#461 ·
Robin Jones2 said:I am not an educator...
I threw in a dollar just to make it visually obvious that it is impossible for them to have honestly spent $33 on toner over an 18-month period.
The police and the Department of Justice should be the ones determining what actually happened here. For theft exceeding $667, prosecution is mandatory.
At least $33 has been stolen here.
And that is just on toner alone.
Perhaps they were printing campaign materials for the Republican Party?
So, I was feeling pretty useless today, so I figured: why not? Let's put everything down on paper—stuff I haven't even actually done yet—just to see how all the pieces fit together. Any sense in that?
When I’m picking out gear for work, I always look at the cost of supplies first. Then it's all about how tough the machine actually is. There's an old rule of thumb when it comes to HP: if you're buying for a business, don't even touch a laser printer unless it has a built-in fan and weighs a massive amount. That's what real hardware looks like. Everything else? Those are just glorified toasters for your house. I already know that my toner from... $73 You could easily knock out two boxes of Navigator—that's like 5,000 sheets right there. I’m definitely grabbing the premium stuff on purpose, though. Why bother with cheap paper when you can avoid all those annoying jams? You'll also need enough toner to cover 5,000 sheets of standard office prints, maybe even more if you're feeling ambitious. Ready to get to work?
So, I was chatting with a buddy of mine who runs an IT services firm, and he gave me the inside scoop on how these government and public sector contracts actually work. It’s wild. They aren't even looking at performance, really. It all comes down to aesthetics—the color of the gear, having fancy little touchscreens, and making sure the printer duty cycles look good on paper. Oh, and they always need enough ink to print that official seal a few times a year. It’s basically a massive setup to push high-end hardware that uses the priciest consumables possible. If you can lock them into proprietary supplies instead of cheap third-party alternatives, you're golden. You get a customer for life who ends up paying ten times the initial equipment cost just through toner and ink. TCO versus ICO? It’s a total racket.
So, I was just thinking about how realistic that estimate actually is regarding this whole scam. He caught on to the equipment trick, right? But honestly, if you switch over to generic supplies, the savings could easily be double what he’s guessing. Sure, you lose the warranty if you go that route—but hey, just keep one original cartridge tucked away for service calls... I mean, who really cares?
Either you're just blowing through public funds like it's nothing—everything looks legit on paper, clean receipts and all—but does anyone actually look at how much is being wasted? I mean, seriously, what kind of operation needs to print 360 color pages every single day? Or even worse, if they start swapping in those cheap third-party toners, we're looking at 1,360 pages daily. Who actually needs that much?
Of course they’re printing promo stuff, party flyers, graduation projects, and theses. I mean, who actually keeps a printer like that sitting at home? They aren't exactly clueless. When you have access to everyone else's gear, computers, and basically all the time in the world at the office... not to mention just asking a buddy to handle it for you? It's a no-brainer.
wanderingbison9 said:@Michael Jackson10: My Brother laser printer is constantly jamming on me; it keeps pulling two sheets at once and then the second one just gets stuck. Does anyone know who I should contact about this? I'm being completely serious.
Sorry if this is off-topic. Or maybe it isn't...
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I’m old school through and through. I stick with HP and Epson, and lately, I’ve been trying out a Xerox—though honestly, it hasn't been much of a hit. I’ve never touched a Brother in my life. Because of that, I'm kind of in the dark about who actually handles repairs around here. Isn't it better to just find a reliable local repair shop? If you're even willing to deal with all that hassle, that is. $0.33 Nobody sane wants to deal with repairs anymore... right?
I ran had the exact same issue with my printer (it started by pulling from two trays at once, then just kept slipping). Turns out it was the pickup roller. It sits right above the paper tray, basically "grabbing" the sheets to pull them in. The rubber needs this specific, slightly textured pattern to grip properly, but over time, that texture just wears smooth. When I was desperate, I actually took it off, gave it a deep clean, and roughed it up a bit with some sandpaper just to get by. It works for a while, but eventually, you're stuck. Repair shops hate selling these parts, and finding them elsewhere is a nightmare. You end up hunting on eBay, where the prices swing wildly from basically nothing to absolutely insane.
Basically, here’s the drill: pull out the tray, pop the toner out, and open up all the covers. If you can, blow out the whole printer—it gets packed with all this fine paper dust. Then, grab a damp cloth with some dish soap and wipe down every single transport roller you can find. You should also look up how to take off the pickup roller online; give it a deep clean. If it feels too smooth where it grabs the paper, you can lightly roughen it up with some sandpaper, though honestly, just grabbing a replacement is probably smarter. Next, hunt down the separation pad—they come in different styles, but it's usually some little plate part of the tray mechanism—and clean that too. Don't forget to wipe the dust off the tray itself and check if the mechanism is working right (especially if there are springs involved). Finally, try a different type of paper—maybe something smoother, thicker, or just higher quality.
There's plenty on YouTube if you're feeling brave enough to DIY this...
