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Comment by derekp7 | Hacker News Reader

The catch is that you don't get the printer for $50 bucks. You pay the actual price for the printer, since it isn't subsidized by ink sales.

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Theres also plenty of modification kit available to install those tanks on regular cartridge printers. That way you can still get the cheap printers, though it is considered an "unauthorized modification", so you can forget about warranties and such..

You saying this made me realize that buying an inkjet printer is akin to buying a phone with a contract - crazy.

Razors and razor blades

I've never understood this example.

A razor without the blade is just a handle. All the engineering is in the blades. Of course the handle is cheap and the blades are expensive.

In this specific case it’s about margins. They sell the razors (and starter packs) at cost then make all the money selling high margin blades. Quantity of engineering isn’t relevant, they’ve got their production lines well and truly set up, now they just hit “run” and "overcharge" you. That’s why dollar shave club exists. Even Harry’s bought an existing maker of blades in Germany.

This is evidenced by the fact that safety razors sell in 100-packs for $15 on Amazon ($0.15 each) while a 15-pack of Mach 3 cartridges (the simplest/oldest variety AFAIK) sells on Amazon for $22 ($1.45 each). Unless you're suggesting that the "engineering" it took for them to sell you 1.5 safety razors in a piece of plastic is worth 10X the price of the blades alone, I'd posit that's where the margin is.

I wonder what the lifespan of the printers are.

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