Must Stop Bleeding...... RED INK

Don't you hate finding out that you bought something that you could have bought much cheaper somewhere else?

Well, I have a similar story, but not exactly. In this case, I knew that there was a better deal out there, and meant to find out, and for the longest time, I didn't.

Specifically, what I'm talking about is... printer ink.

I heard somewhere that you could purchase ink cartridges online, and I also heard that they were less expensive than buying them locally. And I *always* meant to look into it... and then I'd run out of ink, and just run down to my local Staples and buy more "just this last time."

Well, the difference was that I had a new printer, which gave me an early warning that I was running out of ink. So THIS time, I had some time. Online I went, and Googled "printer ink canada"... and voila. I found a place that let me order ink, and ship it for $5.99 no matter how much I bought.

So... my new printer has separate cartridges for each colour - black, magenta, cyan, and yellow. So I ordered two of each cartridge. I placed the order online on a Saturday morning, and they were in my mailbox by Wednesday (and the ink didn't even need to be replaced for another two weeks).

But here's the painful part. I went online to the website of the Staples where I normally bought my ink, and did a little price comparison. They sell the original Canon cartridges, as well as their own brand of compatible cartridges. I calculated how much it would cost me to buy two of each colour cartridge, either Canon or generic cartridges.

To buy all Canon cartridges at my local Staples, tax included, would have run me $169.00.

To buy the compatible cartridges at Staples, would have cost me $145.00.

Do you know how much it cost me, including taxes and shipping, from the place I got them online?

Thirty-nine bucks!!!!! Can you believe that?

Which makes me very happy. Kind of. But it also kind of makes me cry.

I just CAN'T HELP thinking about ALL THE TIMES I spent OUTRAGEOUS amounts of money because I couldn't be bothered taking the time to do it online.

But at least I've done it. I've broken the cycle. Now I'm ahead of the game.

But man, I sure wish I had some of that money back.

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BTW, the place here in Canada I ordered them is www.piloshop.ca.