Is Epson green with greed?

After Epson's recent victory against aftermarket ink suppliers this past year, affordable aftermarket cartridges are nearly impossible to find. The ones that are available are either old stock, or of dubious quality.

Let me say that I do feel that Epson produces some of the Best ink jet printers on the market, if not the very best. Print quality is amazing, and you get a great bang for your buck. You will rarely find a photographer that uses any other make.

When my carts went low recently, I discovered the retailer of aftermarket carts no longer supplies Epson equivalents. This was also the case with several other retailers. I did finally find some from a small unfamiliar online shop, but I'm a bit hesitant to deal with unfamiliar suppliers.

I finally decided to simply purchase the brand name Epson carts. Six carts were $90! Just down the isle, I found the new model version of my printer. It was also $90! Well, I decided to just buy a whole new printer. Why not after all? I will turn the old one over to Goodwill, in hopes it may have some continued use, and would avoid the trash heap for a bit longer.

While pleased to have the new printer, It's disturbing that this practice leads to the sort of waste and pollution that is harming our planet. The ink recyclers I used to send my old carts to no longer accept Epson cartridges. It's hard to believe that anything but pure greed is at the root of all this.

Now I do believe every manufacturer out there deserves to make a profit, and has the right to protect their products, but this goes too far in my opinion. Onece I have a separate disc printer I doubt I'll buy Epson again.