HP 940 Ink Cartridge Combo Packs Discontinued
I have a HP OfficeJet Pro 8500 Wireless multi-function printer which is over ten years old, and it still works well. It gets a fair amount of use, but I don’t need to replace the ink cartridges more than two or three times a year and typically I don’t go through an entire 500-sheet ream of paper within that period.
Every couple of years when the print quality degrades and routine maintenance doesn’t resolve the issue, I’ll buy a new set of genuine HP 940 printheads and replace the old printheads which give the printer new life and another couple of years. Granted the printheads aren’t exactly cheap but why replace the entire printer if it still works well.
Recently, I noticed duplexing no longer works properly (pages print out of order) if it’s more than two pages. It’s probably related to a software or driver issue or incompatibility, but I haven’t been able to resolve the issue through re-installing the printer software and/or updating the printer drivers. Though it’s unfortunate duplexing doesn’t work properly anymore, it hasn’t quite gotten me to the point of looking at new printers.
More recently, I had to purchase ink cartridges for the printer and noticed Staples listed one of the combo packs as “Discontinued Soon” and the other as “Discontinued” on their website which got me to thinking that first, I need to get a set of replacement ink cartridges ASAP and secondly, I may need to start looking at new printers.
Just to note, I was able to get the HP 940 combo three pack (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow) at a local Staples store but had to purchase the black cartridge (high yield) separately.
From what I can tell, it seems only the combo packs (the HP 940 three pack which includes Cyan, Magenta and Yellow cartridges and the HP 940 four pack which includes Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black cartridges) may be discontinued soon or have already been discontinued except for any remaining unsold stock. The individual cartridges seem to still be available. I couldn’t find anything official from HP but on the official HP Online Store, the HP 940 ink cartridges are only available individually (no combo packs).
You may ask, what’s the big deal?
Well, the combo packs offered a substantial savings over buying the individual ink cartridges … around $20-30 in cost-savings. Furthermore, if the combo packs are being discontinued or have already been discontinued, it may be a precursor for the discontinuation of the HP 940 ink cartridges altogether. The HP 940 cartridges are compatible with the HP OfficeJet Pro 8000 and 8500 series printers; both of which have long been discontinued. If the HP 940 cartridges are discontinued, it won’t really matter how well the printer continues working as there will no longer be compatible genuine ink cartridges to use with the printer.
Granted, there may be third-party ink cartridges which you could potentially use. Given the printer is already long out-of-warranty, the risk of voiding your warranty by using third-party ink cartridges doesn’t really apply and if the third-party ink cartridges damage the printer, it’s not as big an issue as you would need to replace the printer any way if you only used genuine HP ink cartridges which by then may have been discontinued. Personally, I prefer sticking with genuine HP ink rather than third-party ink.
If you have an HP OfficeJet Pro 8000 or 8500 series which uses genuine HP 940 ink cartridges and your printer is still working well, consider getting an extra set of ink cartridges … combo packs if you can still find stock. I certainly wouldn’t stock up excessively as the printer is over ten years old so you never know when it might give way. You don’t want to be left with any surplus of new HP 940 ink cartridges if your printer decides to suddenly give out … been there, done that with another printer years ago!
Lastly, if you haven’t already, you might want to start looking into new printers just in case … I certainly will!
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