How much? The price of what stuff surprises you?

I buy compatible inks at a fraction of the cost for my printer and they are just as good if not even better . Just keep the originals when you replace them so if things go wrong with your printer then you can show that you always use their inks . Printer manufacturers are very clever , just be one step ahead of them .

It should be that they sell you ink at a minor cost so that you will buy the printer, but manufacturers have cottoned on to the value of repeat sales, so they sell you a printer so as to make you keep buying ink.

It is capitalism. Once you have spent your capital on the hardware, you have to spend your income on the supporting disposables.

I’ve always found it to be cheaper to buy a new printer than replace cartridges which still shocks all these years later!

I know this is trivial compared with your astronomical car repair costs vegansrock but STAMPS !
I buy a book of 12 first class and they cleverly don’t say the cost of the actual stamp, they now just have ‘1st’ printed on them.

They are .76p each, that’s £9.12 for a book of 12. (That’s more than 15 shillings to post a letter).
At Chr***mas, I buy a couple of books of second class, well in advance, to send my cards.

If the garage that you use is a proprietary owned, then chances are he will know of a reputable car breaker. Second hand car parts can be a minefield, but for something like a non working component that you described, you should be able to get that at a fraction of the cost.

Printer ink prices are scandalous.