In Business, Creating Sustainable Enterprises & Communities

SETTING STANDARDS IN A NEW INDUSTRY

In Business, July-August, 2006, Vol. 28, No. 4, p. 21

Headquartered in Springfield, Oregon, Rapid Refill Ink specializes in recycling and reselling toner cartridges to keep them out of landfills.

Kelly Templer

WHEN a call came in from an unhappy customer whose printer wouldn't print, Dan White sent his vice president of production on a 100-mile drive to the customer's home to rectify the problem with the remanufactured cartridge.
As president and founder of Rapid Refill Ink, White is coupling the ideals of sustainable business management with exacting technical standards to reshape the oft-maligned remanufactured inkjet and laser toner cartridge industry.
Headquartered in Springfield, Oregon, Rapid Refill Ink specializes in remanufacturing and selling inkjet and laser toner cartridges for printers, copiers, fax machines and all-in-one machines at prices 30 to 70 percent below those of OEMs. “I don't know how much I can impact the world by recycling cartridges, but at least I'm trying. I also saw this as a very viable business,” adds White.
But Rapid Refill Ink's biggest impact is in what could ultimately be the millions of inkjet and laser toner cartridges it keeps from burial in landfills. In the United States alone, nearly eight cartridges are thrown away every second, according to Recharger Magazine. What's more, each plastic toner requires 3 1/2 quarts of oil to produce; 2 1/2 ounces of oil are used to produce each new inkjet cartridge. “Some cartridges can be remanufactured 20 to 30 times,” White notes.

DISNEYLAND OF CARTRIDGES
Rapid Refill Ink innovatively uses drop boxes, where customers can drop off empty cartridges and return for a refilled one within 24-48 hours, similar to what they would do when dropping off film to be developed. The drop boxes are located in a variety of retail outlets including drug stores, supermarkets, video stores and dry cleaners. Rapid Refill Ink pays a commission to the outlets on the revenues generated by the boxes.
After opening its first store in Eugene, Oregon, in November 2002, Rapid Refill Ink began franchising in January 2004 and within two months had gained commitments for 240 locations to be opened within 36 months. Currently there are 50 locations open with 90 more under development. By the end of 2009, Rapid Refill Ink expects to have over 1,000 locations open throughout the United States.
At the same time, some in the industry still adhere to the rudimentary “drill and fill” method of remanufacturing inkjet cartridges, in which a nail punch is used to bore a hole into a cartridge. A hypodermic needle is used to inject ink into the cartridge before it is resealed. On a good day, an individual might be able to remanufacture 30 to 50 cartridges using this method.
Conversely, each Rapid Refill Ink production facility is able to produce 10,000 remanufactured inkjet cartridges each month using state-of-the-art equipment costing between $20,000 and $25,000. The equipment is manufactured by R-JetTek, recognized as one of the inkjet refilling industry's pioneers. A single Rapid Refill Ink location also is able to remanufacture 1,000 laser toner cartridges each month.

IDENTIFYING THE CUSTOMERS
They are everyday consumers and companies from small to large looking for a dependable, cost-saving alternative to OEM products. One of the most popular OEM black inkjet cartridges costing $29.99 at office supply stores, costs $16.50 remanufactured.
Business-to-business revenue makes up 35 percent of Rapid Refill Ink's sales. In Eugene, Rapid Refill Ink makes pick-ups and deliveries to between 150 and 200 businesses each day, utilizing bicycle couriers and fuel-efficient Ford Focus automobiles. Business customers call or fax when supplies are needed, something they'll soon be able to do online.
As for potential business customers who harp about the purported inadequacies of remanufactured cartridges or point to critical consumer reports, White offers a simple guarantee. If a Rapid Refill Ink remanufactured cartridge causes a printer to fail, it will deliver a new printer on-site within two hours.
Remanufactured cartridges are readily available from office supply stores or online, a fact White readily admits. But that's of no concern to him, because he'll tell you he's not in the cartridge business. When White founded Rapid Refill Ink, it was based on two simple tenets. He wanted to build an integrity-based company in which people come first.