“There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch”
“Nothing in life is free”
“You can’t get something for nothing”
I’m sure we all have heard or read these quotes. And there are plenty more as well.
The main gist of what they are saying is there are no free rides, and even if something is cheap or free initially, there is a cost factored in somewhere.
Wait, I just used another quote, no free rides:)
It’s fun when you can make yourself laugh.
Anyway…..
There are retail items that we buy and use, that initially seem cheap and inexpensive, however over the course of time, they reveal themselves to be anything but cheap.
Let’s begin with a product everyone has a comment and an opinion on, printers.
Printer Ink
Printers for computers have changed quite a bit over the years.
My first printer was a Kodak diconex printer and was small and lightweight and good for travelling.
The office printers years ago used the old boxes of printer paper that had perforations and holes on the sides to be fed through the printer on rolling wheels.
Then we all moved into the laser printer world and life, or printing life seemed good.
Nowadays we have a huge selection of printers available to us, including wireless printers that attach via your router/modem for the Internet. One nice feature of these wireless printers is you can print from a tablet or mobile phone, and print something even if you are away from home.
These all-in-one printers not just print, but scan documents and photos, and copy documents and photos, in both black and white and colour.
Now that our little history printer lesson is over, lets look at what these marvellous, techno packed, little machines cost…surprisingly not that much.
Depending on your needs, and budget, you can buy a printer for as low as £29.99, and sometimes even cheaper.
Of course you can also spend much more, but the reality is that you can purchase a decent printer pretty cheap.
However, you may get the printer cheap, and some initial ink cartridges that may print out 100 pages, but when you go to get new ink cartridges, look out!
Ink cartridge refills can be expensive, as to why, printer companies have a few reasons they state.
Hewlett Packard has stated, “that they spend a billion dollars each year on “ink research and development.” They point out that printer ink “must be formulated to withstand heating to 300 degrees, vaporization, and being squirted at 30 miles per hour, at a rate of 36,000 drops per second, through a nozzle one third the size of a human hair. After all that it must dry almost instantly on the paper.” They also argue that printers have become more efficient and use less ink to print, while third-party cartridges are less reliable.”
So how can you save on ink cartridges, one way is to buy generic brands, I know Tesco sells their own band of ink cartridges that are refilled, and much cheaper. And you can also buy kits to refill the cartridges yourself.
Naturally, the printer companies will say not to do this yourself.
Some companies may even say by doing so voids any warranties they may have on the printer itself.
I know when I use the refilled ink cartridges that I buy at some of the shops, my printer shows an error code and states the ink cartridges being used are not factory and may cause errors.
A bit unnerving until you realise these cartridges work just fine. And can save you money.
One time I went to a “high-end” retailer to price a full set of ink cartridges for my printer; all three colour cartridges and a black cartridge. I had paid £39.99 for the printer itself a year or so prior. To purchase all four (4) ink cartridges was going to cost £49.99! £10 more than the actual cost of the printer.
It was cheaper to buy a new printer.
So while buying a printer may not seem like a huge investment, over time the price of ink cartridges can add up.
Fortunately may of us digitally save files now and don’t need to have “hard copies” of many documents.
When looking at products that are initially cheap, but cost more over time, you will see a pattern, and that pattern is refills. If a product needs refills, these refills, whatever they may be, can add up.
However, before we discuss refillable products, we need to discuss one product that we spend millions on each year.
Razor Blades
For Christmas one year my partner gave me a nice razor as a gift. The razor came with one of their patented triple blade razor blade. This blade last me a few shaves, and then it was time to buy a refill….buy a refill of three (3) additional blades to the tune of £9!
I thought why so expensive?? The razor itself was £14.99.
And if you have ever bought these expensive razor blades, they have security tags on them as well. I suppose people would try to steal them to save a few bob.
The razor blade and razor industry state the costs are justified and give a variety of reasons.
One reason is the research that goes into creating safe, sharp and sturdy blades. Another reason is the costs of manufacturing the various razors and blades. Women’s razors and blades are used on different parts of the body, and as such need to be manufactured differently.
A scientist at the Gillette Innovation Centre, Dr. Kristina Vanoosthuyze said, “We know that no two men or women shave in the exact same way. There are guys that take 30 strokes and some take 700 strokes.”
“Some people take 30 seconds, some take 30 minutes.”
“The amount of pressure people apply differs, and the skin and hair characteristics between people are also different. There are also differences between cheek and neck skin, underarm skin and leg skin, and leg and bikini skin, and all of this must be taken into account when designing razors.”
She adds, “The complexity, length of time, and the cost of the [research and development] process is what factors into cost.”
“It looks so simple and so intuitive, yet it is so complex in its design and development process. The small details and dimensions go far beyond what the naked eye can see. For the ProGlide, to give you an idea of the scale of consumer testing that we do, 30,000 guys were involved in testing the innovation process.”
“It’s important to make the razor ergonomic to use, because women typically shave in a fairly wet environment. And for women, shaving can be like acrobatics, trying to get the ankles, back of the legs, knees, etc. We want the handle to have good control so she can move it around in her hands.”
That explains that.
Other Refillable Products
We may not realise it, but there are quite a few different products out in the market place that use refillable items, and if the refill is proprietary to that product and you cannot use a generic or other refill, the manufacturer can charge a higher price.
Some of these products are:
* Some single cup coffee makers.
* Refillable mops or floor dusters.
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* Water filters.
* Air fresheners, especially the plug in ones.
* Some pen ink refills.
As you can see, while something may seem cheap or inexpensive initially, if the product needs some form of refill, it can get costly over time.
One good thing about refillable products is they can last longer. We are not in need of buying a new product every time the product runs out of something. This cause less consumption and waste.
,“There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch” “Nothing in life is free” “You can’t get something for nothing” I’m sure we all have heard or read these quotes. And there are plenty mor
This article by Jon Emge was syndicated by the Personal Finance Syndication Network.
