, but that running an inkjet printer out of ink can actually ruin it.
Here’s a Get Rich Slowly discussion forum thread on how to save on printer ink. My own method is to stock up on ink or toner when I see a sale. I bought several ink cartridges last year when a local store was having a clearance, for example. The big risk there is that I’ll switch printers before I use my stockpile of ink!
This article is about DIY, Hints and Tips, House and Home Sunday, 24th August 2008 (by J.D. Roth)
August 24th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
If you change printer’s, consider selling the cartridges on at a reduced price. Someone’s sure to buy them.
August 24th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
I once saw a study - possibly in Consumer Reports - I can’t remember nor can I find it, that tested the ink levels at which popular printers told you the cartridge was empty. The average cartridge still had 20 - 30% of it ink left. I always use cartridges until the stop printing legibly.
RDS
http://financialvalues.blogspot.com/
August 24th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
I know some people who haven’t owned a printer for a couple years. Unless you’re in a dead tree profession, it’s pretty easy to get along without one.
August 24th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
This has nothing to do with printers but it reminds me of John Stossel’s report on gas tanks and the empty sign. Even after the sign came on, he was able to go 25 more miles! Not as safe as letting the printer toner go, but interesting, no?
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/Story?id=3989000
August 24th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
I have a printer but I almost never use it. I think a cartridge could last me for a very long time.
August 24th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Kodak has a printer that a black & color cartridge will cost you about 22.99$ . It’s pretty cheap.
See following link :
http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=10599&pq-locale=en_US
August 24th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Or if you’re a college student and your professors are older than dead trees.
Or if you want to show things from the internet to old people who can’t see well without a magnifying glass.
Or if your wife wants to be able to print pictures at midnight so she can make a photo album for someone. (I know…it’s not frugal at all to print your own pictures, but sometimes you do not frugal things to satisfy the wife.)
I long for the day when I can do without a printer and be paperless…but that day hasn’t arrived yet for me
August 24th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
I change my cartridge when the page comes out blank.
We have a laser printer at work and I do what is called the “toner shake” when the low toner sign comes on. Easily get hundreds of more pages, if not a thousand.
August 24th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
After an exhausting shift at work, I came home and loaded GRS only to read the words SAVE PRINT MONEY. My very tired brain read the sentence as “Print money to save.”
I guess that’s one way to be frugal.
August 24th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
“By using the power of Google…”
Isn’t it great?!
August 24th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
Faye: The reason cars start yelling “E” 20-25 miles prematurely is because you can damage modern cars if you run them out of gas. At least that’s what the Car Talk brothers say, and they know more about cars than either John Stossel or me.
As for saving money on toner, my secret weapon is an ancient Lexmark 4039 printer (a design they inherited from IBM that predates all the shenanigans). I bought it slightly used in 1996. It’s just now started showing signs of wearing out, 12 years later. It’s still usable but the paper sensor doesn’t work right, so it forgets that it has letter-size paper loaded.
Buying a used business-class printer is a good strategy if you can find one in nice shape. A demo unit of a recently discontinued model would be a good choice. Secondhand but factory sealed toner cartridges are widely available from all the usual sources (eBay, Amazon) often for 1/3 their original retail cost. They turn up on the market after businesses dump their printers but still have leftover toner cartridges.
When I use toner saver mode, I can get more than the advertised 7,000 pages out of a standard cartridge. And since I usually pay about $60 for that cartridge, the paper literally costs more than the toner.
August 24th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
I simply print in draft mode, and two pages on one sheet. I hate wasting paper and toner.
-Tabs
August 24th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
The only problem with stocking up on ink cartridges is, now HP has a chip in theirs that will disable printing if the cartridge is too old. Can’t remember the reference at the moment, might have been one of the InfoWorld newsletters I get.
Laser printers are much cheaper per page anyway.
JB
August 25th, 2008 at 5:13 am
I’ve been refilling my toner cartridges for years. I buy the raw toner in a bottle, cut a hole in the top of the cartridge and pour it in. The bottles are $3-4 each instead of $70 for a new cartridge. You can refill them 2-3 times before other parts wear out and you need to start over with a new cartridge. Saves a ton of money.
At work, I buy remanufactured cartridges for the whole office. Every once in a while you get a bad one and you have to toss it, but it’s still way cheaper than buying brand new ones all the time.
August 25th, 2008 at 6:17 am
I haven’t used mine at home as a printer for two years. I have a Lexmark All-in One, so I still use the scanner. But I print so infrequently that the toner in the cartridge is dried out by the time I want to use the printer again.
August 25th, 2008 at 6:59 am
I can’t believe how many “I don’t print” people there are. Actually, maybe I can. I didn’t print much at all until I started working from home. Now I print moderately often.
For one, I print long posts in order to edit them. I have real trouble editing large blocks of text on the computer, so I like to print them and edit by hand.
I also print each month’s submission to the Writer’s Guild.
I know there’s other stuff I print, but I can’t think of what…
August 25th, 2008 at 9:44 am
Faye and Dave,
The reason your car puts the “E” light on with a few gallons to go is because running your car low on gas damages the fuel pump. A lot of people are trying to fill up less because of gas prices, but this does not save money in the long run.
Running a car low on gas (less than 1/4 of a tank repeatedly), or running it out of gas can cause the fuel pump to fail. Cost of a fuel pump? Anywhere from $85-$500, depending on your type of vehicle and whether or not you do the work yourself.
I think it’s pretty silly of ABC to have printed that article without getting information from a mechanic. There is more than just a “cushion” at stake when you let the tank run low.
August 25th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Sex, especially with someone you love— LOL