I think you touched all relevant points. Through my filter, there are either the "serious" customers (you mentioned them: offices and photographers) who are too smart to be scammed. And then there are private consumers who lack the knowledge to pick a printer and because they print only occasionally. I wonder if for the consumer market segment investing into a good printer is it even worth, considering that 2D printing at home is rivalled by many online services who print on far superior printers and deliver at home?
It would be better for the consumer printer segment to die off, and for the consumer to see the price of a proper printer that works correctly, and decide whether to buy that or use a print service.
Commercial large format inkjet for art/photography has all the same issues but with zeroes on the end. And added expense/complexity, including colorimetry.
Some models have 12 colour cartridges, each costing more than a budget printer.
I wouldn't say photographers can avoid being scammed, because the industry is basically an Epson/Canon duopoly with HP as a somewhat distant third choice.
So competition is very limited, and unless you're bulk-buying printers and ink for a huge print shop there's no leverage to negotiate prices down.
