When Gillette invented the safety razor, a business decision was made to sell the razors themselves as cheaply as possible, the idea being that once the customers got used to the system you’d make the money back over time by selling them blades.

Computer printers sometimes seem the same; you can get a good deal on a printer only to find that the ink is expensive and has to be replaced very often. But, unlike Gillette in those days, consumers today have other options — home cartridge refill kits or places like Walgreen’s that will refill and test inkjet cartridges for you.

I am surprised that no one before now has tried marketing their computer printers on cost of use. Kodak has new technologies which they claim allow more prints per dollar than competing brands. I noticed this in TV advertising and heard Gene Simmons of Kiss talk about it during a talk show appearance. (Simmons had been a competitor on “Celebrity Apprentice,” which I don’t watch, and apparently one of their tasks was proposing a marketing slogan to Kodak.)

I’m working on a partner letter for my mission trip this weekend — I started printing one out the other night but then found things I didn’t like and ended up throwing a stack of them away. I went to buy ink today and ended up using a little bit of my tax refund for a new printer/scanner/copier instead. I went with a Kodak, for the reasons stated above. The MSRP for the b/w and color cartridges is a penny less each than I had been paying for cartridge refills at Walgreen’s. That doesn’t necessarily mean anything if you get fewer pages per cartridge, but Kodak claims that their overall cost per page is dramatically less than the competition. That should come in handy as I print letters and newsletters on the lead-up to the trip, and if I get serious about marketing the novel.

I’ve never owned a working scanner, and it will be nice to have one. I’ve also never had a printer with the dedicated paper slot for little print-sized photo paper, and it will be nice to have that as well.

I think I’ll like this gadget.

(NOTE: I do not do sponsored posts.)