$635.76 Spending money left over

I print stuff. A lot. I simply cannot go without a printer and have used a colour laser printer for about 15 years. The toner does last for more than a year but it's always painful to replace. The low level indicators are starting to alert me, so it's that painful time again. A quick peruse of the Dell website and inquiry with the online chat window dude, informed me that a set of CMYK toner will set me back a mere $1061.76 including tax. Shipping is free.

Yes, that is over ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS! For ink. That is almost twice what I pay for fuel in my Grannymobile in a year. And the fuel costs I can dole out in  forty dollar shots every 3 weeks or so.

Like most things in life that shock the shit out of you, a Facebook rant resulted. And I received much sympathy and suggestions from friends and acquaintances. Many encouraged me to find knock-off recycled and/or refilled cartridges. I did price this out and can find cartridges for about half the price of the genuine article. But I am hesitant to do this.

I did get some refilled toner from China through Ebay about 10 years ago for an HP printer I had at the time. After a couple of months the printer started putting random strips of colour on pages I printed. One look inside the printer showed me why. Apparently every time I used the printer, it was farting out little puffs of dry toner powder everywhere. And my $200 savings resulted in a $700 purchase of a new printer.

I know many people think I'm a bit of an exhibitionist when it comes to Facebook and blogging, and I can't really argue their point. However, sometimes it pays off.

As a result of my Facebook rant, I was offered a set of genuine Dell toner for my exact model of printer for free. Yes, FREE. Let me remind you, this is over a thousand dollar value. The toner is free, but shipping isn't. And it's located in Texas.

Conveniently, Air Canada was celebrating it's 80th anniversary this week. Round trip flights from Prince George to Dallas, Texas, with one short stop in Vancouver were $426 in Canadian funds, including all taxes and fees. So, long story short, I am flying to Texas to pick up my free toner, hanging out with my baby sister for 13 days, and have $635.76 spending money left over. Problem solved.

Yay for Facebook rants!