Giv'm money for nothing or get yer chips for free

Working from an office in the house our printing demands are may be just slightly higher than domestic. A great deal of correspondence now goes out by email, and even if more formal, as a pdf document attachment.
Our current printer is an HP laser 2550 and is probably five years old. It was bought when more communications left the office in envelopes. It was expensive at the time but I was convinced that lower running costs of a laser device would ultimately be better value.

Curiously enough that has turned out to be the case but through no help of Hewlett Packard. Let me explain. By passage of time , not necessarily toner use, chips on the consumables stop the printer from working. There are four toner cartridges each costing £40 and an imaging drum at about £130 (plus VAT). Various lamps would blink to tell you to purchase a new part early because if left it to the next stage the cartridge mounted chip would stop the device from working, despite the most recent print job being perfect and blemish free. And indeed physical examination of the cartridge through its little window gave no suggestion that the component was at the end of its useful life.

About two years ago the printer stopped, protesting that I needed to buy an imaging drum. I bought a reconditioned unit, slightly cheaper than the HP badged one. It arrived faulty and put grey stripes down each page. In the short term I was desperate to get some letters printed so I prised the chip off the faulty drum and stuck it on to my old drum. Hey presto, the printer came back to life and worked perfectly again.

After this experiment borne out of desperation I did a little research, found a chip supplier in the States and bought a full set on ebay for $10.50. The cheap chips obviously work without being programmed by the printer to cut out after so many months. I haven't bought a consumable since. After the event that triggered my research the supplier replaced the faulty imaging drum and it is still sitting in the corner of the office in its foil wrapper. It may also be faulty but I am unlikely ever to use it.

What's better, a one off payment of $10.50 or £300 per year on cartridges that aren't even needing replaced? I can look at a letter and judge whether the toner cartridge needs replaced. I don't need HP to tell me.

These big corporations really need exposed for their outrageous cynical extortion. They take money for nothing.

In other news M and I had a wee walk at Upper Inverroy this morning. (I could hardly do a photo of a little slab of silicon)