Lexmark Expands Its Return Program

Like any printer manufacturer of sound mind, Lexmark, on one hand, wants its customers to buy original cartridges for Lexmark inkjet printers. On the other hand, the company wants to keep away cartridge ink remanufacturers and refillers.

Along with new wireless printers announced last week, Lexmark expands its Return Program on original ink cartridges compatible with those printers, Kentucy.com reports. Lexmark offers a $4 discount for every cartridge customers would mail back to and not refill elsewhere. If one tries to refill the Lexmark cartridge and then insert it again, a chip on the cartridge will disable it.

This is Lexmark’s attempt to fight remanufacturers and refillers in a battle for a share of printer ink market. According to the article, Lyra Research, a printer industry tracker, estimated inkjet cartridges market for $32 billion in 2006. Remanufacturers and refillers had about 21 percent of the market.