There are a fair few people you could learn from when doing what I’m doing. Every somewhat aware person you talk to at Basics about paper sizes could drop you come perspective changing information. I’ve had plenty of these little gems given to me. Yet there was a fatale flaw in the way I saw this knowledge. I always took it as fact, despite the source. I often assumed that someone in a Basics or Staples store must know everything about office supplies. That is just one example, but it applies abroad. I failed to take the information at face value, to understand that their words were not the ‘be all and end all’. For me, I was acting as someone would if they were informed lava was hot. I’ve never encountered the stuff, but I’ll take their work for it.
Still, my mechanic is far more experienced with people selling a product than myself. His one quotation sticks with me. “When talking to someone on any specific topic, assume you’re the smarter one until they prove you wrong.” This could have saved me a fair bit of money since I started this project in September.
I had a reminder of how this is true just today. You see, I had bought $300 worth of toner for my SAMSUNG printer. As I have mentioned time and time again, his printer is designed to keep me paying through the nose, and for the last month, I was terrified I had wasted $300 on toner I wouldn’t be able to use! It took me an eternity to get the proper pieces and cords to get my newest printer up and running. It’s a Minolta, one built in 2002, which is the Stone Age when considering printers. This was its blessing, believe it or not. It was build a while ago, meaning it isn’t as obsesser proof (me) as the SAMSUNG. It has no programming or chip that tells the printer to stop working after a specific number of pages. A cartridge can be refilled at will as many times as I damn well please with no resistance from the printer. In fact, there is a handy little cap on the top of each cartridge that is designed solely for someone so inclined. There was just one problem with this little wonder (really big wonder, actually).
Each printer is built to take a very personal mix of toner. When getting toner for a printer, you always get the personal mix the company insists it needs. Oh, and guess what else. Lava’s hot! My new printer was already low on toner, so it ran out rather quickly. So what did I do? I figured I would took up what mix it would need, and see if I could get a few bottles, practically tripping over the toner I already had on my way to the computer. I have only ever heard that you have to use the right mix of toner for your printer. I have never so much as heard someone suggest otherwise. It then occurred to me. What are the odds those people have tried? I emptied a bottle of SAMSUNG toner into my Minolta cartridge, clipped the thing in place, and ordered it to print. It worked wonderfully, and has continued to do so all day.
As always, assume you’re the smarter. This is only my experience with the lava known as toner. For all I know, my printer will explode the next time I try using it, but I doubt it. I think it’s more likely that my new desktop background it correct. “Toner is toner is toner is toner.” This is an exciting prospect for me, seeing as I know places where they have cartridges on sale for dirt cheap, simply because no one has the model the toner is meant for. I’ll buy as many as I need and cannibalize them for their toner. If you were thinking of doing the same, I would recommend a re-store like ‘Habitat for Humanity’. They have all kinds of stuff from what I hear. If you check one out and there’s nothing there, odds are I beat you to the punch.
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