Apparently my new fax/printer/etc. is a gas guzzler. If I’d known that a week ago when I bought it, it might have been a deal-breaker. So I’m glad I didn’t know, because other than the fact that it demands a new ink cartridge after only one week of use, I love the machine. It does everything better than any I’ve ever had, except for that one flaw.

When I woke up this morning the machine showed that a fax had been received, but it refused to print it because I was out of ink. I made an unplanned trip to the office supply store and was pleasantly surprised to discover that the ink cartridges are much cheaper than the ones for my old machine. It’s a good thing, considering how likely I am to have to replace them often.

After I came home and replaced the cartridge, page upon page came spewing out. The first ten pages were a quote I knew the Boss was waiting for, so I phoned him and he told me he already had it. Why the supplier faxed the quote to me in the first place I have no idea. I don’t do any construction estimating here; all I do is pay the bills. For that I need an invoice.

I’m still thrilled with the new machine, and it makes me hungry for more. Unfortunately (for my hunger, anyway), I probably don’t even need a new copier, because the fax/printer/etc. makes copies many times faster than the old one did. The Boss wants me to spend money to keep the office working efficiently, but I hate to do it just for the sake of doing it. I could use a new, high-speed paper shredder, I suppose. That’s another machine that gets quite a workout around here.

I’m guessing the smaller ink tanks contribute somehow to the superior quality of the printing that I get out of the new machine. At least, I’d like to think so. Otherwise, it would be a matter of a deliberately designed inconvenience, and what engineer would want to put their name on something like that? I know if I were designing a product, I’d want it to be perfect in every possible way. But maybe that’s just me.