this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2026
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Los Angeles aims to ban single-use printer cartridges — new ordinance will target ink and toner that can't be properly recycled (www.tomshardware.com)
submitted 1 week ago by throws_lemy@reddthat.com to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] HootinNHollerin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

Kodak is to blame for that. Printers used to be expensive and ink cheap but then Kodak flipped the business model and made a ton of sales. Other printer companies were losing out, so they followed. I guess also blame falls on the consumers of that time for choosing that model as well

[–] tux7350@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

Looking into the history of Kodak is crazy. They used a 13 month calendar and secretly kept a nuclear reactor in the basement for years.

People forget that Kodak was a chemical company, not just photography.

[–] Peffse@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Funny, I had a Kodak printer for years since they had the cheapest ink by a large margin. HP was always the most expensive.

What year did that flip?

[–] HootinNHollerin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

Started building their desktop inkjet printer business in 2005 & introduced in early 2007

NBC article from February 2007

From the Kodak Wikipedia

Kodak began another strategy shift after Antonio M. Pérez became CEO in 2005.

Pérez invested heavily in digital technologies and new services that capitalized on its technology innovation to boost profit margins.[114] He also spent hundreds of millions of dollars to build up a high-margin printer ink business to replace falling film sales, a move which was widely criticized due to the amount of competition present in the printer market, which would make expansion difficult.[128] Kodak's ink strategy rejected the razor and blades business model used by dominant market leader Hewlett-Packard by selling expensive printers with cheaper ink cartridges.[129] In 2011, these new lines of inkjet printers were said to be on verge of turning a profit, although some analysts were skeptical as printouts had been replaced gradually by electronic copies on computers, tablets, and smartphones.[129] Inkjet printers continued to be viewed as one of the company's anchors after it entered bankruptcy proceedings.

[–] Peffse@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

That's wild!

I had my inkjet from around 2011 to 2015. I think it was a C310 but I can't find any proof of that. I only know it took the 30B/C cartridges.

They were $25-30 for a bundle on a retailer's shelf while everything else was closer to $50-70 for a bundle on a retailer's shelf. There was a 20% yield difference between the two, but that's no 20% markup! I vaguely recall a 30B double pack that was only $15 total, and that's what I used to buy once or twice a year. None of that hidden "Cyan mixed in the black to make it blacker" crap that HP did either.

How ironic that Kodak rigged the game to make ink expensive, and then others beat them at it.

[–] Peffse@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

wait wait... reading comprehension fail on my part. Both that NBC article and Wikipedia are saying that Kodak went against the grain by selling more expensive printers with cheaper ink.

Eastman Kodak Co. is introducing a line of desktop printers and low cost replacement inks on Tuesday, as the photography company takes on a market dominated by Hewlett-Packard.

[–] HootinNHollerin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 week ago

Shit i think you’re right