Re: [greenyes] Fwd: A Message From Epson

[Anne Peters <annep@no.address>]

Alan is correct. Actually, most printer companies sell lower-end 
printers at a loss (that's why they're so unbelievably cheap), but make 
it up on the cartridges, where, as mentioned, there is significant 
profit margin.  Likely it is difficult to acheive the same profit margin 
on refilled cartridges versus new, where the economies & efficiency of 
mass production are greater.  Hence Epson's desire to shut off all 
refill avenues for their prniters.   It kind of suggests a boycott of 
Epson printers, doesn't it?

I hope many of the folks on the e_takeback listserve have been 
cross-posted to this discussion, because it sounds like the electronics 
takeback campaign might be a good place to "house" this printer 
cartridge action (not that CTBC needs more to do!). If nothing else, 
there is a need for the good type of public education Wayne Turner 
mentioned in his letter, so consumers can choose printers where 
less-expensive refillable cartridges are more readily available because 
the primary manufacturer has not shut off that avenue of supply.

Anne Peters

Gracestone, Inc.
Boulder, CO
303.494.4934 vox
303.494.4880 fax


Alan Muller wrote:

> Hi Jenny and others:
>
> I don't know too much about this part of the printer business, and I 
> have no time/energy to get into the controversy in a major way.
>
> But I would speculate that for Epson the profits are in the 
> consumables rather than in the printers themselves.  So they probably 
> have an incentive to (1) keep the cartridges from becoming a 
> commodity--that is, available from multiple sources at competitive 
> pricing, and (2) to destroy the cartridges to keep people from having 
> an opportunity to figure out how to refill them.
>
> If they can pretend at the same time to be doing good works, it's just 
> a bonus for them.
>
> You are quite right that their defense of incineration is just the 
> usual bullshit.
>
> Laser printer people (or at least HP) have been taking empty 
> cartridges back for years.  Do we know what gets done with these?  I 
> have noticed that the cores have little value locally, and clones seem 
> as common as rebuilts.
>
> Regards,
>
> Alan