Philippine Economy improving?

News about the Philippine economy is improving does not seem right.  Small businesses should be thriving but it does not seem so.  In the past year, so many internet cafes and shops closed down in Baguio's CBD.  A month ago an eatery cum sari-sari store near my computer shop closed down, then another nearby sari-sari store that virtually had no overhead costs closed down two days ago.

QuadMen NetShop

For my internet shop business, it has been down by more than 50% since late 2012.  It is marginally getting over break-even in most of the days.  Below break-even days in a month is around 60%.  Early this morning, my niece who lives nearby, asked if we could sell school supplies in the shop.  She's also feeling not well with whatever income she's making.

It's a wonder where the economy is making good in the Philippines. Maybe it would be just the big businesses.

Canon MP287 All-in-One printer

Last November 30, 2011, I was persuaded by an employee of Enigma Technologies in Baguio to get the Canon MP287 All-in-One printer instead of the HP All-inOne printer that we were already taking to my car.  He said the Canon had the CISS (Continuous Ink Supply System) that would be less troublesome refilling.  It was a good idea, so we went back up to their office to see if it would really only cost me 90.00 pesos more.


In short, I was convinced and exchanged the HP for the Canon.  I was informed also that warranty would be shortened to only 3 months because it is a conversion to CISS.  Just right after 3 months something went wrong and I had to have it serviced.  Then after another 4 months another servicing again that did not really work out well.  When I had the time after  2 weeks, I returned to the service center and the serviceman told me that it was the end of the service life of the printer and needs to be reset.


With all the debate we had, it came out that dealers of Canon purchase the software that could reset the printers.  The serviceman told me that resetting was their only way to profit because they sell the printers at a low price.  This was very disgusting because in less than a year the printer would go useless if I do not have it reset for a fee.  Could this be only in the Philippines?


The best printer I had was an Epson that provided service for more than 10 years and I had it serviced only once.  HP is a second choice for me as any problem I encounter with it is easy to resolve. All had refillable cartridges.