I found out something interesting(ish) yesterday. The computer giant HP apparently makes a loss or barely breaks even on all its computers and other hardware.

All its profits come from printers, and all the profit in its printers comes from the ink cartridges they sell you for about €30 a pop.

Now I don’t know about you, but I think that’s interesting. Not least because I’ve had two HP printers and both of them have been awful. But also it shows how people like you and me can bring HP to its knees (boy do I get mad if I buy a bad printer). All you have to do is buy generic cartridges, or refill your cartridges by hand. You can buy the ink in any computer shop and do the job yourself, only buying new cartridge when the print heads finally give out after 10 refills or so.

The price of cartridges is outrageous (and it goes without saying that it isn’t just HP). So just don’t put up with it any more. Fight back.

Incidentally, I wouldn’t be surprised if the ads at the top of this page start talking about printers soon. Why not check them out?