Archive for 2008
What is "The Box"?
If you’ve purchased any of our Advantage Brand toner cartridges recently, you may have noticed the cartridge was packaged in “The Box”. The concept behind “The Box” was to create a more useful box; a box that is not covered with obnoxious graphics that can be reused for other applications. We put the company information on the bottom of the box and used took a minimalist approach for product identification. Hopefully we achieved our goal and many of you are finding other uses for “The Box”.
Recycling the corrugated cardboard is preferable to chunking the box in the landfill. But better yet is using the box for storage especially if it keeps you from purchasing a new box.
In addition to using the box to return your toner cartridges for recycling, we plan to offer additional recycling services where you can use the box to recycle batteries, tennis shoes, etc.
We would love to include a free Advantage return label with each toner cartridge like HP does, but it’s just not economically feasible. Especially with increased fuel costs, shipping costs have gone out of control. For certain cartridges that are high in demand, we will provide recycling labels to return the cartridges to Advantage. And we have a huge supply of HP recycling labels. So if you want to recycle your cartridges with HP, just let us know when you order and we’ll include an HP recycling label. Or if you don’t mind paying shipping, we are happy to recycle your cartridges for you, but you’ll have to get the cartridge here on your dime.
We’re pretty particular about the cartridges we remanufacture and for most cartridges we only use”virgin” cartridges, that is cartridges that have never been remanufactured before. We have outlets for non-virgin cartridges as well, so you can be assured any cartridges you send to us will be recycled.
One way or another, be sure to re-use “The Box”. Thanks! -Marvin
Why don’t you make a MICR toner cartridge for my machine?
This is one of the most common questions we are asked. Many times it is asked in frustration and many times our answers leave people feeling empty inside. Ok, maybe not empty inside but companies who want to print checks also want to use the printer they already have.
If you aren’t using a Hewlett Packard or Lexmark monochrome printer, chances are there isn’t a MICR toner available for your machine. Supply and demand dictates where production dollars will be allocated for both the toner cartridge and consumable (cartridge, parts and loose toner) manufacturers. Since HP and Lexmark have a stranglehold on the laser printer industry, companies such as ours will spend money to produce a MICR toner cartridge for those very machines that saturate the market. This trickles down to the loose toner vendors, they too will not create a MICR toner powder for machines that don’t saturate the market.
All you need to do is dump some MICR toner into a cartridge!
I have been quietly to very loudly told this by many customers who think they understand the toner manufacturing industry. We wish it were that simple because it would have saved us a lot of time and money. It is far more sophisticated of a process to make a MICR toner cartridge because not every cartridge takes the same MICR toner. The component parts of a HP 4200 toner cartridge will not work with the MICR toner used in a HP 1100 cartridge and vice-versa. The component parts may also need to be manufactured specifically for MICR printing. There are even more variables that need to be considered, but it would be silly and equally boring to list them all.
So what do you do if you can’t find a MICR toner for your laser printer?
1. Research what MICR toners are available and then buy that machine
2. Buy pre-printed checks
3. Find a company that claims they can produce it.
Buyer Beware- if a company claims to produce a MICR toner for machines other than HP and Lexmark, research that company’s return policy and make sure they have a money back guarantee. We carry some MICR toners for laser printers outside of HP and Lexmark lines however they either have the same engine as a HP/ Lexmark machine or the demand at one point substantiated producing it.
Good luck and Happy Check Printing!
HP Going Green?
HP recently announced a new initiative for green printing. The new initiative includes a new $40 DeskJet printer almost entirely made from recycled plastic and new company goals to make their printers 40% more efficient. HP also plans to triple the recycled materials that are current used in their toner cartridges, laser and inkjet printers. And lastly, HP plans to surpass the 250 million toner and ink cartridges that will be recycled in 2008.
I applaud HP for making the effort. If all business made this effort, the world would be a better place. Going “green” as we have done is not only “the right” thing to do, it’s also good business. In our case we are not only conserving to help the environment, but we’re saving money and feeling great about doing it. We’re saving on everything from an advanced climate control system to analyzing and recycling every possible outflow we can find.
HP is a great business and when I see the enthusiasm about HP’s green program, I just want to remind you, this is not 100% altruistic. When you read HP will recycle 250 million toner and inkjet cartridges, the real goal there is not to recycle them, but to take them out of circulation – again good business practice on HP’s part.
For HP, recycling means separate the components and melt them down to raw materials. This takes energy – a much greener approach is to do what we do, which is to remanufacture the cartridge. In this way the cartridge keeps it’s present form, the imaging system such as drum, developer, wiper blade, doctor blade are replaced (and recycled). But the rest of the cartridge stays intact. HP wants to take cartridges out of circulation, because HP knows that every cartridge they don’t collect for recycling may potentially become a “competitor” in the form of a recycled or remanufactured cartridge.
HP is also releasing a carbon foot print calculator for your laser printer in June, so you can save the world buy upgrading your printer. More on this later. -Marvin
Higher Gas Prices = Fuel Surcharges, but not from us!
We only ship via UPS, and effective June 1, our fuel surcharge from UPS will be 8.5% for ground and 28% (ouch) for air shipments.
We realize times are tight. We will not pass along the increased fuel surcharges on our toner cartridges. Our toner cartridges ship with free UPS ground shipping and we we won’t increase our prices or take away the free shipping. Check paper is a different story, check paper is heavy and and it’s expensive to ship, so we charge actual UPS charges for check paper.
I’m no economist, but… it’s easy to see that virtually every business in the world will be affected by higher transport costs. The “trickle down” effect certainly has the potential to cause significant inflation. We’re doing what we can to stop the increased fuel costs from trickling down to the next level.
On the positive side… higher fuel prices seem to be motivating Americans to make smarter choices with their transportation. The US has enjoyed relatively low fuel prices compared to the rest of the world for some time now. If you ever travel to Europe or Australia, you’ll notice our cars are huge compared to theirs. Higher fuel prices are driving people to bike to work and take mass transit, and relocate closer to their jobs. Here in Atlanta, where the average commute is 32 miles (the highest in the country), people that work downtown are flocking to new intown developments. Urban re-development is booming. If the the time wasted sitting in traffic doesn’t convince them, maybe the gas prices will!
Did you know… on average it takes a pint of oil to make a toner cartridge? So just by buying 8 remanufactured cartridges, you’ll save a gallon of gas and save 40%. Our Advantage brand toner cartridges are remanufactured right here in Atlanta, Georgia and they work great.
New HP MICR Toner Cartridges
Advantage Laser Products is proud to announce the release of THREE new MICR toner cartridges available for immediate shipping! All three of these products are in stock and ready to ship today! In addition we now sell HP MICR Laser Printers.
Premium MICR Toner for HP P4014, P4015, P4510 and P4515
- Page Yield: 10,000 @ 5% Coverage
- Price: $259
- Cost Per Page: 2.59 cents
- HP Part #: CC364A
- Our Part #: RCCC364ANM
Premium MICR Toner P1005 and P1006
- Page Yield: 1,500 @ 5% Coverage
- Price: $120
- Cost Per Page: 8.00 cents
- HP Part #: CB435A
- Our Part #: RCCB435ANM
Premium MICR Toner P1505 and P1505N
- Page Yield: 2,000 @ 5% Coverage
- Price: $130
- Cost Per Page: 6.50 cents
- HP Part #: CB436A
- Our Part #: RCCB436ANM