Printer Cost Per Page

Pay attention to your printer's cost per page.

Small businesses often gravitate toward low-cost inkjet and entry-level laser printers. 

Given the extremely reasonable price tags (in the neighborhood of $100 to $400) this seems to make sense at first. 

But this cost-savings strategy often falls apart on closer scrutiny and seems myopic in retrospect.

Inkjet Printer Cost Per Page Fallacy

Inkjet printers, although very inexpensive to purchase, often have an extraordinarily high cost per page for cartridge supplies. It’s not uncommon for inkjet cost per page analyses to work out to $0.08 for black ink, with very moderate page coverage, and $0.25 for color ink, again with moderate page coverage.

So, for a relatively low volume, say a ream or two of paper each month, the supply costs don’t get too painful. But, crank up the volume a few notches to a case or two of paper each month, and you will pay through the nose for supplies.

But what if you really need some color? You’re still better off using a black-and-white laser printer for your regular correspondence, and sparingly leveraging an inkjet printer for occasional color printing needs.

Laser Printer Supply Cost Differences

An entry-level black-and-white laser printer, in the $300 to $600 price range, typically has cost per page expenses around $0.04 to $0.05. Although this is still substantially less expensive than operating an inkjet printer for a moderate volume, entry-level laser printers still don’t make sense for many paper-intensive small businesses.

 

Printer Cost Per Page Action Items

Does each PC user in your company have his or her own personal printer, or are higher capacity printers shared?

How many inkjet printers does your company own? How many reams of paper does each inkjet printer use on a monthly basis?

How many entry-level laser printers does your company own? How many reams of paper does each entry-level laser printer use on a monthly basis?

Do you know what the printer manufacturer's intended monthly duty cycles are for your inkjet and entry-level laser printers?

How do you track printer supply expenses?

 

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