Digital BW, The Print

And using this model, every photographer who offers a low-cost portrait
session, then charges $25 for a 50-cent print should be summarily executed.
Especially if they did not personally manufacture their own paper  and
chemicals and hand-grind the lens on their homemade enlarger. ;-)

All I can say is welcome to the big, bad world of free enterprise. Pricing
low to get them in the proverbial door is hardly dishonest, or even
particularly original. No one is hiding the cost of replacement ink and then
saying "surprise, sucker!" And I find it very hard to feel sympathy for
those who demand the car with the biggest engine, then complain about the
cost of gas.

Caveat emptor,
Doug



Keith wrote:
> EPSON doesn't make the pigments or hadn't ever done so AFAIK Robert..
> 
> They simply design the carrier and printer engine, etc..
> 
> So, they are padding the costs for the parts they don't really make and
> working hard to prevent consumers from using those same consumables
> direct from the original manufacturer or other 3rd parties..
> 
> I'm not saying they don't have a right to make money.  I'm just saying
> that it would be MORE upfront, more honest, and less anti-competitive
> if the costs lay where they fell..  Cost-shifting, BTW, or moving
> decrementing entries from one column to another is EXACTLY the practice
> WorldCom  and other large firms have gotten caught doing.  The moving of
> costs from periodical to capital expenses doesn't change revenue, it
> just boosts perceived profits...  Not much different ethically from
> making a printer appear much cheaper than it is by artificially
> depressing the initial purchase price and artificially increasing
> consumable costs (certainly though EPSON does not hurt as many interests
> as our new Robber Barons have - EPSON just soaks users for costs that
> most never even dreamt of)..  AND the current EU investigation into
> pricing and anti-competitive practices by EPSON,  HP, and Lexmark proves
> that others (some with a lot of legal and market clout) agree..
> 
> EPSON makes great products which I use happily.  They have driven the
> digital printing prosumer market. That doesn't make every move, even if
> justifiable, the best ethical choice.
> 
> Keith