If I use a non-OEM Laser cartridge in my printer - will it void my printer warranty?

Many of us know that remanufactured or compatible toner cartridges are an inexpensive replacement for cartridges used in HP, Brother, Lexmark and Canon printers, but many consumers don't use them because they are afraid they will void their printer warranty. Is using recycled or compatible cartridges illegal or against the law? Will inexpensive printer cartridges cause you to legally lose your printer warranty?

The marketing departments at top printer companies have been trying to scare their customers away from using non-OEM printer cartridges for years. "They don't work," they might say or, "Remanufactured cartridges will break your printer." Why would big companies like this say such things if there weren't a legitimate reason? Well, there is a reason why big printer brands want to discourage you from buying refilled or remanufactured ink and toner cartridges, and it's a pretty obvious one. If you buy ink and toner from generic aftermarket third party manufacturers, you won't need to buy the more expensive printer supplies from the company that made your printer, meaning they lose money and profits.

I started out in this business with Ko-Rec-Type in 1988 and my main focus of business at that time was printer and typewriter ribbons. Every week I would hear from someone that compatible ribbons would damage the equipment. However as the years passed and fewer of these machines were being introduced and the business was transitioning to ink and toner, these issues faded. To the point where the quality of these products were never questioned. Why? Because the OEM manufacturers were no longer interested in the ribbon business and had stopped with their "fear" messages about the quality of non-OEM ribbons. In essence - they had already made their $$$ on the aftermarket supplies. The quality of the ribbon products from KRT were no different than they were in previous years - yet the previous concerns were gone.

Printer companies will definitely try to talk you out of buying remanufactured ink and toner cartridges, but they will never outright tell you that you can't. Buying recycled and compatible cartridges is not illegal. In fact, thanks to the Magnuson Moss Warranty Improvement Act, it's actually against the law in the US for printer brands to void your printer warranty for buying or using compatible printer cartridges. The Magnuson Moss Warranty Improvement Act is an actual US law that protects consumer rights in regards to manufacturer warranties, including desktop inkjet and laserjet printers. (“Magnuson Moss Warranty Improvement Act United States Code Annotated Title 15 Commerce and Trade Chapter 50 Consumer Product Warranties 15 Sections 2302.” ) Here's an excerpt from the law that specifically applies to the use of generic or third party parts in name brand appliances.

“No warrantor of a consumer product may condition his written or implied warranty of such product on the consumer's using, in connection with such product, any article or service (other than article or service provided without charge under the terms of the warranty) which is identified by brand, trade or corporate name.”

 

Using remanufactured or compatible printer toner cartridges is legal and cannot invalidate your printer warranty, no matter what the brand.

 

 

For more information on Ink, Toner and Ribbon products - visit the Genuine Supply Source website at: http://www.genuinesupply.ca/home.php . Feel free to contact me directly if you would like more information.

 



 



Use “Mind Management” not “Time Management”

Focusing on "Mind Management".

A colleague of mine, Jonathan Creaghan, has provided me with a series of articles on leadership, sales and time management. I will be running these articles periodically - so check in for updates. For more information on Jonathan - see his bio at the end of this article. JF

Article #1 – Solutions for the Human Side of Business - By: Jonathan Creaghan

“Focusing on mind management has a significant impact on your productivity”

What if you could save accumulated minutes to find hours during the week, how would you use that extra time?   

In our “get’er done now” world of limited resources, it’s time to come at the problem of managing time from a completely different perspective.

Finding tiny moments of lost time are the key to getting more done. Sure you will have your list of things you want to accomplish each day. But that presupposes that what is on your list needs to be there. So let’s get deeper with things.

 

Look for lost minutes

You’re deep into a project when you hear your email go off, you look up absentmindedly and see that it’s from someone you have not got along with lately.  Annoyed, you read the email and interpret it as “snarky”, and spend the next couple of minutes re-reading it just to confirm your thoughts.  Lost minutes: 5

As you don’t want to be too impetuous, you spend the few minutes formulating your response, letting it sit on the screen as you read it over. Lost minutes: 5

You suddenly, and impetuously, hit <send>, which you instantly regret. The guilt and other emotions that you have tied up, mean that getting back to work takes a little time.  Say 5 or more minutes

The email sits in the back of your mind as you try and refocus on your project. You eventually do return to your original task, but it takes time. Say another couple of minutes.  

Total time so far: at least17 minutes.  That’s seventeen minutes you will never get back simply because you perceived an email poorly. Your mind got the better of you.

I shared this story with a VP of Sales the other day, he said I was being kind and little too conservative with the time.  He has taken emails home with him and stewed on them all night.  In which case we are looking at hours of lost time, but I appreciated his honesty.
 

So HOW do you save minutes to find hours?

·         Change your perception and find time

Make sure you see what is going on around you clearly and accurately. As the story shows, there is a connection between misperception, storytelling, interpretation of situations, and time.

·         Change your thinking and find time

Believe it or not, but a thought takes time. Sometimes being fixated causes poor thinking and can distract you, disconnecting you from what you are doing, wasting more time. This is easily demonstrated if you are in discussion with someone and you get lost in a thought, requiring that you ask them to repeat themselves. You wasted time, they wasted time, and you slowed down the message being communicated.

·         Stay present to the situation

Staying in the moment you get more done. Your mind can focus efficiently which translates into effective behaviors and performance improves.  If you have ever played sports, you know how important being in the moment can be, and not letting your ‘chattering mind’ get in the way.

·         The end result

People who practice mind management, have more time at the end of the week for activities and for others who are important to them. 

 

Focusing on mind management has a significant impact on workplace effectiveness. 

Go to ‘Getting More Done’ and ‘Mind Management’ to learn more 

 

Copyright © 2014, Jonathan Creaghan all rights reserved 

 

 

Jonathan Creaghan helps clients transform themselves and their workplaces.  He believes that businesses ultimately succeed or fail because of the human factor.  He teaches people to think differently, to see reality with fresh eyes when solving issues that impede them, whether personal or business.  Jonathan provides “Solutions for the Human Side of Business”. 

 

Jonathan is the author of several books including Duxter’s Leap! and the Thinking Differently® Leadership series  which includes Thinking Differently® about… Getting More Done.  His books are published around the globe in several languages.

For more information  on  Jonathan Creaghan:

-        www.Jonathancreaghan.com

-        Jonathan@jonathancreaghan.com

-        519.472.2562

 

 

 

 

Hospital elevator buttons coated with more bacteria than bathroom surfaces

I saw this story in the Montreal Gazzette and thought it was for our industry:

Hospital elevator buttons coated with more bacteria than bathroom surfaces

TORONTO - You might want to use an elbow to push the elevator button the next time you are in a hospital.

A new study suggests that elevator buttons in hospitals have more bacteria on them than surfaces in public bathrooms in hospitals.

Analysis of the swabs taken in the study found most of the bugs were benign. But that might not always be the case, said senior author Dr. Donald Redelmeier.

And where people — hopefully — wash their hands after going to the bathroom, they might not think to take the same precaution after doing something as simple as pushing a button to call an elevator and another to select a floor.

"The motivation here is they" — elevator buttons — "are ubiquitous inside hospitals, they're active really every moment of the day and they're touched by multiple people and it's almost always with ungloved hands," said Redelmeier, who is director of clinical epidemiology at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto.

"It's a theoretic risk. But the main point here is that it's also an avoidable risk through hand hygiene."

While elevator buttons are certainly among the surfaces hospital cleaners target, they are touched so often, by so many people, that it's a bit of a losing battle.

"They can't be cleaned again and again and again, every second of the day," Redelmeier said. "Once they're clean, they don't stay clean very long."

With the rise of antibiotic resistant bacteria and outbreaks of C. difficile diarrhea, concern about infection control in hospitals has grown in recent years. As a result, numerous studies have been conducted to identify where bacteria hide in hospitals and how they are transmitted to patients.

Studies have found bacterial contamination on neckties worn by male doctors, lab coats, stethoscopes, curtains separating beds in multiple-bed rooms, computer keyboards as well as smart phones and digital tablets health-care workers use to enter and check patient data.

But equipment is generally in the hands of health-care workers. And hospital staff are regularly bombarded with messages about the need to observe good infection control practices such as washing hands between patients.

Hospital visitors and even patients themselves may have less of an idea that they could play a role in moving bacteria around hospitals, Redelmeier acknowledged.

For the study, swabs were taken from 120 different elevator buttons and 96 toilet surfaces in three different hospitals in Toronto. Swabbing was done on weekdays and weekends, and a variety of elevator buttons were tested. As well, the public washrooms closest to the elevators were also tested, with swabs taken of the door handles on the inside and outside of the main door, the latch used to close cubicle doors and the toilet flush handle or button.

Sixty-one per cent of the elevator buttons tested were colonized with bacteria, compared to 43 per cent of the toilet surfaces tested.

Redelmeier said people should consider using an elbow, a pen or some other item to push elevator buttons in hospitals, or make sure they use hand sanitizer after exiting an elevator. He and his co-authors suggested hospitals should put sanitizer dispensers in elevators.

When washing hands or using cleansing gel, people should remember to pay particular attention to fingertips — especially the forefinger of the dominant hand, he said.

"Often when people use a hand cleanser, they're very good at washing their palms, but not their fingertips. And yet most of the transmission does not occur in the middle of the hand, it occurs at the periphery of the hand."

The study was published in the journal Open Medicine.

____________________________________________________________________________


Elevator buttons - never thought of how dirty these would be but it makes sense. This article also mentions keyboards - an obvious collecting point for germs.

Did you know that Vision Global Media markets the "Kleen Keys" keyboard? A keyboard that is completely sealed in silicon and can be cleansed with high powered, hospital tested chemicals - like "Virox" - the agent that helped eradicate "SARS" at Toronto hospitals a decade ago. Have you thought about taking a product like this into your local medical professionals? Perfect item for medical clinics, doctor's and dentist offices.

 

 

 

Basic Black

What's the most popular colour in the Office Product industry? Black

Go through any catalogue and all you see is Black - from chairs, to desks, to portfolios, to staplers, to pens - everything is in Black. Now Black is fine colour........er' shade. It denotes strength and power. But really - are all your customers only interested in Black?

Which begs the question, who is the typical Office Product buyer? A whole lot of product merchandising decisions are being made by people like me - "White, Middle Aged Males". However I would argue that the typical OP commercial buyer is probably someone a whole lot younger and more than likely female. So shouldn't our product decisions take into account the buying demographic? Have there been any studies done that outline what this consumer wants and is attracted too? Do they really want Black and only Black? Or perhaps they might like Red or Green or Purple or some other colour in the spectrum.

Did you know that all colours have a specific meaning and bring to mind certain traits? It's something to keep in mind when choosing what colours you want to feature in your products.

The spectrum:

Yellow - is the color of sunshine. It's associated with joy, happiness, intellect, and energy.
Yellow produces a warming effect, arouses cheerfulness, stimulates mental activity, and generates muscle energy. Yellow is often associated with food. Bright, pure yellow is an attention getter, which is the reason taxicabs are painted this color. In heraldry, yellow indicates honor and loyalty.
Use yellow to evoke pleasant, cheerful feelings.

Orange - is associated with joy, sunshine, and the tropics. Orange represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement, and stimulation.
To the human eye, orange is a very hot color, so it gives the sensation of heat. Nevertheless, orange is not as aggressive as red. Orange increases oxygen supply to the brain, produces an invigorating effect, and stimulates mental activity. It is highly accepted among young people. As a citrus color, orange is associated with healthy food and stimulates appetite. Orange is the color of fall and harvest. In heraldry, orange is symbolic of strength and endurance.

Red - is a very emotionally intense color. Red is the color of fire and blood, so it is associated with energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination as well as passion, desire, and love.  It enhances human metabolism, increases respiration rate, and raises blood pressure. It has very high visibility, which is why stop signs, stoplights, and fire equipment are usually painted red. In heraldry, red is used to indicate courage. It is a color found in many national flags. This color is also commonly associated with energy.

Green - is the color of nature. It symbolizes growth, harmony, freshness, and fertility. Green has strong emotional correspondence with safety. Dark green is also commonly associated with money.
Green has great healing power. It is the most restful color for the human eye; it can improve vision. Green suggests stability and endurance. In heraldry, green indicates growth and hope. Green means safety; it is the color of free passage in road traffic.

Blue - is the color of the sky and sea. It is often associated with depth and stability. It symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, and heaven. Blue is considered beneficial to the mind and body. It slows human metabolism and produces a calming effect. Blue is strongly associated with tranquility and calmness. In heraldry, blue is used to symbolize piety and sincerity. As opposed to emotionally warm colors like red, orange, and yellow; blue is linked to consciousness and intellect. Blue is a masculine color; according to studies, it is highly accepted among males. Dark blue is associated with depth, expertise, and stability; it is a preferred color for corporate America.

Purple - combines the stability of blue and the energy of red. Purple is associated with royalty. It symbolizes power, nobility, luxury, and ambition. It conveys wealth and extravagance. Purple is associated with wisdom, dignity, independence, creativity, mystery, and magic.
According to surveys, almost 75 percent of pre-adolescent children prefer purple to all other colors. Purple is a very rare color in nature; some people consider it to be artificial.

White - is associated with light, goodness, innocence, purity, and virginity. It is considered to be the color of perfection. White means safety, purity, and cleanliness. As opposed to black, white usually has a positive connotation. White can represent a successful beginning. In heraldry, white depicts faith and purity.

Black - is associated with power, elegance, formality, death, evil, and mystery.
Black is a mysterious color associated with fear and the unknown. It usually has a negative connotation (blacklist, black humor, 'black death'). Black denotes strength and authority; it is considered to be a very formal, elegant, and prestigious color. In heraldry, black is the symbol of grief.

Source: http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-meaning.html

Lots of colours to consider and each one gives your product a specific meaning. Not every car on the road is Black so why should every office product be Black?

Here some examples of Colour that can brighten up any Office:

Tombow Mono Retro Correction Tapes - Aqua, Kiwi, Rose and Lavender

 

Or why not add a little "whimsy" to your product choices? Everybody needs a USB drive, why not make a personal statement with these fun 8GB drives?

 

 

Your customers are individuals - so let them express themselves! Doctors, Nurses, Golfers, Runners, Fashionistas, Music Aficionados, - they're all covered, plus many more styles to choose from.

 

 

Not everyone wants just Black - so keep that in mind when making your product choices.