Useless Conversation

[Der Helm]

If everybody around you acts like they are crazy, it's not THEM who are the problem. 

[Ironwood]

You're really going with that ?

 

[Bzalthek]

Back to stresses in words a bit; I thought I'd chime in as I'm actually taking a class on the history of the English language (which is absolutely fascinating) and we actually discussed this the other day!  I can contribute to an actual discussion!

Most words spoken in English with more than two syllables stress the first syllable and many of the word that don't (like police, guitar) are loan words from other languages, but you may notice the stresses shifting to the first syllable POlice and GUItar as these words start being assimilated into dominant speech patterns.  The remaining words are verbs where the Germanic root is stressed and not the prefix (beLIEVE, forGET, etc).

While my teacher used broad strokes, I'm sure there are exceptions to the rule.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Re: Nerf's store experience - from reading far too much of the bad_service community over on LiveJournal, I don't doubt his story at all.  There are a ton of similar stories posted there (too many to be fake or hyperbole) of instances were store staff are rude or total jerks. 

Nerf - take it to corporate for sure.  Rude staff shouldn't be allowed to get away with stuff like that, especially if it's breaking policy.  And be sure to document it all for our forum reading edification, since we got cheated out of the end of the landlord chronicles. :D

[ghost]

I expect a thread for this.  With pictures. 

[Der Helm]

You're really going with that ?

 

[Cyrrex]

DON'T YOU TAKE THAT SHIT FROM THEM NERF!  GO NERF!!

[WayAbvPar]

Why the fuck would you still try to give these assholes your money? I would go buy a printer somewhere else, then send a copy of the receipt along with all the information about your interactions with the Staples fuckheads to their corporate office.

[Furiously]

I'd think about doing what wap said, maybe call the gm and never shop there again or at least for three months.

[Nerf]

Spoke to the GM, he actually tried to side with the assistant manager until I showed him the video of the guy calling me a crook.

Filed complaint with corporate, now I'm going to make one last attempt to order it via online/phone CS w/ store pickup, just so I can see the look on their faces when I prove everything those assholes told me in store was a bold-faced lie.

[Nerf]

Well, that *was* easy.

Original price $199.99, got them to pricematch Amazon's $156.99 for a $43 credit.  Then applied a $25 off $75 coupon, and when I pick the printer up monday I can drop off our old one for another $50 credit.

So, $199.99-$43-$25-$50=$81.99

When my phone finally uploads the video to youtube, I'll edit this post with it.

[Trippy]

Anticlimactic. I was expecting this to get escalated to the CEO level

[Lantyssa]

He doesn't have the printer yet...

[Nerf]

Here we go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Yh8kfK-NN4

Might take a few to show up, it plays for me but still says it's processing after several minutes.

[Arthur_Parker]

Inkjets are a waste of money, you'd probably get better value out of a mono laser.

[Viin]

lasers are the bomb

[Strazos]

Oh Nerf...

[Paelos]

I like that they threatened to call the police. Given the time, I always suggest that people call the police when they are being obtuse, threatening idiots. Go ahead, kind sir, we'll see who comes off as less crazy.

This would not work in Nerf's case unless his landlord was in the area to act as a crazy buffer.

[Nerf]

Inkjets are a waste of money, you'd probably get better value out of a mono laser.

I calced some toner prices out to about $.02 per page printed, the new lexmark can do 500 pages on a $5 black cartridge, thats $.01 per page.

It's CMYK too, so if you run out of magenta or yellow you can replace an $11 color cartridge and not have to throw away the remaining inks for an all-in-one color cart.

[Lantyssa]

You're assuming the ink cartridge doesn't dry out.  Once you have a toner cartridge, you can trade it back in for a recycled one.  Most inkjets also tend to fall apart within 1-2 years.  Lasers are all around better.

[Nerf]

You're assuming the ink cartridge doesn't dry out.  Once you have a toner cartridge, you can trade it back in for a recycled one.  Most inkjets also tend to fall apart within 1-2 years.  Lasers are all around better.

I agree with you, but color lasers aren't in the budget, and this thing @ $81 is a smokin deal - it would cost almost that much to replace the 95% dead cartridges in the Canon that only works sometimes now.  It's got a 5 year warranty, and the reviews are pretty wicked.  No fucking way I'd pay the 'normal' price of $299 on it though.

[Chimpy]

You do realize that any printer you buy has a 1/4 full ink or toner cartridge in it when you buy it, right? I would much rather pay 70 bucks for a 5000 page toner cartridge than 30 bucks for an ink cartridge that might last for 500 pages (if it does not start smearing before then).

I had a laser printer for years that I traded a guy an external CD Writer for in college, printed 7000 pages on one toner cart that cost me 35 bucks, when I had to have something in color, I went to kinkos and spent their 15 cents a page or whatever it was.

[Nerf]

$5 black ink carts, $10 color carts.

Plus, it's got a scanner that auto-feeds up to 50 pages, and is a wifi printer so we can stick it on the bookshelf instead of cluttering our desks more.

At $300 i'd be right with you, but there's no way I'd get anywhere near my required list of features for $81 on a laser, and even in the $250-350 range I'm still stuck with B&W.

$70 would buy 14 $5 carts, at 500 pages per cart, that's 7,000 pages, which is right up there with a laser for economical black and white printing.

[Merusk]

You're assuming the ink cartridge doesn't dry out.  Once you have a toner cartridge, you can trade it back in for a recycled one.  Most inkjets also tend to fall apart within 1-2 years.  Lasers are all around better.

They don't even have to dry out anymore.  Cartridges have an expiration date programmed into them where they'll be fine, but they'll say they're dried out and stop working.   If you're not printing often enough to drain a cartridge, chances are you're getting screwed.

[Yegolev]

I'm starting to think I might be an asshole.

Now I'm thinking I am also one.  It's infectious!

[Arthur_Parker]

You're assuming the ink cartridge doesn't dry out.  Once you have a toner cartridge, you can trade it back in for a recycled one.  Most inkjets also tend to fall apart within 1-2 years.  Lasers are all around better.

They don't even have to dry out anymore.  Cartridges have an expiration date programmed into them where they'll be fine, but they'll say they're dried out and stop working.   If you're not printing often enough to drain a cartridge, chances are you're getting screwed.

I can't be bothered to check the service manual for Nerf's printer but I know some printers use colour ink during the warm up process and won't even print black if an individual colour cart is empty.  I know in the UK they can sell ink jets at a loss just because they know they are going to make an absolute killing on the ink cartridges over it's lifetime.

[bhodi]

It's an enormous racket, and there have been some companies that deliberately go dry while there is still ink in the cartrige. Some enterprising people have found a way to put tape over the sensor to get hundreds of additional pages out of it.

[ghost]

I can't be bothered to check the service manual for Nerf's printer but I know some printers use colour ink during the warm up process and won't even print black if an individual colour cart is empty.  I know in the UK they can sell ink jets at a loss just because they know they are going to make an absolute killing on the ink cartridges over it's lifetime.

My color laser at the office cost about $399 at Costco and it takes about $480 to get all the cartridges replaced. 

[Lantyssa]

Do you recycle them, or buy cartridges new?

Prices alone make me think it's a heavy-duty office printer though, not something for home or small office.

[Yegolev]

I did finally run into Alton Brown yesterday.  I wasn't able to make a fool of myself by telling him that his cooking show was pretty much the only one I would watch, since I was escorting a first-grader to the nurse's office.  He was doing what I was doing: volunteering for the Teacher Appreciation Lunch where parents attempt to manage the circus of the lunchroom and recess; and in the case of my first-grade class we got to deal with Show And Tell.

[Merusk]

Do you recycle them, or buy cartridges new?

Prices alone make me think it's a heavy-duty office printer though, not something for home or small office.

I was surprised, too.. but just did a google shopping search and found these.
http://www.amazon.com/Compatible-Cartridge-multifunction-multi-function-Photosharp/dp/B0043SHAXK

Which go for This printer  It's just a small office printer, not a big all-in-one unit like the Toshiba eStudios we had in my office, but the damn cartridges sell for $79 apiece.

[Yegolev]

Finding bargain cartridges for plotters is difficult.  However I am able to use my employee discount to take the edge off the robbery.

[Furiously]

I did finally run into Alton Brown yesterday.  I wasn't able to make a fool of myself by telling him that his cooking show was pretty much the only one I would watch, since I was escorting a first-grader to the nurse's office.  He was doing what I was doing: volunteering for the Teacher Appreciation Lunch where parents attempt to manage the circus of the lunchroom and recess; and in the case of my first-grade class we got to deal with Show And Tell.

That's awesome! Yay for people who volunteer!

[Sky]

Refiled toner is fine, if your supplier doesn't mangle the carts. We had a string of carts with broken tabs, and even though the kid who runs the local refiller is amazing about customer service, his monkeys mangle too much, and downtime is downtime.

Don't mess with third party crayon blocks for xerox phasers, though. They suck and will fuck up your printers.

[Viin]

I have a Dell 1320c color laser printer and I love it - I will never go back to an inkjet. The official ink cartridges are pretty expensive, but refills and generics aren't. Looks like the 1350cnw is the new version of that printer.