Hi. I wrote a book that has nothing to do with this video. It's on sale now. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qa-Zo9Kmzbewe2w.html

I got a low ink warning once; I was able to print 70 more pages.

HPs business model: create a problem sell the solution

Recently Canon has started selling cartilages without the chips due to chip shortages and now they are telling their customers how to bypass the printers built in ink recognition systems

I just can't comprehend how such a wasteful environment-molesting industry has flown under the radar for so many years. You simply breathe in the direction of a color inkjet printer and it throws a message to replace the ink cartridges. Moving to laser printers with toner solves a lot of the breakdown headaches, but the toner cartridges are still supremely expensive and wasteful when discarded. I'm not a tree-hugger by any stretch but the printer industry really doesn't give a shit about the planet at all.

so this is why public schools are always stripped for cash

Apple: those suckers buy a new phone every year Printers: hold my ink cartridges

That moment when 3D printers are easier to setup and use than a normal printer.

I've been working in an electronics repair shop for the last 8 years. Over this amount of time, inkjet printers have become the worst thing I've ever had to work on. Pretty quickly into my repair career I made the choice to stop working on them all together. Every single one of them is a complete nightmare to disassemble. And even if you are able to find the fault, chances are the only way to get a replacement part is to pull it from _another_ identical printer. Laser printers on the other hand? Absolute dreams. Some of them are more difficult to take apart than others, and there is something to be said about the whole DRM on toner cartridges thing...but the nice thing about laser printers is they are _designed_ to be repaired. At least in my experience. Getting black lines while printing? There is probably some paper stuck to the fuser, or the fuser is dirty and needs to be cleaned. Paper getting stuck? It's probably the duplexer or the fuser. Not printing at all, just sending paper through? You guessed it, it's probably the fuser! You know what's nice about most problems being the fuser? _THEY CAN EASILY BE REPLACED._ In every laser printer I've serviced, the fuser is contained in one easily removable module that can typically be purchased for anywhere from $30 to $100. Depends entirely on the model...but considering most fancy laser printers are anywhere from a few hundred to upwards of $1k, that's a price well worth paying to get it working again. The other nice thing about laser printers? They have less issues overall. If you don't use an inkjet printer for 6 months, there is a very high chance it will just suck at printing when you end up using it. The ink gets all nasty, the print head gets all dirty, and you'll probably just have to buy a new printer. I have seen this happen so often that I'm convinced it is by design. Laser printers don't do this. That toner can sit in the cartridge for a year, you can never use the thing that whole time. And then when you go to use it, it just frickin prints. _AT WORST_ you might have to take the cartridge out and shake it a bit. But that's it. I think what surprises me the most about inkjet printers is, the technology behind how they work is actually incredible. Considering how precise all of it has to be, I'm amazed that they even work to begin with. They really are fascinating pieces of technology. But they all SUCK because of greed. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

Printer with ink:$50 Printer ink:$69.99 I'll just buy a printer every time I actually run out of ink

here in Brasil there is a whole underground market for modding printers with refillable cartidges and selling ink in bulk

For years I've wondered why my Epson printer would run out of cyan or magenta when I print 99.9% black. Now I know. Thanks Austin. Oh, and I no longer have a printer and don't print anything anymore, except for my yearly auto registration, which I have printed at on office supply store for $2.

One thing you missed is that if you try to save your ink and use it sparingly it either dries out or the printer automatically and routinely uses some ink to run a jet cleaning cycle.

"Ink Cartridges Are a Scam" "Unnamed computer company's laptop division." HP

*Description:* "Join me in starting the revolution" *3 years later:* Ain't nobody done shit

Me and my brother managed to convince my mom that a $300 ink tank printer will worth more than a $50 cartridge printer and its $50 cartridge. In a month, we used up enough ink that would've cost $500 in cartridges, with only $10 in bulk ink.

I was about to buy more ink for my printer, I thought this video was gonna tell me a nifty trick to fix my old low ink cartridges... surprised that it didn't but ngl seeing the printer being bashed by a sledgehammer was 1000% worth it

They never saw that coming: a clerk from the call center eventually becoming a famous youtuber to expose their business strategy and start a revolution.

The worst shit I've seen is with the Canon Pixma MG3510: "Unknown error. You cannot scan documents." "Wait wait wait. What? But why?" "No ink".

As a toner cartridge seller, I agree it's a big scam.

I just wanted to say this was the first video I found on your channel a while back and I've been a fan ever since. So I always knew printers and ink prices were a huge scam, but this video really shocked me. Not just the retail vs manufacturing price but the way the company will give software updates to further scam you and intentionally waste a good portion of ink and cause the printer to have problems. I've showed this to plenty of people ever since.

watching this on my HP printer

Fun fact: many consumer printers have a print limit. After something like 100,000 pages it will say “I’m broken!” And stop working. I know because my dad printed postcards out for his business and hit this limit multiple times. He had a little piece of code that reset it and magically the printer was no longer broken...

I completely believed after he said "today I am doing something about it" he was going to say he was making his own printer without the scam ink cartridges lmao

Btw, this should be done with all our technological products, like when you have to get rid of a good cell phone just because there's no more updates on the software and even on the apps, or as like happened here, they start being incompatible 😩

disabling entire printer because of unpaired ink? what is this, *apple?*

Just buy a Chinese sweatshop worker for super cheap and make them write all of your documents for you instead of printing them

Thanks to all the Indian and Russian KZfaq channels that helped me repair my printer, I've been using the same one for about 6 years and the only problems I have are with dry ink on the tubes when I don't use it for a long time, which is something I don't blame on the company that much. Pay the little extra for a printer with ink tanks, it is worth it and don't be afraid to Google how to repair stuff.

I'm absolutely serious when I say that this has inspired me to destroy some cheap printer with a crowbar, mallet, and various other objects.

when 3d printing is cheaper by both the printer price and the filament price.... smh im just gonna print my documents in plastic now

I'm pretty sure that if we storm Area 51, we'll find it's simply an ink cartridge manufacturing plant.

Proprietary software for "effortless conection" is also why it's difficult as hell to keep a printer actially working. Honestly, anti-trust laws need to be expanded so companies release schematics and shit so they stop getting away with this.

OP: We’re gonna do something about it!!! Also OP: *Does nothing*

I’d like to print this document *yup* It’s in black and white *yup* And since it’s in black and white, you don’t need colors to print it *That makes sense to me* Then print it *Need magenta ink*

Whenever my dad runs out of ink he just buys a new printer

Epson makes printers that you can refill from bottles of ink. You never have to buy cartridges.

A very entertaining video! You managed to bring the forefront, what I think a lot of us suspected for a long time. I appreciate that!

This makes me wanna go out there and start a printer company that isn't corrupt

We could start a black market for ink cartridges that are sold at reasonable prices that have chips that tell you when your actually out of ink

I agree with you! I stopped buying ink and took it to Costco to refill in the past, but they got rid of it. Guessing the printer company was upset about that...

I had only one inkjet printer back in the 90's for occasional printing. The Ink cartridges would always dry out and you would have to buy new ones. I went with laser and never looked back. I made my parents get a laser printer as well. Their's is still going 20+ years later with only having to replace toner every now and then and at some point I replaced rollers. I have a laserjet that we've had years as well. It just works. I steer anyone away from inkjets as they are nothing but a money pit.

I’ve also NEVER seen a printer when where you press “STOP PRINT” it actually stops printing... it just prints it off

Im angry at a liquid rn

That's a good solid well made bench and well bolted to the wall you have there! Thanks for the great and enlightening video. I was already aware about the ink cartridges being the part that pays for the printer, but the extent with the rest of it..... that was an eye opener.

For many years, when I ran out of printer ink, I'd just go buy a new printer because the cost was cheaper than replacing the ink. Then I noticed the newer printers started having those features that would make them unusable well before you actually ran out of ink (old ones would actually do what they could and mix different colors - if you told them to - to achieve the best results when certain cartridges ran out). On top of that, the printers began coming with "starter cartridges" that could only print a few pages before the printer shut down. Once this happened, I ditched ink jet printers. I dug out an old one I had where the scanner works even without ink (yes, the new ones disable the _scanner_ if the ink runs out), and bought myself a laser printer. I use these two devices in tandem and have now gone years without having to replenish my printer (plus the laser printer is faster and never _ever_ has any issues when trying to print).

When the ink “runs out” my mom just gives away the printer and buys a cheap one for $30 at Walmart. I used to think she was nuts until she showed me the ink prices 🤷‍♀️

This video really makes me want to start an affordable printer company and make millions lol

Never under any circumstance by HP product. They are a scam company.

I went with a Brother laser printer 10 years ago, still going strong.

So it’s a scam. . . And you have no way out. Wonderful

You can now buy an Eco Tank printer from Epson that is built with refillable reservoirs for ink. The printer costs $200 and the ink is very cheap. This is the way it should have been sold from day one.

I think we are all running into that problem. Thank you for making this video. I was about to buy a printer, and the ink price is almost the same as the printer by the time I buy the replacement ink, I am not sure if they give you the first set of ink, but Epson and Canon are expensive. I just say forget it.

Reminds me of what my Dad did. For some reason, the ink cartridges are more expensive than the actual printers (at least, wherever he was buying from) - so, every time his printer ran out of ink, he'd just buy a new printer, which comes with new ink, and save himself a ton of money lmao

You forgot to mention humanity's most challenging task: *to delete a file from the printer queue.*

Gotta love when they’re literally making 26000% profit

At the time I've seen your video, it's already over 4 years old - and still incredibly relevant! Man - why do we allow ourselves to be scammed in this way?

Thanks, I'm going through this right now. Had a Brother printer for years and after it broke I've had nothing but grief fron Cannon and HP.

"Your script is so good, it deserves to be printed with color"

Our printer is running on "0%" ink for quite some time already...

I needed my own printer to scan and print whenever without interrupting my dad who is like a power printer. Got a very cheap Epson Ecotank 2400 (lowest model) on amazon and it came with 4 bottles of ink that you use to fill the corresponding reservoirs. Each bottle is like 80 or so cartridges worth and can last 2 years depending on print schedules. All we paid was $170

I am so grateful for this vidoe. I thought I was going crazy. I my cartridges was half in could see and hear the ink in them but my printer said it was empty and so it did not print any more. I eventually gave up and can my printer away. I now print all by document and a copy shop.

My printer "ran out of ink" even without me using it for a while.

This is the reason why I just don't buy printers anymore, I spend a little money and print at the public library.

@6:40 he makes a great analogy. Having your printer not work even though it STILL has ink, is like your car shutting down, saying your gas tank is empty, even though you have half a tank of gas.

That's why EPSON printers have an outer storage for ink and you just buy a bottle of ink and fill.

"*Printer companies hate this guy!*"

"Unnamed computer company with a laptop division" >Also makes printers Austin worked at HP

That's why I prefer printer with external ink reservoir, just refill it. No BS

I found myself here after watching Fstoppers video. 2023 this video is still relevant.

The disappointment when I realized this was posted two years ago AND THIS STILL HAPPENS!!!

Imagine the dude who programmed all that shit in the printer software: - So, I’m supposed to program shit that’s only going to mess with the client on purpose? Are you asking me to write stuff to make the experience worse? - yes

11:25 careful mate, you might void the warranty.

Sometimes I like to come back to this video and watch it again, just to hear you say "mouses". In other news, the laser printer I bought shortly after seeing this video the first time is still working beautifully, printing crisp pages with just the tiny little toner cartridge it came with. Well done, sir.

When typewriters are more reliable than printers you know something has gone wrong

You can literally buy a whole new printer, which includes the ink, for less money than standalone ink cartridges.

Was sick of all the money I wasted over the years on cartridges. Ended up buying a laser printer. A proper "cartridge" for the laser one is expensive to start off with, but gets a lot of use. One year + later I am still using the original cartridge (after the small amount you get at the beginning. As I don't use colour, it has been a great investment.

Great video I cannot stop laughing because these are the things I literally have gone through in the past two weeks trying to fix my Epson🤦‍♂️😂🤣 I wish I would have seen your video earlier💯

In 21 years of life I have seen my dad throw at least 7 printers down the stairs, out the door, out the window, at walls And yenno... I don't blame him

While all weebs go to area 51 on September 20th, we could all storm HP-headquarters in California Edit: I see you like the idea..

PS: Insulin is only that expensive in the USA where people thinks letting companies steal their life is liberty

It’s so funny that this is such a deep rabbit hole

Being someone who works at staples, I can confirm that printers and ink are bullshit. we charge a ridiculous amount of money for products that often malfunction and ink cartridges (even xl) usually have barely any capacity.

HP and Canon are currently being sued because of this (according to online news articles). You have done well, Austin.

Wish you shared more info on how people can combat this, such as refilling your own ink cartridges at home

I guess I had no reason to think a solution was to be offered now that I have reread the titile, but I was hoping.

i am an IT Guy anytime time i am asked "what printer should i get" my automatic response used to be "b&w laser" they'd complain "ohhhhh but i want color" then end up buying buy some shity officejet and $200 worth of ink now I respond by simply emailing them a link to this video. end of discussion. bless u, brother

a friend of mine has a shitty $30 printer and when it runs out of ink he just buys a new printer because it's cheaper to buy a whole new printer with ink already in it than just buying the ink.

Back in 2008, my first printer was a Lexmark. Poor thing, it worked beautifully, I filled up those cartridges (with a syringe) lots of times, still worked. It only stopped working when I accidentally broke a plastic bit that was holding the cartridge in place. But it still worked if I tied the cartridge with a bit of wire. But... I decided to buy a Canon. It was horrible. Every now and then I would get E5 error message (problem with ink) and after I spent twice the price of the printer on cartridges, I swore I'd never buy a Canon again. I currently have a HP laser printer. What I hate most about gadgets in general is that the more "technologically smart" they become, the more they are likely to be programmed not to work anymore, so that you have to replace them.

I recently brought a second hand HP printer. Was only £20 and they said ink was brand new and printer was just unused in the corner for the last year. I put the ink in took the plastic protectors off and an error came up on the printer. "Unable to print until printer has been registered on HP instant ink" So I tried to to register and sort it out, no luck because apparently the ink had been registered with another instant in customer and was unable to be transferred and I'd have to buy new ink and re-register the printer. HP instant ink is a joke, a subscription fee to use a printer is insane and the fact 10 pages cost £1 is also a joke for a printer that was purchased.

In Mexico they are “ink shops” where you leave your used cartridges and get refilled ones for cheap.

It's funny they also want your 'used cartridges' back, probably to refill it from half full and sell it back to you.

The HP Printer that I purchased stopped working after I replaced the ink cartridges with authentic HP ink! The printer indicated that I had used counterfeit cartridges. They were purchased through HP and were delivered to my door from HP! After contacting HP about my printer, they told me that my printer's warrantee had expired. I decided to buy a new printer and it was not HP but it was crap and this new one took 4 separate cartridges and cost way more! So I now have a HP again and I refill my own cartridges.

I'm reading people saying that now you can buy printers with ink tanks and buy any cheap ink. Guys, those printers added another thing that you have to change regularly: the waste pads (or "maintenance box" as epson calls it). Even epson printers with normal cartridges have those replaceable boxes now. Yes, cartridges got way cheaper and you can even just buy ink for some printers, but if you use your printer more than the average joe that just prints half a dozen pages per month, you will be replacing those waste pads every month.. and epson charges $10 for them. There are people that have to change them every week. And the funny thing? You buy a brand new epson printer, put in the the cartridges, they get primed and the printer does a quick clean, just this action alone of putting new cartridges will put the waste pads at more than 50% full, on a brand new printer.. cleaning cycles just fills them up very like that. Another fun fact: printers always had waste pads.. the ink must go somewhere when you do a cleaning process. The thing is, in the past those non replaceable pads would last the entire lifetime of the printer, unless you printed huge amounts of pages every day. And the pads were reasonably small. Nowadays the waste boxes have huge amounts of absorbent pads and they last no time at all. This just proves that the printers are wasting way more ink than they did in the past. HP and canon have non replaceable waste pads, they are huge, laying on the entire bottom of the printer and they still don't last as long as they did in the past. My 4 year canon all-in-one waste pads lasted for 3 years (just one year more than the warranty) and i probably only changed the cartridges 5 or 6 times tops. And yes, there are ways to reset the waste counters back to 0, but if you don't replace the pads themselves, the ink can start leaking everywhere.

Here in Russia we use hacked refillable cartriges or attach reservoirs to circumvent this problem. For decades! One may say we are voiding the warranties.. But what is that warranty if they don't respect it here anyway xD

So the printer is the game and the ink is the over priced microtransactions.

Revisiting this because my HP color laserjet printer stopped working, the cartridges aren't even empty and I'm fucking pissed. The amount of time wasted on troubleshooting this thing, or trying to replace shit- it costs too much money and my mental health. Not even hacking the thing, or using offbrand stuff works. It's all going straight to the trash because none of the solutions are actually working. The cHEAPEST optional quite literally is to NEVER buy new cartridges. But to make more and more technology waste, by constantly replacing the ENTIRE FUCKING PRINTER. ITS STILL A PROBLEM!! THEY constantly fight you on circumventing updating the firmware/software to prevent it from blocking your prints or using your cartridges to the fullest. Its absolutely maddening. I really don't like that this industry acts as if they ''update'' to new stuff, with ''newer models'' all they change is the appearance or the size. Nothing changes functionally. The stupid ass software still looks like pre-windows 10, and most ''modern'' software are actually from 2010 or 2015 on some of these ''technological advances'' The cartridges are a scam. And so are the printers and their fake updates. Its not an update, its a disabling maneuver to make you spend more money. Its Ridiculous because printers are so fucking essential to so many jobs, even digital jobs!!! Why!!! is this still a problem!! Please make a new video on this with research, thanks. I need it. I'm so angry. I'm disabled, I can barely afford to put up with this shit. Literally, I do not have an income. I don't want to spend my government aid on buying new fucking printers all the time. I LITERALLY CAN'T.

I remember back in the day you could run a cartridge till it really had no ink left! Then they started putting the chips on and creating the money making scam! I've been the victim of purchasing a new but used Epson printer from Amazon. Came with no ink so I purchased some. The cyan ink head was totally clogged and so I wasted all the ink trying to clean and run test pages. Didn't get to print a single thing I wanted to. Now the damn thing was useless until I buy more ink. I almost smashed the damn thing like you did! But luckily I watched a video on how to clean a clogged nozzle and now it works. But I wasted about 100 dollars in ink cartridges before the damn printer would even work properly. I've been saying this for about 25years about printer ink cartridges becoming a scam.

I felt so much rage throughout this video... it was satisfying to see him smash the printer :)

me: ok finally i have time to print this document printer: wait but first i need cyan ink :) me: don't worry i dont need to use cyan printer: *d i d i s t u t t e r*

Third party ink resellers on Amazon can be pretty good and affordable. I get a pack of 20 assorted cartridges for like $20, where the equivalent from Canon would cost $320. I'm not printing full page 4k photographs or art so paper and ink quality literally doesn't make a difference.