Printers that force you to change an ink cartridge before it’s empty
Ξ December 1st, 2008 | → 2 Comments | ∇ Pet Peeves |
Several months ago I wrote a post about the exorbitant cost of inkjet printer cartridges, and now I’m here to rant about a related issue: Printers that force you to change a cartridge before it actually runs out of ink.
Cheria has been working on a cookbook featuring the favorite recipes of all the members of her large family, and every few pages her printer simply stops working and tells her that she will have to change one of the ink cartridges before she can resume printing. In the old days, you simply kept printing until the colors began to fade or the printing stopped altogether. But the printer manufacturers have now designed their printers to tell you a cartridge is empty before it actually runs dry. What an ingenious way to separate their customers from even more of their hard-earned money!
A friendly warning that the ink level is running low would be much appreciated, but what really gets my goat is the fact that the printer simply stops working when IT decides that it’s time to replace an ink cartridge! Just imagine driving down the road in your car when all of a sudden the engine stops running and a light comes on telling you you’re out of gas when you know you have at least a gallon or two left…and before you can continue on your journey you have to fill up the tank. You would never be able to use up that last gallon or two of gas!
Memo to printer manufacturers: I appreciate receiving a heads-up that I’m about to run out of ink, but I’m perfectly capable of determining when the ink actually runs out without your assistance. When a photo of green grass waving in a gentle breeze prints out in yellow, I’ll replace the cartridge. Rant over.
on December 2nd, 2008 at 9:49 am
A perfectly legitimate rant. I always can see ink left in the cartridge when I change them. And you are right, they are SO expensive.
on December 14th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
I used to take the cartridge out, reinsert it and continue printing until the ink actually ran out. No more. The printers are too smart for that now!