Why we can’t pay top price for your unused OEMs

Posted in: blog by Jack on 31 July 2009

Several times a week we get calls from folks asking if we’ll buy their unopened OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) cartridges.

Usually it’s because they have been keeping a few backup cartridges on-hand. When their printer dies, they have a few unopened and unused original cartridges. They often paid full retail price for these and are looking for a way to recover a portion of their purchase price.

There are several reasons we cannot buy these at or near their full retail price.

• They are often past the pull date printed on the box
• We cannot know how they were stored or what condition the cartridge may be in
• We cannot resell them as new cartridges since we can’t determine their condition
• We have approved and authorized channels through which we purchase OEM cartridges when we need them, which isn’t often.

People shop at CW San Diego expecting to find quality refilled and remanufactured cartridges at a substantial savings. We seldom get customers looking for OEM product.

As a result, the only value an OEM cartridge has for us is the external shell. To use any OEM cartridge, we first have to clean out all the original manufacturer’s ink or toner before filling it with our own. We do purchase empty cartridges from a variety of sources. Those cartridges we need and that are in excellent condition we give store credits for in the amount of $1 (inkjet) or $3 (laser).

If you have unused OEM cartridges that you’re looking to recoup more than that from selling, we suggest you list them on Craigslist or perhaps your business’s internal bulletin board. There may be someone who would jump at the chance to save a couple of dollars for an original cartridge for their printer.

Top 9 Green-Powered Companies

Posted in: Conservation, blog by Jack on 30 July 2009

The Environmental Protection Agency…just released its list of the top 20 organizations running on “green power“, or energy from solar, wind, and biogas sources.Many of the top purchasers of on-site renewable energy are cities, but we’ve weeded out the non-corporate entities in the list below. Take the rankings with a grain of salt; Kimberly-Clark is ranked first, and as we’ve pointed out before, the company’s fiber-gathering practices are not exactly kosher. At the same time, the lower-ranked Sierra Nevada Brewing Company has other green initiatives going for it. Regardless, it’s encouraging to see so many big names embracing renewable energy.

1. Kimberly-Clark Corporation, 192,730,000 kWh of green power produced annually

2. CalPortland, 50,000,000 kWh

3. BMW Manufacturing Co./Greer, SC Facilities, 27,831,000 kWh

4. Kohl’s Department Stores, 19,126,000 kWh

5. Wal-Mart Stores/California and Texas Facilities, 17,000,000 kWh

6. Johnson & Johnson, 11,626,910 kWh

7. Macy’s Inc./California and Hawaii Stores, 10,400,000 kWh

8. Safeway Inc., 4,500,000 kWh

9. Sierra Nevada Brewing Companies, 4,203,840 kWh

(Source-EPA via Fast Company)

Related articles by Zemanta

• WalMart announces ‘green’ labelling plans (telegraph.co.uk)
• America’s Most Reputable Companies (huffingtonpost.com)
• Drink Beer, Save the Planet (chow.com)

Recycling personal electronics

Posted in: Recycling, blog by Jack on 19 July 2009

Many of our customers ask about recycling their old and unused personal electronics like cell phones and MP3 players.

A new player in the recycling market has an answer. Introducing YouRenew.

Everyday, thousands of people buy and sell electronics. But sooner or later, that new cell phone, mp3 player or other gadget becomes outdated. Unfortunately, there aren’t many places where you can recycle electronics easily, which results in too many electronics ending up in landfills. We’re here to change that.

We’re on a mission to make the planet a better place and provide an easy way for you to sell electronics. We’ve taken away all the hassle associated with selling or recycling your old devices: no accounts, no credit cards, no fees and no shipping costs. Electronics recycling has never been easier!

YouRenew.com is the perfect place for you to recycle or sell used cell phones, mp3 players, digital cameras and graphing calculators. You can also recycle and sell laptops, video game console, external hard drive, video game or DVD. If you can’t find your device in our catalogue or we can’t pay for it, you can always ship it for free and we’ll recycle it safely. So look up your device today, go green and get green! So look up your device today and go green!

Here at YouRenew, we know that reuse is the highest form of recycling, because every item that is reused means one fewer needs to be created. That’s why we strive to prolong the life of functioning electronics that we receive by putting them back to use. If your device is beyond repair, we ensure that it’s recycled in the most environmentally conscious manner possible. No devices we touch go to a landfill and we do not export e-waste. All physical recycling takes place in the U.S.

Follow these simple steps to sell or recycle your used electronics: (1) search for your device, (2) answer a few questions that help us make you an accurate offer, (3) check out and get free shipping!

If your device is worth $0, ship it to us for free and we’ll make sure that it is 100% recycled.

I don’t see how any recycler could make it any easier for us to dispose of our unwanted electronics.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Green Friendly Laptops (ricksrss.com)
• Organised crime targets waste recycling (guardian.co.uk)
• Should manufacturers have to pay for electronics recycling? (dailyfinance.com)
• Costco Pairs With Gazelle for Old Tech Trade-Ins (blogs.wsj.com)

Disable CapsLock (recommended utility)

Posted in: Reviews, blog by Jack on 13 July 2009

There are several small utilities that do a single job and do it extremely well. I’ve recommended a few of these and will post about more in the future.

Have you ever been typing away and accidently hit the CapsLock key with your left little finger, not noticing until you’ve typed out several paragraphs? Frustrating, right?

Well, reader Jeadly of the very popular blog Lifehacker has written a small app that disables the CapsLock key once you click it, and keeps it disabled until you click the Handicapslock icon again. It doesn’t affect the Shift key, just CapsLock.

All you have to do is download the application. There’s no unzipping to be done, the executable file is all there is. If like me this is something you’ll be using on a regular basis, either drag the handicapslock.exe application to your desktop or right-click on it and pin it to the Start menu.

I’ve been using this app for over a year now and find it indispensable. No longer do I have to worry about what my left little finger is doing over there.

Grab yourself a copy at Lifehacker and enjoy. This application works only in Windows.

Related articles by Zemanta

• There’s Finally a Use For the Caps Lock Key [Software] (gizmodo.com)
• NumLocker Disables the Caps Lock Key [Downloads] (lifehacker.com)
• Happy Hacking Keyboard (tablix.org)
• Use Caps Lock for Hand-Friendly Text Navigation [Downloads] (lifehacker.com)
• How To Enable or Disable DEP In Windows XP, Vista? (techblissonline.com)
• Middle-Click to Close Applications from Windows 7′s Taskbar [Windows 7 Tip] (lifehacker.com)
• Nomad.NET is a Powerful, Tabbed File Manager [Downloads] (lifehacker.com)

Print web pages economically

Posted in: blog by Jack on 9 July 2009

CW San Diego has a new feature that enables you to any article or page on our site economically and efficiently. Look at the bottom of any article on this page. See the “Print Friendly” button. Here’s a demonstration of how it works…

For other websites, use Print Friendly’s site to convert that page into a “print friendly” version.

Removing ink stains

Posted in: blog by Jack on 3 July 2009

The following information is provided by Hewlett-Packard:

How to remove ink stains from hands and fabric
NOTE: IMMEDIATELY rinse the stained area with cold water, then follow the appropriate instructions.
To remove ink stains from hands Wash hands with an abrasive (gritty) soap.

To remove ink stains from white fabrics If ink from an HP Inkjet print cartridge spills on white fabric, use chlorine bleach and cold water to remove the stain, but act quickly.CAUTION: Use cold water. Warm or hot water will “set” the color into the fabric.

To remove ink stains from colored fabrics Use sudsy ammonia—a dilute mixture of detergent and ammonia—and cold water. Act quickly and test on an inconspicuous area first.

CAUTION: Use cold water. Warm or hot water will “set” the color into the fabric.WARNING: Do not mix ammonia and chlorine bleach; this creates a toxic gas!

Related articles by Zemanta

• The sad truth about inkjet printers (demystifyingdigital.com)
• Review: HP Officejet 6000 Wireless (macworld.com)
• PC World: ‘Empty’ inkjet cartridges not so empty (macworld.com)