Whether you buy your office supplies from a wholesaler or online, a significant expenditure for your business is likely to be the purchase of replacement ink cartridges for the printers in your office. As competition for the printer market has become fiercer, most manufacturers now offer high quality printers at very affordable prices. However, any loss that they may take on these printers is made up in the cost of future replacement cartridges, which can even cost as much as a lower end printer.

Despite the theory that we would all soon be living in a paperless world, this has not happened and hard copies are regularly printed out, perhaps partially due to human nature and part due to the necessity of keeping back ups. If anything, the trend for printing hard copies has increased. This means, of course, that an increasing amount of replacement cartridges will need to be bought.

With most major brands of printer cartridges costing about the same price, are there any viable alternatives that may help to reduce these ongoing costs? For home use, many people find that using refillable ink cartridges keeps the costs significantly down; however, some question the reliability of refilled cartridges.

One thing that should be taken into consideration is that using a refillable cartridge is likely to nullify any guarantees which come with your printers. This may not be a significant problem if you are a small office with one or two computers, but if a larger number of computers fail due to refilled cartridges this could prove to be false economy for your business.

Whilst there are certainly environmental benefits to refilling cartridges, and on the surface at least, financial benefits, there are certainly risks involved in using them.

The quality of refilled cartridges can vary widely, depending on the company refilling them. If you are considering taking this route, it is advisable to do your research first.

Both printer and cartridge manufacturers claim that using refilled cartridges will shorten the life of your printer, and whilst it is in their interest to make this claim, there is evidence that this may be the case on occasions. Whilst to the layman, refilling an ink cartridge may seem straightforward there are many problems which can arise. To keep costs down, some refilling companies may use low quality ink. Not only will this produce poor quality copies, but the ink is likely to be thinner and therefore have a higher risk of leaking. This is not only potentially messy, but could damage your printer if it leaks into its electronics. Another likely cause of failure relates not to the ink itself but to accidental damage caused to the cartridge whilst being refilled. Bearing in mind that a cartridge may be refilled a number of times, there is an increased risk in damage to the contact points and other parts of the mechanics of the ink cartridge each time it is refilled.

In reality, whether or not you benefit from using refillable ink cartridges is probably very much a matter of chance. Many businesses do successfully use them, whilst others, perhaps having had a bad experience early on, simply refuse to use them. Your decision may well be taken on your own experience, or simply based on whether or not reducing the cost of your office supplies is a high priority in your overall business strategy.

Ben Greenwood is writing on behalf of Cartridge World, the UK\’s leading specialist in printer cartridges, including toner cartridges and ink cartridges.

Ben Greenwood is writing on behalf of Cartridge World (http://www.cartridgeworld.co.uk), the UK\’s leading specialist in printer cartridges.

Author Bio: Ben Greenwood is writing on behalf of Cartridge World, the UK\’s leading specialist in printer cartridges, including toner cartridges and ink cartridges.

Category: Advice
Keywords: inkjet cartridges, toner cartridges, printer cartridges