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Jul 19, 2007 -- Shake your printer cartridge for maximum value

As you probably know, Clark hates to waste things. He had been using the same pair of headphones in the studio since the '90s. Even though they were old and ratty, he used them until the end of their life. Now he has a new pair, so don't be surprised if he's able to hear you callers a little bit better! Likewise, he holds onto clothes long after they should be thrown away or given to charity. In fact, his wife has to periodically purge their closet and make the old threads "disappear."

Clark read a TechWorld.com report about how manufacturers of the cartridges we all use in our printers give you a notice that your cartridge in empty when nearly 60 percent of the ink is still left. If you throw it out at that point, more than half the ink you pay for goes unused! So when your computer tells you replace to the cartridge, instead just pull it out and shake it. You'll probably get several weeks more use out of it. After all, manufacturers have a clear financial incentive to shortchange you and make you buy more of their product. What you pay to print per page skyrockets if you throw that cartridge out or recycle it too early. Multi-ink cartridges are the worst because they have individual ink banks for up to three or four colors. Any one of them can run out before the others do. Another way to save money on ink cartridges is to get them refilled. Manufacturers hate it when you do this. Studies haven't yet shown decisively if the refilled ink is good quality or not. So just shake it up, baby! Samsung is one of the few companies that makes printers with a toner saver button that can reduce the amount of ink you use per page by 40 percent. Over time, that becomes a great savings.

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What others are saying

  • Ink Rip Offs
    I needed some very important papers faxed and printed.To make a long story short, I was told by Brother that in order to print black and white, i would need to purchase new color ink. I was hopping mad. This is a huge scam. Thank you to Frys electronics. Despite just ripping out my computer with no receipt, nada, they found my credit card info, and gave me full store credit despite being past the return date. Heres a big eff you to Brother and thank you to Frys.
  • Ink
    Brother machines still knbow the cartridge is empty somehow. Any way to get arounf this? I can see the ink is almost full in in it. Very aggravating!
  • Ink Cartridges
    I have purchased a piece of software from inksaver.com . Last time I looked it only worked with xp and not Vista but it is great. Saves tons of ink. Cost was $30 as I recall.
  • ink cartridge refilling
    I've been refilling my own cartridges for several years. I have no doubt that I have saved several hundred dollars. If you have the patience and time, it is well worth it. I buy my ink online from The Printer Ink Warehouse. They send very clear directions. You can find them at http://www.ink-refills-ink.com/. I've also bought toner for my printer and have saved bunches with that too. If you can read and follow directions, you can do it.
  • CHEAP
    Cartridge World, Cartridge World, Cartridge World. I am just a huge fan letting people know that their cartridges always work, never streak, and relatively CHEAP christian louboutin
  • use ecofont to save ink
    Check out this website
    http://www.ecofont.eu/ecofont_en.html
    which describes a very clever font that saves a surprising amount of ink or toner.
  • refilling cartridges
    Thanks for the tip on Officemax refills. I have tried Walgreens and while I have had no problems with the cartridges I have found that they last about half as long as the new cartridges. I'll try rolling them too.
  • Printer Ink Cartridges
    I have been refilling my HP 22 and 23 ink cartridges for about 6 months now, and have had no problems whatsoever. If I don't refill them soon enough, then I do have to buy a new one, but I have filled the black cartridge at least 6 times, and have saved about $84. The refill kit (Walmart, Nukote) is about $14. I called HP originally asking about how to refill the cartridges, and they said, "It can't be done"! Guess again!
    Deane
  • Ink cartridges
    If you are printing many copies, do it in "batches", especially photos. Wait a few minutes between each batch to let ink "settle" in cartridge. Keeps quality up and saves ink. I also buy the XL size to get more product per dollar. Keep a new cart handy and use the old one till its good and dry!!
  • Refill your ink for WAAAAAY LESS!!
    All-ink.com I've been using it for year to buy my ink cartridges because they were so inexpensive (generic ink brands) and worked great. Then I decided to try their re-fill packages. OH MY GOSH! I must have save $200-300 last year alone. The ink in those kits lasted me well over a year and were very easy to do. Try it, you'll like it;-)
  • Refills
    Cartridge World, Cartridge World, Cartridge World. I am just a huge fan letting people know that their cartridges always work, never streak, and relatively CHEAP.
  • Officemax Ink Refill
    There are great refill ink machines in most of the Officemax stores in each state. I have never had a problem with getting my cartridges refilled at my local officemax here in Atlanta!! ALL black ink refills are $10.00 and the color varies from $15.00-22.00 depending on your cartridge. Please visit this website for more information on the locations nearest you as well good information on how to maintain your cartridges. www.phoenix-ink.com
  • saving on ink
    I paid for a downloadable version of InkSaver from inksaver.com. It's a program that intercepts just before the printer starts the print job and reduces the ink usage by a percentage that you choose on a sliding scale. It has significantly reduced my ink usage on both Epson printers I have used since purchasing InkSaver in Oct 2007. I think it's well worth the cost, because sometimes I need little or no savings, for quality prints in my design business, and sometimes I can use a lot. Epson prints fairly high quality images and I learned that refilling the cartridges can compromise the 'high tech' printer heads. I wonder if anyone has more info on the validity of this claim.
    P S. You can get a trial version of InkSaver before purchase. Check it out!
  • Use a CIS for max savings
    CIS stands for continuous inking system. Never deal with carts again. Buy ink in bulk and save hundreds of dollars. I bought mine thru a hong kong source. Absolutely love it! I have been using mine for a year and a half.
  • Refilling ink cartridges
    If you have a Walgreens in your city, you can get a black cartridge refilled for $10 and a color for $15. J
  • Ink Cartridges
    Thanks for being so deligent and helping us.
  • printer ink
    Tip that should be included: use the lowest quality print settings whenever possible. Saves ink.
  • I am surprised
    I am surprised about the comment about the clothes since Clark admitted on air that he donated articles of clothing WITH THE TAGS ON!
  • Printer Ink
    One company I use provides refilled ink cartridges at a low cost, but has more ink than factory units. That company is Lasr-ink (lasrink.com). I use HP predominately and had great luck. Additionally, I find that printers that have the print heads within the printer should be avoided. When you remove and replace a HP cartridge, you replace the print head and you start new without the worries of clogged heads.
  • Shaken Syndrome
    Cartridge companies with service departments freak out when you say you have "shaken" your cartridge. Shaking is not the correct term or action - gently roll it from side to side. Also, many machines have a function to set the empty alert at different levels - check your manual. Black recycled cartridges are wonderful however many machines do not preform well with recycled color cartridges. Just a few things I have learned while working at www.qtods.com!
  • Epson carts
    You MUST reset Epson carts when you refill them or they will continue to act as if empty.Buy a resetter for $30(?) or for more info go to InkSupply.com aka MIS. Refilled carts for c60 for long time.
  • refill
    tryed to get Lexmark refilled, it would not hold the ink. will have to buy new ones.
  • refill
    i tried to get my hp cartridge refilled and it had a leak...had to buy a new one. next time i will shake it up baby!
  • Shaking ink cartridges
    We have a dell 924 all-in one. I have gotten wise to the fact that Dell wants me to waste and buy new ink before it is time. My ink lasted a month before I had to replace it even though it said I needed to replace it. I did not shake it however. Maybe I will try this next time.
  • Shake Ink Cartridges
    I have an Epson Stylus C62. I tried to shake the ink cartridge and replace it but it still said I was out of ink. Does it somehom know that I did not replace a new one.
  • printer ink cartridge shaking!
    I was told by Walgreens and Cartridge World that shaking color cartridges MAY RUPTURE a divider membrane inside and make the cartridge useless! Who do I believe?
  • HP Ink and Cartridges
    When I start a print job, I always click on "Preferences" or "Properties" when the printer pops up on the screen. That's where I can click on "Printing Shortcuts". 99% of time, I choose "Fast/Economical Printing" from the drop down list. My info prints FAST!
  • HP Printer Carts
    I have an HP printer with a separate black cart and I set the printer to gray scale/draft for all but special prints ie photo.When my printer informs me I'm low on ink, I ignore it until the printed pages first begin to look faded or cut in half(about a month or so later). Then I have it refilled.
  • Fooling HP ;)
    I purchase affordable, new but outdated ink cartridges thru online sources. In order to get these to work with your HP printer you've got to set the date on your printer to 00/00/0000. IT WORKS! Not sure if this works for other manufacturers. Good luck!
  • Prolong life of printer cartridges
    Shaking the cartridges does prolong their life dramatically.
  • I agree!
    I always make sure to print on greyscale and on draft. This makes sure that the printing is only coming from my black ink cartridge, which is cheaper to replace/refill when it does finally run out. When you normally print black but don't select greyscale, it pulls some of the "black" from the color cartridge. Then, when that color is gone from the color cartridge, the color cartridge will no longer work correctly, even though all the other colors may still be fine. The color cartridge is also more expensive to replace and I don't think you can refill them.
  • Printer Ink
    I have found that if you go into your printer options, there is usually a selection for normal, draft, light, heavy ink...select the draft mode! This is plenty dark enough for most normal printing and saves you ink
  • printer ink
    print in grayscape only. why do you need color?
  • refill cartridges
    wallgreens refills black ink cartidges for $10.00 and color for $15.00 and if you check there sales papers they often offer free refills have been using them for about a year now and no problens.
  • I Know of a great place to get refill cartridges.
    There is a refill store called cartridge world that refills cartridges including laser cartridges. They are great and im not saying this just because I work there. Im saying it because it helps the pocketbook and the enviroment. If your not 100% happy then you get your money back.
    Don't take my word for it! look up your local cartridge world and call to see what they offer.
    There are many Metro Atlanta locations.
  • INK
    A printing preference you can choose on your computer is to print in gray scale, so it does not print it as dark as it normally would. This is perfectly adequate for all printing, by the way.
  • INK
    HP has recently done two things, one good, one bad. The Good: First, HP now offers XL carts in 74/75 series and the 88 series. These xl's cost 2x as much but offer 3x to 4x more ink. More Good: All printers HP sells now come with full carts whereas other brands come only with starter carts. The Bad: Hp has microchips in the carts that disable the carts after they have been empty. This makes it so people cannot refill the carts. Staples has stopped refilling Hp carts because they dont work alot of the time. Lexmark has a dirty secret also. When you insert a lexmark cart into the printer, it breaks a seal not present in any other brand of printer. This seal makes lexmark ink dry out in a few months. Lexmark makes their money like this. walk into a retail store, look for a lexmark on display. Lexmarks are in stacks to give away free with computers.
  • ink cartridge
    Buy only printers with seperate black cartridge. Print everything you can with only black and use a refill kit for the black - first weight a full one then when low, refill it to the same weight. Never let the cartridge run out, because it will dry up.
  • Shake the ink cartridge
    I bought a hp multipass from goodwill. machine works ok, but cartridges has dates embedded and will stop working if cartridge is not used up before date embedded. do not like this.
  • shake the ink cartridge
    Not sure if Clark is the moron or me -- (got a feeling it's me), but be sure to put your finger over the ink opening before you shake. Yeah -- you can imagine what happened. LOL!
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