The Black Market of Office Supplies

Man…people will steal anything to make a buck:

A guy who worked in the “duplicating department” at the law firm of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson has been charged with Grand Larceny for allegedly pilfering an estimated $376,000 worth of copy machine toner and selling it on the black market.

Apparently there’s a significant black market for ill-gotten ink & toner. Just a month ago we blogged about Calvin Duncan, who used city funds to place more than $1.3 million in excess orders for ink and toner. Gothamist cites Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance as saying “It may surprise many New Yorkers to learn that there is a black market for office supplies…” Just New Yorkers? Calvin Duncan made his fortune in Philadelphia, so odds are the black market for ink, toner and other office supplies stretches far beyond the friendly confines of New York City.

The article also notes a story we hadn’t heard, about a guy named Marque Gumbs who stole $1.5 million in toner cartridges from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Just these three stories total over $3 million in theft. We have to wonder just how lucrative this black market is on a national scale. $25 million? $100 million? More?

Listen, if you’re thinking about starting a new career in ink & toner larceny, we have to insist that you reconsider. There’s always another way. If you’re looking for inexpensive, high quality, compatible ink and toner, just give us a ring. We don’t want to have to blog about you down the road…

Ink Technologies