Buy a new all-in-one printer or keep the old one

In an economic quandry: To buy a new all-in-one printer or keep the old one? Have you seen the latest OfficeDepot specials where you can buy this all-in-one HP printer for only $104.99? It normally sells for $149.99, but for a limited time, you can save $45.00. Personally, that $104.99 price makes it mighty tempting to me.

You see, I have an all-in-one printer that can also scan and fax. It's an Epson RX-500. I love my all-in-one, BUT, it costs me more than $104.99 for the 6 OEM ink cartridges. I'm into being green and eco-friendly, so I do recycle all those OEM cartridges for a whopping $0.50/each. CompUSA used to give me $3.00 a piece, but stopped that practice a couple of years ago. Some of my friends have their cartridges refilled, but I prefer the OEM cartridges.

This is what doesn't make any sense to me: You can get that brand new all-in-one HP printer for only $104.99 AND it come with INK, of course. Or, you can simply keep your old Epson printer and restock it with ink cartridges that cost you MORE than $104.99. What would you do?

Let me see, I can probably donate the Epson RX-500 to Goodwill if they will take it. You see, the last time we tried to donate our computer and monitor, there was a big sign at the local donating station: "NO COMPUTERS OR MONITORS." One of my former coworkers Gary says he has a bunch of 'old' printers stacked up some place in a corner. "Hey, it's cheaper to buy a new one rather than restock the old one with ink."

Hey, it's an economic quandry in this day and age when we are looking at where we can cut costs.