The La Crescenta, CA Office Depot’s reconditioned printer cartridges are far too expensive. The store appears to be marking up reconditioned (used) printer cartridges 200-300% above fair pricing.

Recently, I went to Office Depot to purchase two reconditioned printer cartridges. One cartridge was an Hewlet Packard (HP) 45 and the other was an HP 23 color cartridge. I was shocked at the prices. They wanted to charge me $30 for the HP 45 black ink cartridge and $40 for the HP 23 color cartridge. That adds up to whopping $70 to simply replace the ink in my printer.

The HP brand-name cartridges were even more outrageously priced. The HP 45 black cartridge was $35 and color cartridge was more than $50.

I walked out of the Office Depot, and then went accross the street to the new Walgreens that just opened. I found a reconditioned HP 45 black printer cartridge there for $16.99. I went home and installed the cartridge and it worked well.

A worker at the new Walgreens store (located at 3001 Foothill Blvd in La Crescenta), shared with me that he is hoping the store will install a Walgreens printer cartrige refill machine very soon. He encouraged store customers to let the store manager know if they would be interested in having this machine installed at the store.

Right now the closest ink refill service is available at the Burbank Walgreens located at 1028 S San Fernando Blvd in Burbank, CA.

When I thought about my experience, I figured out that Office Depot was at minimum charging 100% more than Walgreens for a reconditioned printer cartridge. A small difference in retailer pricing is to be expected. However such a blatant “Consumer Rip Off” such as the printer cartridge pricing at the La Crescenta Office Depot must be reported to the public. 

Consumers should not continue to reward stores like Office Depot that practice unfair pricing.

We highly recommend buying fruit and vegetables at Sunland Produce located at 8840 Glenoaks Blvd Sun Valley, Ca. 91352. Their phone number is (818) 504-6629.

Sunland Produce will consistently be about 1/3 of the price of other major grocery store chains in the area including Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons.  The other large grocery store chains, mentioned in the previous sentence, routinely overcharge customers exaggerated prices for simple fruits and vegetables that they buy cheaply from growers.

A former grower, who wishes to remain anonymous, recently told us “The big chain stores pay us very little for our produce. Then they turn around and sell our produce for astronomical prices to the public.”

This begs the question, “Why do the big chain stores charge so much?”  Remember the grocery store labor union strikes a few years ago?  The labor unions force the grocery store chains to pay overly high wages to semi-skilled workers. The unions also force the chains to pay out huge benefits to current and retired workers which forces the large chains to charge more for their products.

In addition, commercial property landlords have been every increasing the cost of renting prime, large commercial spaces. Their actions have also lead chain stores to charge more for items.

Manufacturers and product co-ops have also caused price increases. Increased taxes from local government, and rate increases from the government-monopolized utilities have also increase costs. In one simple word “Greed.”Manufacturers

Finally our “Bubble Economy” is starting to pop. Will the grocer’s decrease their prices? Only if the unions are willing to decrease their costs. And how about the landlords, will they decrease their rents? Probably not. And don’t forget the brand name manufacturers. Will they bring the cost of a box of cereal down? I doubt it. Greed, greed, greed! It only leads to downfall.grocer’s

The only way to combat this is to purely take advantage of our free market system. Do not reward the overchargers (unions,huge corporations,manufacturers) with your business. See out and patronize only the merchants who provide good product at a fair price like Sunland Produce.manufacturers

Sunland California is a family-oriented community nestled in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.  The community is 14 miles north of the Los Angeles civic center.

The real estate in Sunland is a part of the six mile long Tujunga Valley. At the turn of the century the property in the area consisted of small farms. Since that time, the farms have been replaced by a community of mostly single family residences. The community also has a smaller number of low-rise condos and apartment buildings.

Most of the commercial businesses in Sunland are located along Foothill blvd which runs through the center of the community. Sunland is divided into North and South Sunland with Foothill Blvd. acting as the dividing line between the sections.

 The real estate in Sunland in generally considered to more “more affordable” than real estate in the more prestigious surrounding communities of La Cresecenta, La Canada, Glendale and Burbank.

There is a lot of community spirit in Sunland. The residents often come together in coordinated events like the annual 4th of July parade and celebration.

In nerby Shadow Hills, equestrian enthusiasts are free to own and stable horses and other forms of livestock. The Sunland area is unique in Los Angeles because of the neighborhood zoning, which allows residents of communities like Shadow Hills to raise and care for certain types of livestock.

The Sunland community has a distinct sense of pride, and contains beautiful parcels of real estate. Please consider Sunland California real estate of you are looking an affordable family-oriented community in the Los Angeles area.

The annual 4th of July parade, sponsored by the Rotary club of Sunland-Tujunga and Shadow Hills, for was a great success!   The parade entitled “Celebrating a Small Town With a Big Heart” featured dozens of local businesses and organizations.

The parade started at 10:30 am. After the parade there were festivities in Sunland Park. Later in the evening the celebration moved to Verdugo Hills high school. The high school event consisted of food, fun, fireworks and activities. Sponsor of the high school event included The Sunland-Tujunga Neigborhood council, American Legion, Rotary Clud, Lions Club, Sunland-Tujunga Chamber of Commerce, Sunland Tujunga Coordinating Council, Sunland-Tujunga Alliance and the Verdugo Hills Football Program.

Famous TV personality Judy Norton, best know for her role as Mary Ellen on the Waltons, was the grand Marshal of the Parade.

Did you know that there is a hydrogen fueling station in Burbank, California? That’s right, there’s a hydrogen station in nearby Burbank and it is open to the Public.

The station is located at 810 N. Lake Street, Burbank, CA 91502. The station opened in March of 2006 according to a press release on the South Coast AQMD web site.

The AQMD also states that the city of Burbank operates five Toyota Priuses that have been specially modified to run on hydrogen. As we reported on our sister website macvillage.com, your car can be converted to run on hydrogen. You DO NOT NEED TO BUY A FUEL CELL CAR TO USE HYDROGEN. Contrary to what the oil companies and big media tell you, your current vehicle engine can be converted to run on hydrogen.

Burbank is one of five cities that are participating in the AQMD’s ” hydrogen infrastructure network and showcase innovative clean air vehicle technology project.” The other cities participating cities are Ontario, Riverside, Santa Ana and Santa Monica.

Foothillinfo.com called the hydrogen yard in Burbank today and confirmed that hydrogen is available to the public. 

The question that we are asking is “Why aren’t these cities stepping forward to help residents convert to hydrogen?” Why do city officials get cheaply-powered hydrogen-powered cars, while residents pay record-high gas prices? Please contact your city officials and ask them what they are doing to help usher in the new hydrogen-fueled economy.

The San Fernando Valley Neighborhood Councils will be holding a local 4th of July celebration from 11 am to 9 pm at Hansen Dam, 11770 Foothill Blvd. in Lake View Terrace, California, on July 4, 2008.

The festival will feature a carnival, music, entertainment, food, fun and a “Laser Extravaganza” provided by Lasertainment Productions Inc.

“We are thrilled to again host an event which celebrates our nation’s independence through  unity of our communities in this great city of Los Angeles” said Cile Borman, Chairperson of the 4th of July Committee, a non-profit organization formed in 1993 by then and now Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon to organize the event.

This year’s mission is to promote “Unity Of The Communities“ by reaching out to the stakeholders through the Neighborhood Councils who share the Hansen Dam Basin including Foothill Trails (ftdnc.org), Arleta (arletanc@verizon.net), Sun Valley (svanc.org), Sunland-Tujunga (stnc.org), Pacoima (pacoimanc.org) and Sylmar (sylmarneighborhoodcouncil.org). 

“We have all come together and have agreed that it is time for unity and change.   We decided to do something to help our communities by not having pyrotechnic entertainment  this year because it is safer and since it  pollutes the environment,  we will save the aquatic area from contamination,”  said Cile Borman.  “The 4th of July is traditionally a day for families to gather and celebrate our freedom and liberty, so we wanted to extend that theme to include unity of the communities.   As stakeholders coming together, we are another step closer to achieving common goals by bringing unity to our communities,” added Borman.

This year’s celebration will be free of charge, except for parking. According to the sponsors, the event is a family-oriented event that will feature musing, food and dancing.

In a surprise move, Ralphs Grocery Co. has eliminated Club Cards. The supermarket is replacing the card with a new Rewards Card that they claim has greater savings than their former Club Card.

When we contacted the Ralph’s Hotline at 800-660-9003, the representative stated that the new Rewards Card will still allow local shoppers to save on thousands of items throughout the store.

Industry experts say that the the company is making the changes in order to compete more effectively with their competitors in Southern California.  The 262 store company may be offering this new program to lure back shoppers who have found cheaper prices elsewhere.

Although Ralph’s is presenting this announcement as a “positive move” it is always beneficial for local shoppers to watch how the new card program unfolds. 

If you have any thoughts, comments or experiences with this new card program, please add your comments to this story.  It is important for us to keep a sharp watch on new programs to ensure they are truly beneficial to local shoppers facing higher prices and a slowing economy.