Can you save money on ink for your printer? Bloomberg Boot Camp, a report on today's technology. Cartridges for ink jet printers are so expensive…consumers are trying lots of ways to try to save money. There are companies that sell off-brand cartridges online….or kits to try to refill cartridges. If you try those kinds of things….the phrase to remember is… results may vary. Staples is now offering another alternative….its own branded cartridges for popular printers that it claims are up to the same standards as those made by HP, Epson or Canon. And says Senior VP for Staples Brands Jevin Eagle….they are 15 percent cheaper….

"If you were to just buy one HP cartridge black ink, another color ink to fit in your printer and a pack of photo paper…if that was all Hewlett Packard brand at Staples you would spend a little bit over a hundred dollars. And if you bought Staples brand, you would get the same quality but you would save a 20 dollar bill."

Printer makers have been touting new higher quality, longer lasting inks in an effort to maintain customer loyalty. Eagle says…

"As a general rule, the remanufactured products and the store brands do have inferior quality. We do extensive quality testing and we work directly with the component suppliers. So the ink suppliers..the pigment and the dye supplier…to make sure that all this works well."

That's the claim. There's no way to know for sure yet…how the brands will match up in the longevity of your home printed digital photos. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I'm Fred Fishkin.