Family Business Specializes In All Things Printing

By MAGGIE MCMURRAY

Moapa Valley Progress

Have you ever felt that moment of sheer panic when you go to print something that needs to be turned in or sent right away only to have your printer flash that it’s out of ink? Replacement cartridges can be very pricey, making it hard, sometimes, to have plenty of extras on hand. Businesses using bigger machines that use more pricey toner cartridges can also feel the squeeze as they try to conserve ink and save money.

Luckily, there is another option out there that can provide ink and toner cartridges at about half the price of new cartridges. St. George Ink and Toner is a family-owned business in St. George, Utah, that has been refilling and recycling ink and toner cartridges for the past eleven years.

The business originally started when Wayne and Deborah Moon were looking for a great place to start this type of business. They wanted it to be fairly close to home, but also a lot warmer than their native Montana. They noticed that St. George was a growing community and decided they had found the perfect place.

From a humble start, the business has continued to grow every year. They have gone from just two owners, to two owners plus five employee.
“We’ve always enjoyed being a small business in St. George,” Moon said. “We have very loyal customers, many of whom go back with us the whole eleven years from when we started because they enjoy our customer service.”

The business is comprised of a full copy and print shop with all the copy-related services you would expect, including black and white copies, color copies, lamination, binding, faxing, and many other print services.

In addition to that, however, they also have an in-house ink cartridge re-manufacturing and refilling service that takes empty printer or toner cartridges and refills them to work like new for about half the price of a new cartridge.

On the ink-jet side, which covers most personal printers, Moon said his shop can refill all types of cartridges. Of course, all cartridges are not created equally because there is a great variety in printers.

The big winners are Canon and Brother brands which refill very easily and work like new. Epson cartridges also have fairly good results. Hewlett-Packard cartridges can be more problematic at times. However, Moon says that they look at every cartridge brought in and can usually predict the probable outcome.

Moon said that the store’s goal is to make sure that everyone leaves happy, and, in fact, they guarantee all their work. “All our products are guaranteed-if it doesn’t work after we refill it, bring it back and get your money back,” Moon said. “It never hurts to try. We’re going to do our very best to make sure every person has a good experience.”

With all their experience refilling cartridges, the staff is extremely knowledgeable about the printer market as well. If you are contemplating getting a new printer, it is worth your while to stop by just to get some advice about which printers work well and which will save you money in the long run.

On the toner cartridge side of the business, which is what most commercial and office laser jet- type machines are, things are a little more straightforward. Once again, the company can work with all brands and can refill both black-and-white and color toner cartridges for about half the price of a new cartridge.

Although Moon said that sometimes they have to use an outside vendor, they almost always can do all the work in-house. Toner cartridges also have large variations between sizes and brands with capacities that range from 1,000 pages to 45,000 pages. The company has the capability to refill all sizes. Once again, HP is the most problematic brand, although Moon says that overall, toner cartridges have fewer problems.

Moon encourages anyone who wants to save a little money on printing costs to come by and check out what they offer.
The store is located at 42 South River Road #4 in St. George, UT. They are open from 8:30am to 6pm M-F, and from 9:30am to 4pm on Saturday. They are closed Sunday. For more information, their website is www.stgeorgeink.com, their email is info@stgeorgeink.com, or you can call the store directly at 435-673-2387.