Well, at least there is the marketplace safety net...

This is a good continuation of previous cases.

What I found interesting was that this could potentially create environmental problems. Even if we believe that Lexmark does a good job at recycling it's cartridges, then it prevents, to some degree, that other people compete to make a better job at it, for example by doing the refilling on your own, which would save transportation costs.

One thing I don't like in the Lexmark argument is that you can always buy the cartridge without the prebate. To me, it sounds like the "if you don't like it here, you can always go somewhere else" argument.

Still, Lexmark doesn't have a monopoly on the markeplace, so let's hope the marketplace weads out practices like those which I think tend to hurt the customer more than help him.

This is also discussed here...