I started in the toner cartridge re-manufacturing industry in 1992 in Houston, Texas. Since then I have worked for various vendors and suppliers over the years in technical support, sales and production capacities.
I have written articles for several industry publications and have spoken at industry functions around the world. When I started, there were probably no more the 20 different laser printers, fax machines and copiers, excluding the old dot matrix printer that is.
There are so many now I would be hard pressed to name them all. The big player then was the HP II and HP III laser printers both of which used the 92295A cartridge.
We built these by the hundreds back then. Unfortunately as in some industries infancy the supplies used to rebuild cartridges was let's say, a little spotty. There were a lot of fly by night type companies that had various snake oils and procedures that you were all but forced to try just to produce a dependable cartridge.
Most of these did not work and worse yet caused other problems.
The technology in use today at most reputable toner manufactures is night and day from what it was then. Toner practical size has been minimized and is made more symmetrical in shape by the original manufacturer, This was done to obtain higher resolution and print speeds.
The re-manufacturing industry is now able to keep up and produce the same quality and even better than original toner in some cases.
The quality of the various other components used to rebuild cartridges has also greatly improved over the years.
So, you may ask why re-manufactured cartridges today still aren't as dependable as the new cartridges.
It's really pretty simple.
There are companies that do little more than re-fill a cartridge instead of re-building them.
Critical components wear out over each cycle of a cartridge.
If these parts are not replaced there is a very good chance the cartridge will fail before all the toner is used.
I have to assume this is a profitability issue for them as there are readily available, high quality components out there.
Some companies import "New Compatible" cartridges from overseas.
These "New Compatible" cartridges almost always have patient infringement issues and are usually of lower quality then the originals. My motto is "Keep It Simple.
" (1) Replace the components you know need to be replaced. (2)Train your technicians on correct procedure.
(3) Always post-test your cartridges.
(4) Sale them at an honest price in comparison to the new cartridge not your competitors.
For anyone that has had a cheap cartridge fail and leak into their printer, they know the true cost of cheap cartridges.
Repair companies will charge anywhere from $75.
00 to over $100.
00 just to clean spilled toner in a printer.
Not to mention you're down time.
Now I'm not saying there aren't good suppliers out there because there are. Just be careful choosing your supplier.
The economic benefit to using re-manufactured cartridges is of course the reduced cost per page. The environmental benefit is, recycling keeps the cartridge out of the landfill.
However, if the company rebuilding the cartridge does not recycle the waste generated from the process like toner bottles, cardboard, paper and metals then there is little to no benefit as the waste generated will be nearly equal to just throwing the cartridge away.
If this is a concern for you, ask your supplier what they do specifically with their recyclable waste.
Weigh your risk and benefits when choosing a supplier.
If you decide to use new cartridges there are plenty of companies out there, mine included that will buy empty cartridges from you. If you really want to save on printing cost use a re-manufactured cartridge from a reputable company.
And remember, as we say in Texas "Cheap toner ain't good, Good toner ain't cheap!"
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