Why DIY photo printing doesn't add up

slashdot.org -> news.com -> nytimes.com :

Despite the ceaseless efforts of manufacturers to convince consumers that printing at home is fast, convenient and a whole lot of fun, the evidence shows that many people are tuning out the marketing. It does not take an advanced business degree for those consumers to see how printer manufacturers make their money - they use the "razor blade" business model. It is named from the marketing innovation of King C. Gillette, who in the early years of the last century sold razors for a low price but made all his money on the high-margin disposable razor blades.

Printers return relatively low profit margins. But the ink, ounce for ounce, is four times the cost of Krug Clos du Mesnil Champagne, which sells for around $425 a bottle. Ink is about the same price as Joy perfume, considered to be one of the more pricey fragrances, at $158 for a 2.5-ounce bottle ... when this liquid gold is costing you $65 an ounce

- USD $65, at today's prices, can buy you a barrel of crude oil. A barrel of crude oil can do a heck of a lot more than a few drops of ink. How about after refining, then? At an equivalent of $3.67 per gallon (local price), $65 can buy me 17.7 gallons of gasoline which can propel my 30+ mpg Honda Civic over 530 miles (>850 km).

In addition to ignoring the entire "print-at-home" cachet, rebellious customers like myself are also buying ink refills from companies like Sepoms. With 3 bottles in 1 package and 2 refills per bottle, it still costs less than a single original HP cartridge, so it's better than 6 times cheaper.

And since my "all-in-one" printer came free in a bundled promotion with my cable-modem ISP, you can say I'm not giving that particular printer/ink manufacturer much of a chance to earn my dollars ... :)

Update : According to this conversion table, there are 128 ounces in a U.S. gallon, so that $65 an ounce figure translates to ink cartridge costs of some $8320 a gallon. w007!!!

Natural gas : "a national emergency"

energybulletin.net -> planetark.com :

Shortages may develop for plastic milk and detergent bottles, automobile tires, disposable diaper liners and bread bags because of high natural gas prices and hurricane-hit chemical plants, Andrew Liveris, the head of Dow Chemical Co. said at a hearing on hurricane damage to energy production, processing and transportation.

Most chemical plants in the US Gulf Coast are closed or operating at reduced rates since Hurricane Rita. The US government should help repair damaged natural gas processing plants and declare a "national emergency" to make consumers aware of supply problems triggered by the storms, Liveris said.

Natural gas, a crucial raw material for chemical plants, soared to a record high of $14.75 per million British thermal units in futures trading on Wednesday.

(2005-10-10 14:51:31 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

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