Right now, $40 per gallon sounds awful, even if you don't know what it's a gallon of.
Now that gasoline is getting back down toward a reasonable price, I have an even worse case of over-pricing.
I'm talking about computer printer ink. The specific example here is Canon printer ink.
My Canon S9000 printer takes six little ink 'tanks.' These tiny 'tanks' each hold less than 15 cc (one tablespoon, 1/2 fluid ounce) of water-based ink.
The Office Depot bargain price for these spoonfuls of ink is $10 - $12 each. That's right; it takes $60 or more to 'fill up' my everyday printer. That amounts to an ink price of something like $2,500 per gallon--and the ink is mostly water.
I have a friend who has a print-intensive business. He has spent thousands of dollars experimenting, and has learned how to fill his own ink 'tanks' neatly and successfully. Now he buys Canon-quality ink at 'only' $40 per gallon. Forty dollars worth of that water-based ink will fill at least 250 Canon ink 'tanks'--$40 worth of mostly water equals $2,500 worth of ink cartridges.
Those who know tell me that computer printers are so 'inexpensive' because the manufacturers plan to make their profit on ink sales.
And I can believe that they're doing just that.
Did you know that some brands of ink cartridges have a little droplet counter, and when that mindless counter says you've got your money's worth the printer quits and calls for more ink--even if there is still liquid ink visible in the cartridge.
This kinda makes the oil companies look almost considerate and benevolent, doesn't it?
Maybe we ought to buy ink stock rather than oil stock?
Larry Cloud
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Thanks to Larry Cloud for pointing out the true cost of an ink cartridge. Some other prices per gallon that would be just as absurd when compared to a gallon of gas:
1. Bottled water
2. A can of Coke
3. A cup of Starbucks coffee
Douglas Jones
Chattanooga