Usually, if our printers run out of ink cartridges we always go ahead and get a new cartridge, but stores like Walgreens also offers services like cartridge ink refill that provides a cheaper and more environmentally friendly way of get your printer back to work again. The inks available by them are of very high quality. The flat rate of refilling I of around 12.99$ per cartridge as of November 2018, the Walgreens ink refill service supports both the type of inks black and white as well as coloured inkjet cartridges. Walgreens provide cartridges for industry-leading brands like HP and Lexmark. But before you rush out to the Walgreens store, do note that it is important to properly prepare your ink cartridges for the refill process and you should also know what to expect from the refilled cartridges. Understanding the ink refining situation and its limitations and advantages can also help you in deciding whether you should get a new ink cartridge straightaway, or if refilling the cartridge is also a good option for you.

Prepare Your Printer Cartridges

You do need some preparations before you start refilling the cartridges of your printer. First, you need to make sure that you have removed the cartridges from the printers only then you will be able to refill them properly, as you will have to package them to meet the standards and requirements of the Walgreens. Next, you will have to review your printer manufacturer’s instructions in order to access and remove your cartridges from the printer. Make sure you do not touch the copper strip and the nozzles on the bottom and the back sides of the cartridge since it can cause the cartridges to clog and can lead to malfunctioning. usually, Walgreens suggests putting the cartridge in a small bag and then ensuring that you keep it away from very hot or cold extreme temperatures on your way to the store, as it can damage the cartridges as well.

Get Ink Refilled at Walgreens

Do note that the quality of service can vary among different stores of Walgreens, we advise you to call the nearest Walgreens store before you visit in order to know them better and what services they provide. You can also verify whether they offer the printer ink refill services and can also ask for an estimated price of how much it will cost you along with the time it will take to refill the cartridges, lastly, you should also ask whether the cartridge you are taking to them is compatible with their refilling service or not. In most of the Walgreens stores, you can find the printer ink refill service near to the location where the photo services are offered, if not then you can always ask their staff members they will be happy to help you.

Once you have handed over the cartridges to the staff employee of Walgreens, make sure to provide your personal information which is needed for the pickup of the ink. The staff will also brief you about the rough estimate of the price and the amount of time it will take for refiling the ink. As per past records, usually, Walgreens takes around an hour or so to refill the ink cartridges, but sometimes there can be delays due to some technical faults or if there is some waiting queue for the ink refilling service.

Reinstall Your Ink Cartridges

Once the cartridges are refilled from the Walgreens, you will be asked to pick up the ink and then you can start reinstalling the ink cartridges to your laptop. Make sure to follow the printer manufacturer’s instructions to carefully reinstall each printer cartridge. While reinstalling the ink cartridge to your printer, avoid touching the bottom copper contacts also make sure that the cartridges are placed at their place firmly in the holder put the top covers in their place. Recheck, if the cartridges are fitted properly, then your printer may prompt you from its small screen to confirm that new cartridges have been installed. Confirm it by printing a test page and checking if the colours are printed properly.

Often, there are some cases where your printer might still show a low ink cartridge even if you have refilled it. In such cases you need to recalibrate or reset the printer, you can do so by following the manufacturer’s manual or instructions to reset or recalibrate the printer. This can fix the low ink warning issue from your printer. On the other hand, Walgreens assure its users that it will still be able to print the pages normally, even if your printer continuously shows waring about the low ink.

Pros and Cons

Obviously, there are some pros and cons of refilling the ink cartridges of your printer. So, first, let’s talk about the pros, while using the refilling ink cartridge service from Walgreens, you can save a significant amount of money when compared to buying a new cartridge every time it finishes. The accuracy can be slightly reduced, occasionally, you might see some quality drops in the quality of the print, but in most of the case the printing quality would be top-notch or in the other words, it would remain the same as it was. On the other hand, refilling the ink cartridges also helps the environment, as it reduces the waste from packaging and replacement cartridges.

Now, let’s talk about some of the shortcomings of refilling the ink cartridges of your printer. The number of times you can get your cartridges to refill is limited to five to six times as per the estimate of Walgreens. Also, refiling multiple times can also cause the wear and tear of the cartridge which can be seen in the performance and the quality of the printed that the pointer will print using these reused cartridges. Lastly, you should also be aware that the printer manufacturer will not cover any faults occurring to your printer or cartridges, due to the refilling of the inks. Consumer Reports warns both Lexmark and HP include such exclusions in their warranties.

How To Replace the Ink Absorber on a Canon Printer

1. Open your printer in a similar way as you would do to install the new ink cartridges, now, let the cartridge cradle move to the centre of the printing unit. At this point, you will have to unplug or turn off your printer so that the cartridge will remain in the centre position the way you want.
2. Find and locate the black rubber frame which is the waste ink absorber. In most of the Canon printers, it is situated on the right side of your printer, underneath the area where the ink cartridges rest whenever the printer is on standby mode.
3. Don’t forget to use a paper napkin or any other soft material which can be disposed of off later on and absorbent material to soak up any excess ink that may be in the pads by pressing it down onto the top of the frame of the printer.
4. Now, you have to pull the rubber frame free from the printer, make sure to wear gloves in order to keep your hands clean. Carefully remove the ink absorber pad or the pads from the rubber frame.
5. Next, you need to insert the new ink absorber pads firmly into the rubber frame. Also, replace the rubber frame to its original position before you close the printer.
6. Finally, hold down the power button, and while holding the button plug the printer back into the power socket and turn it on. Continue holding the power button down until you see the printer light turns on and the printer begins to reset itself and starts again.
7. Wait for the green coloured light to run off, then you can press and release the power button again. At this moment the printer light should blink for two to three seconds and then it should stay lit, which indicates that the printer has been reset and now it is ready to print again without any errors, with the new filled cartridges.

Where To Refill Printer Cartridges

There are certain places from where you can refill the printer cartridges. Above mentioned Walgreens is one of them apart from that there are a few other options a swell. There are a lot of pros to refilling the cartridges as well. People running small businesses know about how even the small savings can count on big times. The printer ink cartridge has an average price of around $25 for a black colour while the colour cartridge can be somewhere around $45 for tricolour, so maintaining even 4 or 5 printers in an office can be a huge hit on the expense as it isn’t the one-time investment, you will have to regularly maintain it and keep on getting the new cartridges or refill them. Thankfully, we have an option to refill the cartridges and save some money. Below is the process on how you can save some money by refilling the ink cartridges of your printer instead of buying a new one.

1. First, you will have to purchase an ink refill package and then you will have to use the complex method of the injection procedure. The prices for the black colour refill kits are around $10 and for the tricolour kits, the price is around $15. These prices may vary store to store and brands as well, usually refill kits are available at stores like Walgreens, Walmart, Target, Big Lots and more.
2. Approximately more than 3000 Walgreens store across the nation offers 1-hour ink cartridge refill services over the photo counter. On top of that, they offer a very reasonable price for the refill at around $10 for a black colour refill and a $15 refill for a tricolour. Walgreens service also includes a complete cleaning of the cartridge as a print test are a refill to make sure everything is working properly, and the refill mission is a success. As of now, Walgreens provides ink refills for the following printers only: Dell, HP, Lexmark, Okidata, Primera, Sharp and Xerox.
3. Both Office Max and Staples have had services for ink refill of the cartridges in the past. But since every store is different and location varies, which is why these services aren’t available across every store and which is why it is not advertised. For people who want to refill their cartridges from these stores, we would like to give a piece of advice that you should first call the store and check on them whether they provide the ink refill service or not. Apart from this, many stores even offer a recycle drop for used cartridges with a very cheap price tag of around $3 along with some coupons as well, with this, they try to promote the green environment protection gesture.
4. While the staples stores also offer ink refilling service and they offer in both offline and online form, staples like to call it InkDrop. They call it InkDrop because they do a recycle program that sends new ink cartridges to the customers who mail in their empty cartridges using the prepaid envelopes which came with their last new ink purchase. It is a very innovative idea, by mailing the empties back in a timely manner, the customer will never face any ink drying issues with their printers. However, you will have to go to the local Staples store once to get the ink, and the fact that the price of the mailed cartridges is the same via InkDrop as it is in the store makes it a clear winner.

How To Fix a Kodak Printer Not Printing Black Ink

Irrespective of the model of the Kodak printer you have, having the knowledge of how to troubleshoot common everyday issues can save you a lot of headaches, money and problems. As you all know the cost of servicing a Kodak printer are slightly on the higher side. As e all know often black coloured ink is one of the most used ink which is why printers may malfunction and stop printing the specific black ink colour. Well, this doesn’t mean that your printer is irreparably damaged, but instead, it could be an issue with the black printer cartridge that can be easily solved or corrected. Just follow the steps below to try and fix the issue yourself.

1. To start with, first, you need to lift up to open the lid of your Kodak printer and then wait for the print cartridges to come to the centre. Also, do not touch the print cartridge and do not try to move the cartridge manually with your hands, wait for it to do it on its own. If you try to do it manually, then it can damage the printer which may need to replace the whole moving part.
2. Now, you need to lift the cartridge cover and then tilt the black print cartridge forward. After which you need to carefully lift open the black printer cartridge free of the printer. Then you need to set the print cartridge aside and close the printer cover.
3. Next, you need to turn the black print cartridge upside down and then check and observe thoroughly for dried ink and paper dust. As with time, the print cartridge can accumulate debris, and then the debris can cause issues like blockage of the inkjets and it can lead to the cartridge malfunction.
4. You need to clean the bottom of the cartridge, dip a cotton swab in slightly warm water and then carefully clean the bottom of the cartridge till you see all the dried ink and paper dust has been removed. In case, the accumulation of the ink and paper dust is too much, then you can use a cotton swab dipped in isopropyl alcohol instead of water warm.

How To Disable Kodak Ink Monitor

First, you need to disable all Kodak ink notifications, also you will need to disable the Kodak Status Monitor utility, warnings which keeps on nudging the warning about the ink levels of your printer. But after you have disabled all, ink levels won’t display before or after the print process. Do note that if you turn off the Kodak Status Monitor, it will also remove all the reminders against the printer performance and settings. You can access the Kodak status Monitor settings either through the Windows Devices and Printers screen or the Notification Area. Lastly, don’t forget to manually check the ink levels since you have disabled the notifications or if you are seeing a lighter print on paper can lead to low ink levels.

1. First, you need to click on the Start Button and then click the Devices and Printers option.
2. Right-click on your Kodak printer, then click the Properties option.
3. Now, click the Advanced tab, then click the Printer Preferences button.
4. Finally, click the disable Kodak Status Monitor check box, then click on the Ok button to confirm and apply the changes and then you can close the window.

How To Transfer Ink From One Print Cartridge to Another for HP Printers

The HP Printers are said to be one of the best in the market, they use both colour and black ink cartridges in their printers. As usual, the working ma=ehcnaism is the same as the other printed, so if the ink runs low, the cartridges must be replaced or refilled in order to keep the printer running and printing your documents. As discussed earlier, the refilling of the ink cartridges can be fairly cheaper than buying a new cartridge every time you run out of ink. So, if you have a cartridge that you are no longer using, you can extract the ink and then place it into another HP cartridge of the same type.

1. First, you need to place the HP Ink cartridges on a paper towel so that it absorbs any ink spilt.
2. Once absorbed, you need to position the cartridge that contains the ink to be extracted so that label is facing up. After that, you can peel the label off the top of the cartridge to expose the refill holes.
3. Next, you need to insert the syringe needle into the refill hole. Pull the plunger back to extract the ink.
4. In the next step, you need to peel the label off the top of the cartridge to be refilled. Insert the syringe into the refill hole and then slowly inject the ink.
5. Repeat the process once again of extracting the ink and then placing it into the new cartridge until the ink is transferred.
6. Finally, insert the filled cartridge into the HP printer. Then you will have to wait eight hours before printing to give the ink time to saturate the sponge at the base of the cartridge.

Average Cost of Color Copies

The average cost of printing colour copies can vary depending on many different factors. Customers can find discounts by simply going online or by purchasing discounted ink cartridges for a home printer. If you want to go even cheaper try to refill the ink cartridge next time instead of buying a new one. Do keep in mind that the laser printers come with a higher upfront cost, but it may prove more economical in the long run as the last printer tends to last significantly longer than an inkjet cartridge. While other factors that might also be taken into consideration would be the size of the paper, type of per, extra charges for rush delivery services and whether the customer needs single-sided or double-sided copies.

Single or Double

While many services typically charge the same cost for double-sided copies and single-sided copies for printing. The double-sided copies use fewer papers to print, but on the other side, the double-sided printing copies tend to wear down the machine more quickly. For instance, 100 single-sided copies generally cost the same as 50 double-sided copies. According to a price sheet from the Florida Department of management services, single-sided copies at FedEx can cost you around 89 cents per page for up to the first 200 copies. Above the 1000 copies, the cost comes down to 49 cents per page.

Printer Models

Currently, in the market, more than 1000 different printer models are on sale, across different brands and different categories. They come in all types of shape sizes, designs and different technologies are also used in the printing mechanism. Kodak printers tend to have the lowest cost per page of around one cent per page. While the Canon printers are running slightly higher than Kodak by consuming between one and two cents per page. The other infamous brand called Epson 800 has also a very low cost to print per age at around one cent per page. HP printer models have a range between one and two cents per page. While Lexmark printers were among the few printers that are on the higher side at around two cents per page.

Home Users: Laser vs Ink

The Laser printers are usually sold at a higher initial cost, which might prevent some users from buying the laser printer. While a colour laser printer can cost several times the amount of an inkjet model. Basically, a low-end model HP colour LaserJet Pro can cost about 10 times that of the cheapest HP DeskJet 1010 printer. On the other hand, you can pay for the printer once initially and then a laser printer can print between 1500 to 3500 pages per cartridge. Ink-based printers tend to get a[proimately 200 pages per cartridge, so in comparison laserjet printers can run for a lot longer than inkjet printers. An inkjet printer averages about nine cents per page. Laser printers average about five cents per page.

Paper Size and Weight

If you are planning to print on common paper sizes and weights which is used by the industry-standard like 8-1/2-by-11inch, 24-pound sheet, then you can save some money on the average cost of the colour copies. However, if you use a paper size and weight that is unconventional then it can potentially increase the cost of printing the pages. As per our records, in the year 2014 staples were charging around eight times more for a 20-page presentation printed on 28-pound paper when compared to the same presentation being printed on a 24-pound paper. the difference between these two papers is that the 28-pound paper comes with a coil bind that adds up to the total cost of manufacturing the paper, which leads to increasing the overall cost of the project since you are using a premium-style paper. On the other hand, if you need custom paper sizes, then the cost for your project can skyrocket, so make sure to choose the right paper for your project.