Staples to Stop Selling Compatible Cartridges
Shocking news!!! Well, it’s shocking for us…probably not so much for everyone else. Last month, Staples removed compatible cartridges for Epsons and HPs from their catalog. Supposedly they will remove all the product from their stores in the next few months.
Staples never pushed their brand of cartridges too hard, but their cartridges were pretty common. You could usually find a big supply of them in their stores, although the majority of the ink they carried was for the more popular models. A lot of times their compatible/remanufactured cartridges weren’t much cheaper than the OEMs, so there was always a feeling that maybe they weren’t trying as hard as they could. They were in a strange position, since they were one of the biggest distributors in the country for HP and Epson brand ink, yet at the same time they were also trying to sell Staples ink. The Lyra Research press release that dishes the dirt on this stories mentions that HP “cut a deal” with Staples last year to stop selling a competing product. The press release also mentions that the decision to stop selling Epson compatibles may have been due to recent lawsuits by Epson, including one that shut down a company that supplied Staples.
While we won’t be sad to see a competitor of Staples’ size gone, it is a bit sad from the conservation side of things. Having Staples behind a recycled and remanufactured product was good because it meant that a heavyweight was backing the product. It meant you could go into any one of hundreds of stores and buy a product that was helping the environment. Oh well….
Lyra Webcast Probes Staples’ Retreat from Epson- and HP-Compatible Ink Jet and Toner Cartridges [Press Release]
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January 16th, 2007 at 7:02 am
“Staples to stop selling non-oem ink cartridges”. Why should that come as a surprise to anyone?
Several years age – (cir. BJC-5100 canon, ‘Yes’ - that old) - A trusted “ink” vendor of mine talked me into changing from HP to Canon printers.
In no time at all - and lots of calls - I was told that my barely 14 month old BJC-5100 has a ‘bad print head’.
An aside point worth mention:::
No One YET has satisfactorily explained to me, or anywhere else, just what; a “Bad” print head mean? To be sure - ink, or any particular color of ink not being properly applied through a print head is certainly “bad” mojo.
But, does that mean the Print head is “bad”= as in ‘terminal’ - or does it mean bad = as in ‘unruly’?
Since that time I’ve moved on through a Canon Pixma i6000d and a Canon S-9000 and the one thing they “all” have in common are, “BAD PRINT HEADS”! -(whatever BAD means).
The (National) ink cartridge supply companies I have used (with ‘few’ exceptions) – has been a couple in California and one in Florida. We have developed a first name re’ pore with these firms. They have ‘assured’ me, everyone, that their inks are every bit as fine a quality as Canons original oem inks – absolutely - no problem - period! Yet I can’t help but think: Just what else might I expect them to tell me?!?
A Canon National service center, in Naples Florida, with whom I have ‘also’ developed a trusted relationship, is a flagship operation. [This is a ‘Charles Dickens’ kind of company. No jazz, no flash, most of their service techs have been with them for many years] – they’re just damned good.
When my big S-9000 stopped putting out ‘black’ ink – just shortly after my wife’s i6000 photo printer dropped (2) colors. I had to call on Business Machines Inc. Naples. I do a good bit of CADwork and black is a major color. I have to order replacement ink cartridges in (at least) ‘dozen’ quantities.
Now, any of you who use Canon printers, with those skinny little ¼ oz. ink cartridges will quickly grasp the pain – at the idea of having to buy a dozen “Canon” branded ink cartridges at $13.00 a pop at least twice a month! I would love to use the Canon ink cartridges – if I could justify the cost.
When I spoke to my Canon service tech in Naples about my S-9000 his first question was: What kind of ink cartridges are you using? After some discussion he concluded with the following:
Mr. Harris, The only advice I can offer is that; I’ve been in this (service) business over ten years, working on Canon printing products myself. In that ten years I can tell you that at least 60% of the bubble jet ink printer ‘head failures’ that I have encountered have been directly associated with non-oem Canon ink’s being used!
We regularly service ‘business’ printers ten or more years old, and they are still working fine using their original print heads - with (branded) Canon ink cartridges. That is all I can offer you.
While the consumer public waits for the truth to come out – the wait is getting really expensive (by way of either “$New Heads$” - or $OEM$ “ink cartridges”.
It is just impractical to imagine “a printer owner” girding-up to conduct a comprehensive control test of printer “heads” and “inks” to settle once and for all where the fault lies: in the Printer Heads, or with (some or all?) second-market ink formulations.
If the devil “is” in the/some ink products, then Computer products reporting and News consorsuim’s owe it to the ‘good’ safe products to expose the ‘bad’ destructive product venders. And the same balance in the rule should apply if it is revealed that weak, fragile print heads in some printers are the source of these costly premature failures.
Robert G. Harris