Green Tech Girl

I just bought my first printer in nine years. Yes, that’s right, nine years. When I say I am anti-consumerism, I really mean that. If something works, I don’t just throw it out to get something new. I have a perfectly good 1994 HP LaserJet that still does the bulk of my printing. In 1999, I bought an Epson color inkjet. That was the last printer I purchased. I wasn’t using it that much, but it, along with an old printer/scanner combo a friend gave me, finally bit the dust.

So I went to Costco and got a new Canon all-in-one printer for around $100 with tax. This thing is amazing. It prints, it scans, it copies, and it faxes. And excuse me for sounding like an old fart here, but back in the day I used to own a printer, a copier, a fax machine and a scanner. Trying to find homes for these items in my then one-bedroom apartment was a challenge. My home copier was actually situated on the top of my fridge. (more…)

I have an old HP LaserJet from something like 1994. The darn thing cost me a whopping $600 when I bought it (tech prices were higher back then, and still this was half of what it cost when first released in 1993). But HP printers were built like tanks back in the day. (Sadly, their quality has declined precipitously in recent years.)

After 14 years of use, and having lugged the thing through something like seven moves and from Los Angeles to Seattle and back, that darn LaserJet 4P still works…with 600 dpi clarity. I’ve gotten my $600 worth and then some.

The LaserJet was an extremely frugal machine, toner-wise. I have bought one cartridge of toner to have it last me for years. Not so for printers these days. If you buy most printers on the market (ink-based machines), you could be purchasing ink once a month if not more, depending on usage.

To get around purchasing these ridiculously expensive cartridges, some owners have taken to refilling them instead of buying new ones. This is not only economical, but environmental. This is good, right?

Well, not to HP. While HP has been crowing about its cartridge recycling program, it has quietly been adding expiration dates to its cartridges, so that customers will not be able to refill them after a certain period of time.

Meanwhile, Staples is no longer allowed to carry remanufactured toner cartridges for HP products, and HP itself refuses to make them, citing quality issues that are frankly bunko. (I actually just got two remanufactured cartridges for my 4P from DataProducts through Costco’s website - a $50 savings per cartridge, as well as the more environmental option.)

In angry response to the ridiculous expiration on ink cartridges, one resourceful user found out that if you pull out the printer battery for a few minutes, it will reset the CMOS memory and you can use your expired cartridges. (Full instructions with photos are here.)

Planned obsolescence might seem to be good business on the surface, but it’s bad business in the long run. While I love my old LaserJet 4P, the high prices of its replacement cartridges, coupled with the shoddy manufacturing of its newer products, is enough to make me look for printers from another brand. Now, upon finding out about their draconian cartridge policies, I’m even less inclined to purchase something from HP ever again.

No amount of recycling can make up for creating too much useless e-waste in the first place. Maybe it’s time you started putting your money where your mouth is, HP.