The printer ink cartridge market is very price sensitive due to companies rolling out remanufactured or refilled ink cartridges. Companies such as HP, Kodak and Canon have long sold printers for little or no profit with hopes of making up the margin on ink cartridge sales. Recently Hewlett-Packard introduced new lower priced ink cartridges in the $14.99 to $17.99 price range to compete with alternative toners. That is great new to the consumer right? Not so fast, the ink cartridges on the old were 11ml while the new lower priced cartridges are 4.5 ml. Industry executives acknowledge that the per page cost of printing in some cases will in fact go up. Big box retailers such as OfficeMax and Staples who market their own branded alternative ink cartridges might find this strategy shrinks their market market share. This could lead to the Big box stores to retreating which would be a long term victory for HP, Canon and Kodak to name a few. So the most important thing as a consumer is pay attention to what you buy and to consider alternative ink cartridges.
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