system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why is printer ink so expensive, while wildly coloured labels/product packages are abundant and apparently cheap?
gpt
The reason printer ink is expensive is that the ink is where the printer manufacturers make their profit. 

A company will sell you a color printer very cheap with little/no margin, or possibly even at a small loss. They make these printers so that they only work with the proprietary ink cartridges made and sold only by themselves. These ink cartridges are expensive and have a very high margin, and are where the company makes all of their money. Without the ink your cheap printer is useless, so if you want to use it you are forced to pay out for the expensive cartridges.