Cartridge Costs (Ink and Toner) Rise in the US

Fri 02-Jan-2009 13:39 | Price printer cartridges up.

The US Sees Price Increases for Ink Toner Cartridges

Many important printer manufacturers have increased their list prices of ink and toner cartridges. Printer.com the largest proprietary pricing database, registered several increases in the United States from the major manufacturers.

As of September 1, 2008, HP increased the list prices on all Mono and Color LaserJet Print Cartridges by 5%, as well as increasing by approximately 5-6% the list prices on Inkjet Cartridges and Print Heads. The company says this was done as part of HP's portfolio management, wherein the company regularly reviews pricing in response to rising production and supply chain costs.

In addition, as of November 3rd, 2008, Lexmark made an across the board 5% price increase on printer supplies, while Xerox raised the price on selected products from 3% to 6%. But also Brother, Canon, and Oki are increasing printer supplies prices. Oki has said that prices of ink and toner cartridges are going up a flat 5%, but Brother and Canon have not stated a rate of increase yet.

Although consumers will likely not feel a significant impact from this price increase, small and large businesses with tens, or even hundreds, of printers will see a significant rise in their cost of printing.

Printer manufacterers also significantly increased their prices of printer cartridges in Europe in the last few months. New questions are expected in the European Commission in reaction to cartridge price increases. In May 2007 the European Commission said that the research into competition in the market for inkjet and laser printer cartridges was still continuing. This research started in 2003 and has now been running for more than five years.

Printer and cartridge comparison site Printer.com can be a valuable resource to help consumers, small business owners and large corporations discover the "real" costs of printing. Printer.com takes into account not only the price of the printer, but also the cost of ink and toner cartridges over a 5-year timeframe.

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