Howdy neighbor and go Gators!

I see from your blog you’re a fellow weed eater! We’ll have to compare notes sometime and I’ll definitely take a closer look at your blog when I have some time (and more awake brain cells).

The logic is as follows: An expiration date will make the cart useless to prevent it from possibly becoming useless. Huh?

Once a cart is shut down it is useless unless the printer owner takes the time and effort to figure out how to over-ride the expiration time-out. Since this expiration date stuff is news to almost everyone, how many would know how to defeat it? This is nothing but a pain-in-the-platen for the consumer.

If the customer is really who they have in mind, the default would be an inactive expiration date unless the user DELIBERATELY activated it. In that way the customer would decide on the value of having an expiration date, not HP. Want to guess how many customers would activate it. Survey says: zero.

We don’t have a Staples near where I live in Gainesville FL. Office Depot discontinued its program with HP. So my plastic cartridges either go into the landfill or I send them back to HP and receive NO CREDIT for my efforts. And as I mentioned, I don’t automatically get a new (PLASTIC) mailer to send them back to HP. I must make a separate online request each time I want a supply of bags.

Not to mention, am I really doing anything constructive? Using a PLASTIC bag to mail back 6 cartridges for recycling??

What happens to all those plastic bags?

1) HP recycles the cartridges rather than refilling and refurbishing them. I have watched your video. In fact, I was planning on posting it in an update to this blog post a few days ago, but you beat me to it. I am sad that the cartridges are ground up to be made into new products when so much energy could be saved by simply refilling them several times.

2) I just discovered that Cartridge World can now refurbish these HP cartridges by adding a new chip to them, and they sell them at a fraction of the cost. Why can’t HP do the same thing?

3) You cartridges are mad expensive. I should have checked on the cost before buying this unit, but what’s done is done an I have a feeling the environmental impact of replacing the printer would be greater than buying a new more efficient one with less expensive cartridges.

4) Like I said, I know that HP cares about the environment, but I also feel like the company is putting profits before people and planet when it comes to the bottom line.

5) This is not the first time I’ve had issues with an HP product. Please read my post about my frustrating experience with an HP monitor: http://fakeplasticfish.com/2008/02/week-35-results-501-oz-of-plastic-waste/

Beth
Beth Terry´s last blog ..Say No to Fake Plastic Wishbones & Other Thanksgiving Waste

Only a very small percentage of HP ink cartridges use expiration dates and this is absolutely not a “scheme” to force customers into purchasing more ink. It’s actually a mechanism that protects the printing components, as ink ages and its properties change over time. Although the majority of customers can manually override the expiry date with minimal impact on their printing experience, it looks as though your printer does not allow this function. Want to know more? The HP Learn About Supplies http://bit.ly/3EqRGA site lists the printers and cartridges affected by this.

I also want to point out that HP is the only printer manufacturer with a “closed-loop” http://bit.ly/10MImv inkjet cartridge recycling process that “up-cycles” plastic from empty cartridges, returned through HP Planet Partners, and combines it with other sources of recycled plastic to create brand new print cartridges. HP has also partnered with Staples so customers can return their empties to any retail location and receive a $3 credit.

This short video, “How Green Is Your Print Cartridge?” http://bit.ly/1LNRij should give you a better idea of how committed HP is to reducing the environmental impact of printing. Hope this info helps!

Thanks,
Thom Brown
HP
follow me – Thom_SoCal_HP