Hi Roy (of 1:270/615),
On , in a message to Michael Hall you wrote:

 MH>> I just found out that the local Wal-mart is distributing free
 MH>> mailers to return ink jet cartridge for recycling. They come
 MH>> postage paid, but no incentive...

 RJT> Let's turn that around for a minute -- what's _their_ incentive to
 RJT> do such a thing?  Why is it that one maker (Lexmark?) put a chip in
 RJT> theirs and then went agressively legal on the "copyright" of it to
 RJT> keep aftermarket cartridge makers from making one that'd work in
 RJT> their printers.

 RJT> Are the economics of printer making really that scrwed up that they
 RJT> *NEED* to sell those cartridges in order to stay in business?  Or is
 RJT> there something else that I'm overlooking?

Ahh... but I think you're assuming that the recycleables are going back to
Lexmark?  However, the "chips" and the lawsuit only seems to
pertain to the higher-end cartridges -  for the laser models for example; I
think the Lexmark site reveals that the refilling is not disallowed for the
vast majority of the low-end (ink jet) models.

I think we need to ask to whom is Wal-mart sending the ink jet cartridges
for recycling?  If it's a plastics company, then it's obviously just a
waste issue.  If it's to a Wall-Mart associate, then maybe they want to
cash in on the $1/cartridge rewards.  I doubt that the returns are going
back to Lexmark.


...August

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