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Printer Ink More Expensive Than Blood
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Rob - 08:11am on 11/04/2006

...hence Twain’s admonition not to pick fights with people who buy their ink by the barrel!

Proof - 10:11am on 11/04/2006

Inkjet printes are the least economical printers there are.  That’s why they are so cheap.  Unless you have a burning need for color, get a good monochrome laser and it will be far cheaper in the long run.

Steve L. - 02:11pm on 11/04/2006

I pay $0.61 per mL of human blood.  Still less than the ink, but not by much.  $275 for a unit which is about 450mL depending upon which anticoagulant is chosen.  Plus shipping.  We pay employees $15 a stick and usually take 5-10 tubes, which is cheaper. We drew over 8 gallons of blood from 40 donors in over 4000 tubes last year.  Almost a quarter mile of tubes end to end if I remember correctly.  That is on top of a unit per week from Memorial Blood Centers and also all of their under and overfills from the donor pool.  I also buy a few gallons of cow blood on site from the slaughter house when we run short of human blood.

I am totally afraid of needles but had to confront that and become a phlebotomist.  Pretty gross, huh.

RealManOfGenius - 02:11pm on 11/04/2006

This is what I love about blogging.  No matter what subject you post on, there always seems to be some intelligent person out there with some first-hand knowledge of the subject at hand.

Thanks RMOG.

Rob - 02:11pm on 11/04/2006

Another example of “giving away the razors to make money on the razor blades.”

Kevin - 03:11pm on 11/04/2006

hmmm...I’ll just have to start writing my essays in blood. Or, I could just buy a cheap new printer each time I need a cartridge and sell it on ebay when done. I haven’t thought much about laser printers though because I’ve also seen that the cartridges can be expensive, and I hardly use mine right now. I just like the combination print/copy/scan/fax buttons (which come in handy for study groups, etc)

So...does anyone have a blood cartridge that will fit in this printer of mine? I think my teacher will be enjoying all 12 pages of it!

student student - 07:11pm on 11/04/2006
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