Seattle Print Shop Proves That It Loses Hundreds Of Dollars On ‘Empty’ Ink Cartridges

If there’s one thing that chaps my hide, it’s the murder printer companies get away with. That murder involving our wallets, of course. Despite the fact that ink is treated as though it were liquid gold, printers seem to be designed in such a way that you’ll never be able to make use of all of what you have. A little left over is understandable – printer heads can dry out. But when you can shake the cartridge and see the ink swooshing around? That leaves a bad taste. Don’t even get me started on how color printers refuse a black and white print job just because magenta is depleted!

Thanks to the efforts of a Seattle-based print shop, we learn that it isn’t just regular consumers who are getting screwed over by their printer company. In this company’s case, it actually found that it’s losing hundreds of dollars on each one of its ink cartridges – cartridges that cost $5,000 for a set.

The company, Bellevue Fine Art, became annoyed when it seemed like its multiple Epson 9900 printers would begin refusing to print when there was 15~20% of ink left in their cartridges. This wasn’t just some illusion, either; the company tore open a bunch of its cartridges and poured out the excess ink. On average, it found that the cartridges were left 15~20% full. Another way to look at it: the company was literally throwing away hundreds of dollars’ worth of ink with each “depleted” cartridge.

Wanting to be thorough, the company decided to see if Epson filled these cartridges with more ink than advertised to make up for this loss. If these 700ml cartridges packed 900ml of liquid, then this issue could be a little more understandable. But, after pouring out a brand-new cartridge, it was found that they do in fact pack only 700ml of ink.

Before the company went public with this information, it tried to work with Epson to figure out what was causing the issue. It’s not just with one printer, after all – all four of this company’s Epson 9900 printers exhibit the exact same behavior. Epson’s best help was telling the company that it was measuring things incorrectly.

So, next time you feel like your wallet is being punished because your printer needs ink, know that you’re certainly not alone.