What is an acceptable cost for consumables when using writing tools and your printing equipment?

Buying and using your equipment is one thing, but as soon as you start factoring any operational or maintenance costs, they tend to add up to a significant amount. A lot of us make the mistake of adding in what it costs to operate or maintain our writing instruments or printing equipment into the cost of ownership and conclude that the new figure is in fact the true cost of ownership. However, this will not be the subject of discussion in this article. The focus is on the question on what is the acceptable cost of operation of the printing equipment or writing instrument after we have acquired it to make it worthwhile the initial investment. In other words, what would be a reasonable price to pay to use given a lot of times, equipment manufacturers will discourage us consumers to purchase competing brand or manufacturer's supplies so that the equipment manufacturers get the best benefit from the deal?

To help us decide, I've included a list options to choose from (expressed in percentage form). I'd like you to note that the amounts mentioned below are calculations based on the cost of ownership.

1. 15%
2. 20%
3. 30%
4. 40%

To help you choose, here are a few factors to consider in an example that I will use to illustrate my point: Let's take fountain pens and fountain pen inks. With fountain pens ranging from the most affordable that university students are included to purchase to the most expensive pens money can get its hands on. Fountain pens like the Pilot Kakuno or the Metropolitan, or the recently introduced Sailor TUZU with its adjustable grip feature and compare that to something like the Pilot Elite 95S (E95S), and something like the Fulgor Nocturnus by Tibaldi, which apparently, at an auction sold for a whopping USD8 Million.

It is crazy how much money is spent on something as simple as a writing instrument. I am including this fact just to put it out there. The average Joe on the other side of the nib doesn't have the kind of disposable income required to lavishly shell out such a huge amount on a luxurious fountain that costs at least an arm and a leg. IMO, the most reasonable price range that people would be able to afford without breaking the bank is around USD400 max. Anything above this price range can be viewed or written down as a luxurious spend on any writing instrument, don't you think?

Now that I've given you some idea or an outline of the prices for fountain pens, I would be more likely to choose option 2 from the above list of options presented. Once I've taken into account the quality and the characteristics of the fountain pen ink that I will be using from bottled sources, which is touted as the most economical way of purchasing and refilling the fountain pen in question. I am not taking into account the basic maintenance of fountain pens as these cost next to nothing. Keep in mind that this is to be used as a guide and not as a gospel of any sort. And simply by adding the cost of operation or maintenance to the cost of ownership and complaining about it won't magically make these costs disappear or take the pressure off the ink bottle.

Having said this, there is nothing stopping you from shopping for the cheapest fountain pen bottled ink available for your fountain pen and start using it - so long as it still offers the best performance and writing experience for your fountain pen and it doesn't do anything that either a) disrupts the flow of ink and,  b) does anything to your fountain pen to cause any major malfunction to your fountain pen.

Good writing techniques and the techniques of holding a fountain pen will also refute the notion that a more expensive fountain pen writes better than a more reasonably priced one. It is usually the person or the writer using the fountain pen, combined with the techniques of writing is what will make for a smoother or a better experience in using a fountain pen.