I LOVED learning that I wasn’t losing my mind, printers are in fact the worst, and are often designed to be the worst. The idea for this episode came from the very insightful and delightful Cory Doctorow, and Nick Fountain and I poured our blood, sweat and tears into making this one, along with our fabulous editor, Molly Messick.

We learned that printer companies have a peculiar business model. They sell printers — these miracles of modern engineering and technology — for extraordinarily cheap. The reason they can do this is because they make up the money elsewhere: Ink sales. The prices they charge for printer ink are extraordinary. At times, the price-per-ounce has topped Russian caviar or fancy champagnes.

Here’s a link to the episode.