You may of noticed a lack of choice when looking for a new inkjet printer. The situation has been going from bad to worse since the beginning of the year.
There are various reasons for the current supply problems of inkjet printers, most of which are related to Covid-19. Firstly, national lockdowns closed production plants and parts manufacturers, causing a shortage of printer components and microchips. Then in 2020 with much of the population working or staying at home and buying an unprecedented amount of printers, stocks were depleted. Then in 2021 shipping delays further hampered supplies.
Certain manufacturers like Brother, Canon and Epson have been offering a drastically reduced product line of inkjet printers. At the same time Hewlett Packard have continued to offer a wide range of models; albeit with the majority using expensive ink cartridges with combined print heads.
At Premium Inks we bought large stocks of the Canon Pixma TS5051, and the Canon Pixma MG5750 printers late 2020 to early 2021. We are now completely out of stock of these two reliable models; selling our last unit two weeks ago.
As we look for worthy successor(s) to these highly popular and cost effective printers, we appear to have hit a brick wall. The only inkjet printers with a built-on scanner seem to use expensive ink cartridges with built-on printheads. These are the very type of printers which we have encouraged our customers to stay away from for the past twelve years or so. Instead we have sold models with multiple colour replacement ink cartridges. This way customers have the choice to buy either compatible or genuine cartridges.
The current situation means we can only source ‘expensive to run’ printers, or others that I perceive as unreliable and problematic. In other words, the type of printer we normally refuse to stock and offer to our loyal customers. So for the time being, we are encouraging people to wait until 2022, when hopefully production will regain momentum and we will have more choices.