Refills give an inkling of a rip-off

FROM MY CORNER ... with Ann Brunswick

In one of my recent columns mention was made of my inability to print out a document on my home computer because of low or zero ink levels.

Just a few days ago a trip to a stationery outlet remedied that problem. But at a cost, as usual. It has always amused, amazed, and annoyed me that over time the cost of home printers has come down while the cost of replacement ink cartridges has gone up and their size has shrunk.
In other words we are all paying more for less ink. That also means it now doesn’t take the printing of many pages to run cartridges dry. At the stationery store brand-name replacements for my particular printer cost almost $50 for a pack containing black, cyan, magenta, and yellow cartridges.
A generic brand was available for just under $43. So guess which one ended up in my shopping basket? But even allowing for the $7 saving, ink is still a pricey item. But it is hard to do comparison shopping because the quantities of ink in each pack is never easy to see among the fine print on each package.
In some cases it is doubtful there is any such information on the pack at all as far as my eyes would testify. If you really want to get an idea of how much you are overpaying for printer ink, grab a calculator.
The $43 pack that refilled my printer contained one 20ml cartridge of black ink and three 9ml cartridges of the other required colours. So that’s a grand total of 47ml. Now you do the maths. The 47ml of ink in the four cartridges cost $43. In other words, around $914 a litre. Not even the oil companies can match that.

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Well, it’s official. Former premier Peter Beattie is set to return to active political life when he ends his tenure as our state’s trade representative in Los Angeles.

Not only that, he has signalled to current premier Anna Bligh that his old LA post should be scrapped. Apparently he has generated something like $897 billion worth of business for our state. Maybe those aren’t the exact figures reported in the mainstream media. But it’s pretty much as sure thing that the figure would be pretty close to the one cited by Mr Beattie himself if you asked him.
Nevertheless, The Australian newspaper quoted Mr Beattie as saying he had “opened all the doors he could for Queensland firms and investment into the state from Canada, the US and Latin America, and it was time to move on”.
So, no need to fill the post after he leaves one would assume. Quite a saving for taxpayers there, it would seem. But back to his announcement of his planned return to the political arena.
The Australian also quoted Mr Beattie as saying he was not interested in any role in politics. When pressed on the point by reporters he added “Trust me”, according to our national broadsheet.
Most Queenslanders accustomed to translating Beattie-speak know by now what he would mean when he said he had no further political ambitions. Pretty much like they know what he meant when he said he would refuse to take any government job when he quite the premiership, just months before packing his bags for LA.
Or when he said we would all be paying less for our electricity by now. Or when he said ..... Oh, you can just fill in the many blanks.

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Last week saw me at lunch with a few gal pals at a near-city eatery. One of my table companions arrived a little later than the rest of us after having been delayed at a previous engagement.

When she sat down the efficient wait staff asked if she wanted something to drink while she perused the menu. Yes, she did, a glass of water. The wait person then informed us that that particular outlet did not supply water by the glass – meaning they did not supply water for free – but bottled water was available at a cost. Well, my friend rejected that idea out of hand. And so she should have.
Why do so many eateries refuse to supply cold water free to their patrons and instead insist on selling it in plastic bottles. As you know there is a whole other argument about the alleged environmental impacts of bottled water.
But the simple fact is that the cost of “free” water – staff time, chilling, glass and bottle supplies, washing-up and the like – could and should all be factored into an eatery’s operating costs.
A lot of cafes and restaurants already charge corkage and cakeage when customers bring their own wines or baked goods to eat. What’s next? Will we all be paying waterage if we bring our own supply? Next it will be chairage just to sit down to eat, forkage if we want cutlery, and wipeage for toilet paper.