Cartridge World
Description:
Cartridge World is the world leader in printer cartridge refilling and remanufacturing.
Opportunities:
Franchises available in the U.S., Canada and several countries internationally.
Business Type:
Franchise.
Minimum Investment:
$117,100.
Training Provided:
Yes.
Home-based:
Yes.
A Business That Helps Customers Save Money And Save The Environment
The costliest part of operating a printer is replacing the ink cartridge.
February 14, 2008
You may not be aware of it, but most printer cartridges can be remanufactured, refilled and reloaded.
“It’s like a car. When you buy a car, you don’t throw the car away because the tank is empty. You refill your petrol tank,” says H.W. Wong, the master franchisee of Cartridge World in Malaysia and Brunei. Likewise, when your printer cartridge empties, you can choose to refill the cartridge instead of throwing it away and buying a brand new one as a replacement.
This method has been around for quite a while, though few people are aware of it, judging from the customer feedback at Cartridge World’s two retail outlets in Subang Jaya and SS2, Petaling Jaya. “They say, ‘Ah, it can be refilled!’ which tells us that customers didn’t know that cartridges can be refilled,” explains Wong, who first brought in the franchise in July 2006.
Cartridge World is an international company with 1,600 franchised stores in 46 countries to date. Founded in 1997 by Australians Bryan Stokes and Paul Wheeler, the company specialises in refilling empty cartridges for inkjet printers, laser printers, photocopiers and fax machines with its own brand of compatible inks and toners specially formulated in a lab in Germany. Stokes had been tinkering with old computer printers since the late 1980s in search of an alternative solution for cartridge dumping. For the past three years, they have been voted Number 1 in the world for toner replacement services by Entrepreneur magazine's Franchise 500.
What makes them distinct is their specialist approach. Unlike some companies which proffer refilling on the side, Cartridge World sets up retail stores upfront where consumers can walk right up and have their printer cartridges refilled or remanufactured on the spot. They even conduct collection and delivery of cartridges at no extra cost. This service, however, is reserved for businesses.
A refill, including refills for colour cartridges, can be done in as little as five minutes for an inkjet. Laser toners take 40 minutes. But a refill at Cartridge World costs about 50 per cent less than a new original cartridge. Prices start from RM17 for an inkjet refill and RM100 for the laser toner cartridges. What’s more, they offer a 100 per cent money-back satisfaction guarantee. This means that if the customer is unhappy with the printing results, he can return and ask for a full refund.
And in addition to refilling, Cartridge World offers “remanufacturing” services for laser printer cartridges. Basically, the technicians — who have undergone two weeks’ training in Adelaide — strip apart the whole cartridge, clean it and replace any old or worn parts before refilling with premium grade toner. The print heads are ultrasonically cleaned and tested out before they are returned to the customer. It’s a bit like getting your car serviced. So the next time your printer runs out of toner, don’t throw it away. Instead, pluck it out carefully from the bowels of your printer and take it to Cartridge World. You’ll end up saving your wallet and the environment from further destruction by choosing to replenish your toner in its original cartridge rather than buying a new one.
Do you know that:
More than 3.4 litres of oil are needed to make one new laser cartridge. In just 12 months, cartridge recycling could save 4.3 million litres of oil in a country of 22 million people.
Millions of cartridges go into landfills each year, and their number increases by 12 per cent annually.
Laser printer cartridges account for over 90 per cent of all disposable cartridges.
A laser cartridge thrown into a landfill can take up to 450 years to decompose.
Every remanufactured cartridge saves about 1.5 kg of solid waste from being deposited in landfills.
Remanufacturing cartridges reduces pollution. Almost 90 per cent of empty cartridges are incinerated or dumped in landfills.
(Above article taken from Streets, 14 Feb 2008).
To find out more about owing your own Cartridge World franchise, please fill out the form below.
