Here is yet another article on the inkjet refilling stations going into Walgreens and other stores. This story is interesting because they interview a couple of regular folk who save money by refilling, and because it hits on the fact that people are finally sick of the cost of printers and ink getting so out of whack.

“People were frustrated with the fact that you could spend as much on a set of ink cartridges that you could on a new printer,” said Tiffani Bruce, a spokeswoman for Deerfield, Ill.-based Walgreen Co. “Solutions currently on the market were either messy or difficult to find, or not good quality.”

They also have a quote from Elisabeth Wightman, a research analyst with Lyra Research:

“You can buy an inkjet printer now for $50, and when it comes time to replace the ink, those cartridges cost more than the printer in some cases,” she said.

That’s what we’ve been saying….

Of course there is the usual quote from the printer manufacturers, with Tim Fitzpatrick of Lexmark making another appearance. He points out that if you buy a new cartridge from Lexmark you are getting a new print head, which is important (true) and that you are getting ink developed for your printer (also true). Of course, if you buy a remanufactured cartridge (from Pacific Ink obviously) you get a cartridge that has a new print head on it, so you don’t have to worry.

Anyways, back to the story. Mr. Fitzpatrick is correct in bringing up the issue of different inks for different printers, something these refilling stations cannot offer. People need to be aware that “universal” inks likely are not going to deliver the same results as the ink that originally came in the cartridge. You can’t really bring in your HP color cartridge, get it refilled with the same color ink they use for Canon cartridges and expect the same results. If you aren’t a serious printer or you are just getting black cartridges refilled, you probably won’t notice any difference.

Retailers make mark refilling ink cartridges [Palm Beach Post]