a glob of nerdishness

Once again, I can replace my whole printer for less than I can replace just the ink. A refurbished Epson R260 costs $59 (US) dollars even, with free shipping. Replacing all 6 regular-capacity ink cartridges rings up at $77.84, plus shipping is on me. That’s simply PSYCHOTIC!!!

Various bloggers and journalists have done the math, and printer ink can cost over $10,000 per gallon! I could choose between various generic brands costing around $25 for the whole set, but in this I’m inclined to believe the Genuine Ink FUD. I use my printer for giclée reproductions of my photographs, not pie charts and budget greeting cards, so I need to be sure what comes out is suitable for long-term framing.

I’ve already ditched my last printer without once refilling it. I was hoping to save some baby whales this time around, but the price difference isn’t helping me out. The ink doesn’t last long, and I don’t want to leave behind a trail of parched printers, but twenty dollars could buy a lot of used books, roasted cashews or guitar strings!

For $10 out of pocket, I could pay Epson to shred and melt down the hefty beast. I’d get $5 back in Epson Store tokens, and it doesn’t look like too much of a hassle beyond the timing of the exchange. But like some sort of carbon credits con, paying to turn a perfectly functional printer into hamster bedding feels like someone’s getting swindled. (Especially since Epson has already taken me to the cleaners once on the deal. Or twice, if you count the fact that this $80 ink only works on one brand of photo paper using the provided profiles…)

Here are some alternatives I’ve come up with:

• Buy some generic ink and donate everything to a non-profit, hoping they can recoup the cost
• Give the old printer to someone who could buy their own generic ink
• Add it to a stack somewhere to make something out of the parts someday

Do you have any other ideas?