Toner Cartridges

Printers just seem to have a knack for running out of ink at the worst time. This morning was no exception. I was in the midst of a sound sleep when I heard the words, “honey, the laser printer’s running out of ink …”

At first I thought it was part of the dream.

Alas, it was not.

It had to be before 6:00 AM. But I’m not exactly sure. My eyes were glued shut, and I didn’t have the get-up-and-go to look at the clock.

My darling bride just had to run some stuff out of the printer before she headed off to work. It seemed that ranchero indebto’s faithful LaserJet 1200 wasn’t happy about waking up so early, either.

I might have still been (at least slightly) unconscious, but my geek awareness was clear. As she babbled on about the laser printer’s light prints and streaking, I accessed the help desk software system resident in my cerebral cortex.

“Open up the front of the printer,” I spoke from beyond the realm of consciousness. “Carefully pull out the laser toner cartridge. Gently shake the toner cartridge back and forth half a dozen times, then reinsert it in the laser printer and shut the door. You should be good to go.”

Sure enough, it worked like a charm.

She printed out her pages on the LaserJet and I caught another forty blissful winks.

In all the years I’ve had the little HP, I’ve only had to replace the toner cartridge just twice. I spaced out when it came to stocking a replacement toner cartridge on the shelf, largely because the toner cartridges deliver such a long life (considerably longer life than my recently retired ink jet, at least).

I didn’t want to get stuck without a toner cartridge, so the boy and I took a run up to Best Buy tonight. Like an idiot, I didn’t check the web before we left. I ended up spending over eighty bucks for a cartridge that lists for $64.99 on HPshopping.com (with free 2-day shipping). Argh.

(I could save even more, but I’m not sure if I want to start using remanufactured toner cartridges, just yet.)

Well, at least it was a nice ride up the highway with the top down and the stereo turned up …

[tags]toner cartridges[/tags]