Staples lets you rack up points, too, but only on certain items--luckily, the most expensive ones, like printer toner and paper.

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While Staples' 10% discounts on printer paper and toner made it a close race, Office Depot's low prices and 5% overall discount pushed their prices below the other retailers.

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To find out which one offered the best value, we compared prices for a common basket of goods, including printer paper, toner cartridges, toilet paper, garbage bags, file folders, envelopes and pens.

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The laser printer sector is beginning to see some component and toner shortages as a result of the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan, according to Barclays Capital analyst Ben Reitzes.

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Then he asks for the model number of your printer to facilitate the next, overdue shipment of the toner or cartridge that you use.

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Or, to modernize it, selling the printer at a low price in order to profit on the toner or ink .

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Consumables such as high-margin toner cartridges provide a steady flow of cash on the back of this printer business.

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The 'toner' used in the laser sintering process is rather more expensive than that found in a laser printer cartridge.

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