The Ink Cartridge Conundrum and Our Take On Economic Stimulii

Let's face it....replacement ink cartridges for your printer aren't very glamorous or exciting, are they? That is, until you need one, then they become a driving force in your life. Ever run out of ink in mid-print? Aaaargh! Whether at the office or at home, running out is a real pain in the keester.

Printer ink cartridges are a hot topic here at WFS lately. We used to be able to buy them a lot more inexpensively than we're able to now, because our former vendor of office products went out of business last year. Could be because the ink cartridge prices were so low. We had to find a replacement vendor but their prices aren't as attractive as the other company's, but such is life in office products and supplies. If you're not Staples, Office Depot or Target, forget it....unfortunately, our prices will never be as good because we'll never have the volume of shoppers these stores have. They buy in huge amounts so therefore can offer the cartridges at a low price, even though the margins are slim. That's the short explanation of why our prices are higher than the chain stores, depressing though it may be. I'm sure you've noticed the hike in cartridge prices and, God love you all, you've been buying them anyway. We appreciate the support very much.

However, yesterday a gentleman came in that needed two HP printer ink cartridges, one color and one black. Combined, the total for both was over $100.00! He was stunned and I was ashamed. Ashamed? Yes, indeed I was....during the midst of a bad recession how can we be selling these things at such a high price? Trying to explain it, like I did above, to customers in the store doesn't work well. Not too many people understand, or care, that we buy these things at a higher cost. Traditionally, the margins (what we buy them for vs. what we sell them for) are slim, like I mentioned above. I'm going to break a retailer's rule here (Retail Rule #28 - never tell the public what your margins are) by letting you know that in the past, Webster's was making anywhere from $5.00 to $15.00 per cartridge sold. That's not very much, considering the amount they sold. And since the split of the stores 2 years ago, we're selling even less than that. It's a definite conundrum, you see....lower the prices to try to compete with the chain stores and make very little on the sale or raise the prices and feel like a highway robber? Neither option is very attractive to us.

Therefore, for the month of July, we're offering printer ink cartridges at 20% off! That's our little offering of an economic stimulus for our customers. We'll take the hit on our margins to ease the hit on your pocketbook. There is a catch, though - we'd like to start an ink cartridge buyer's club and we need your email address. That's all....your email address for 20% off our ink cartridges. Pretty fair trade, don't you think?

I'd like to thank that gentleman who came in yesterday. We weren't able to make him happy, but because of him we're trying to do something to make you happy. We all love being happy, right? Come in today and let us make you happy!