Disposable Printers.

Last night I had a gentleman who came in looking for a new printer. He asked me how much the ink cartridges for the printer cost. I looked on the box,  found out which numbers were needed and then went to the shelf to find out. He told me that he had bought one of those printers and had figured out that it was cheaper to buy another printer, rather then to buy the ink cartridges for it.  He had a point on that. It was actually was cheaper to buy that printer than to buy even one of the cartridges. The printer companies today are basically giving you the machine to get you to buy the ink for them, which is where they make their money. I personally wouldn't go that far, but I can see where some people would. It won't work again for him in our store because the printer he bought is not one that we carry on a regular basis, however, it did work last night.

We are living in a very disposable society. It's rare to find products anymore that are meant to last any length of time. We have become so used to things breaking down that we just accept that that's the way it is. It's not going to change anytime soon, it's just a sad commentary on our everyday lives. It is harder to find someone today that takes pride in their craftsmanship. Fortunately there still are a few who do, and it is always nice to run into them. Sometimes all you can afford is the cheapest available, but that doesn't always make the best deal. If you buy something and then six months later have to replace it, how much did you save? I've started using that as a factor when I buy anything. That kind of scares me because it makes me think I'm becoming a responsible adult. (shudder)

During the night my cynical side began kicking in. I thought of a way that the gentleman could be using that to scam us. He could take the printer home, remove the ink cartridges, place the used cartridges back in the box and bring it back for a refund. I'm not saying that he's the type that would do that, but I have seen it done before. When I was working at Kmart I was called to the front to take a gas grill to the back. The first thing that I noticed was that the gas tank was gone. That particular model came with one provided. Then I did what the person who refunded it should have done. I opened up the grill, and saw where the person had used it as a charcoal grill. Sherlock Holmes would've been proud of how I made that deduction, the used charcoal briquettes were still in the grill. What the person had done was come in, bought a new grill, took that home and then brought us back their old grill. Had the person up front been paying attention, it would've been caught. Instead, the guy got him a brand-new grill for free. There are plenty of scam masters out there and you really have to watch out for them. A lot of times is the most unlikely people who will get you.