William Sommerwerck scribbled...


"Jeff Liebermann" wrote in message
...

Drivel: One of my customers recently cleaned up his garage and gave
me 5 different HP inkjet printers to recycle. They ranged in age from
about 10 to 2 years ago. All of them had some stupid problem relating
to cheap construction, crappy drivers, miserable firmware, and leaky
ink carts. My favorite are the ones that claim the ink has "expired"
even though the cartridge is full.

I have no hesitation in expressing my support of large, intrusive government.
And this is one of those case where it's needed.

There ought to be laws regulating the quality of merchandise -- specifically,
how long products should last. * This would do a great deal to reduce waste
and short-term "techno-churn". (Ink-jet printers aren't the only lousy
consumer product. Toasters are generally junk. And let's not talk about shoe
laces.)

The problem is that setting up a regulatory agency to do this bothers me --
yes, bothers me -- because such regulation shouldn't be needed. Businesses
should care enough about quality to make "sturdy" products without having to
be forced to do so. And there was a time -- before so much manufacturing got
outsourced to China -- that they did so.

The only solution is for customers to start complaining loudly and long.

* Technically, there is. The common law warranty of implied merchantability
requires products to be of average for their type. Of course, when every
product in a category is junk, the average sinks to a very low level.


Vote with your wallet, don't buy inkjets.