HP Photosmart 309g-m ink usage, etc.

Question

I purchased this all-in-one from NewEgg.com in January 2010 for $119 on sale. I was thrilled because I was looking forward to owning an HP printer. I used to have an old dot-matrix and loved it. I was replacing a Lexmark X5150 which had served well for five years, but was giving me problems feeding paper, especially envelopes. Also, I thought the ink for the Lexmark was expensive. I was replacing cartridges on the Lexmark about every 3 mos. at a cost of $78.
Since buying the HP Photosmart 309g-m all-in-one in January 2010, basically less than 3 mos. ago, I have spent $178.50 on ink as of April 22, 2010.  Yes ... One hundred, seventy-eight dollars. I have replaced all color cartridges three times since January and they now need replacing a fourth time. I have also replaced the black cartridge three times and the photo black once, although I have printed a maximum of four 4 x 6 photos -- only those printed as a test when I first installed the printer.
I do not print extensively every day. The printer is for home use, almost exclusively printing occasional greeting cards, five 8.5 x 11.0 pages per week of 5.5 x 3.5 postcards using Microsoft Publisher 2002 (4 per 8.5 x 11.0 page, not using all the page space), greeting card envelopes, or other relatively small projects such as two 8.5 x 11.0 pages per week of 3.5 x 2.0 business-size cards with color images (10 cards per page) for a children's Sunday School class.  
I have kept a record on my computer. Since last replacing all color cartridges, black cartridge, and photo black cartridge between 3/31/10 and 4/10/10 -- a MAXIMUM of 22 days, I have printed 112 documents, some of which were entirely black text, and some of which were 4.375 x 5.75 envelopes (i.e., small). That averages to approximately 5 documents per day, although, as said, I do not print every day. NO PHOTOS, and several documents in black text only or small envelopes.  
The point of this post is not to ask a question -- unless it is how does HP get away with making and selling such an blatantly avaricious product. The point is to warn others and to vent my EXTREME anger and frustration. This all-in-one is a total rip off.
I have read other posts on this forum from those who have similar ink usage issues, and not just with the 309g. If it were possible, I would post every where on the web to warn people about these HP products. I personally think it is abominable that they are allowed to produce this kind of product when they KNOW they will rake in a fortune on printer ink.
Do not be misled by the sales pitch that individual color cartridges are a bonus. All color cartridges run low within days of each other and nothing color can be printed if one of them is too low. In addition, it is not possible to determine which low cartridge is responsible for the inaccurate colors on the printed page. Recently the color on a project printed streaked and it required replacing the black cartridge to cause the color to print correctly. I have had similar experience with needing to replace a magenta cartridge in order to correctly print a project where most color in the image was green, yellow, or blue. And, it is not necessary to inform me that the cartridge colors must mix to produce the exact color. That is not the point. The point is it is misleading to advertise that it is a helpful feature to be able to replace only the colors needed when that fact is useless practically speaking.  
There have also been other issues with the 309g-m. The learning curve was extreme, and I am not a novice. The software is limited. It is necessary to create a new paper size under custom sizes for every project that involves something other than the preset sizes HP has decided "most people" want, and that includes something as simple as a half-sheet of 8.5 x 11.0 paper. It is not possible to print two-sided projects correctly if the project is a 4.25 x 5.5 booklet (half an 8.5 x 11.0 page greeting card format to avoid "quarter folding") produced in Microsoft Publisher 2002, because HP's software arbitrarily decides the user needs certain margins to allow for binding. Thus it is not possible to customize the software to individual creativity. As a matter of fact, if one changes paper size to 8.5 x 5.5 and the format to booklet in Publisher, HP's printer software will not even allow two sided printing.
The scanner bed is slightly raised so that scanning a page from a large book, or a portion of a large sheet does not produce a clear image because the original cannot be placed flat on the scanner bed.  Scanner resolutions had to be modified to prevent grainy or speckled image results. The scan to computer option on the LED screen does not work unless one has the HP Solution Center enabled on startup (or takes the time to start it before attempting a scan).  
I have read HP's article about ink usage and find that they have designed this equipment to USE INK.  Between every document printed, if you choose to print only one copy, the printer "adjusts" itself, using ink. Every time it is turned on, it "adjusts" itself, using ink. Every time it has set idle, even though on, for a period of 5 min. or so, it "adjusts" itself, using ink. And it was designed this way ... not, as HP asserts, the provide superior printing, but, rather, to provide superior bottom lines for HP from ink sales.  
It is a travesty that HP is allowed to do this.
This may never be posted, but I hope it is, and I hope people read it, and I hope others do not get stuck with $119 all-in-ones that cost $178 in ink within the first three months to print color documents, no matter how small or how infrequently. I can't imagine what I would do if I were trying to use this for a business! As soon as I am able to afford it, I will ditch this piece of equipment and buy something else. And HP can be assured I will not stop talking about it for a LONG time.

Answer 1

I'm seeing a lot of comments posted on the 309g's ink use, but your experience seems most like my own.  I ran into another 309g owner at an Office Depot and that individual reported the same sort of results.  My question is this:  at what elevation is the town in which you live?  I (and the person I met) live at about 7500 feet and the 564 cartridges act as though the ink is is actually evaporating.
Thanks