How much do you pay for printing each year? Chances are, you don’t have an answer to that question, and may not even know how to find one. You’re not alone. Very few companies know the true cost of printing in their office environment, chalking it up as just another cost of doing business, but what you don’t know can hurt you. The real money to be made in the print industry is not on the machines themselves, but the incidentals such as paper and toner, and cost estimates based on toner coverage can make or break your office budget. Read on to find out more.
What Those Numbers Really Mean
The business of printing is all about the numbers, where each manufacturer tries to lure you in with their estimated cost per page (cpp) estimates, to give you something to compare with the competition. The only problem is, this CPP estimate is often based on an unrealistic five percent toner coverage per page. If that percentage is hard for you to visualize, imagine typing your name five times on a standard sheet of paper…and there you have your five percent coverage. Now ask yourself what a typical printed page within your office environment looks like; chances are it’s not even close.
What’s Your Cost Per Page?
Having a more realistic idea of a cpp estimate, based on actual average toner coverage can help you decide which printer, and which supplier is right for you. It’s also important to factor in the cost of color printing versus black and white. Once you start deciphering the cost of color print, which utilized four separate layers of toner to produce an image (black, cyan, magenta and yellow) it’s easy to see how things can start to add up.
Who’s In Charge?
Because printing is a necessary part of your day to day operations, you have no choice but to pay for it, but you do have a choice of whether or not you overpay. Knowing what you know now about toner coverage and true cpp estimates, you may want to explore your options more closely. There are several ways that you can quickly start to save money on print costs and it all starts with Managed Print Services (MPS). One of the easiest solutions is switch to a fixed cost per print model, where you pay the same per page regardless of toner coverage. This can not only help you save, but help you with budget projections from year to year, knowing what your costs will be without any big surprises.
Another solution is to implement a series of print rules within your office environment, such as:
• Automatic double-sided printing.
• No banner printing.
• Default settings should be changed to black and white, not color.
Take Back Control
Save money, and regain control over your office printing environment regardless of your toner coverage. With some easy to follow print rules, and a fixed cost per page print model, you’ll have more time and money to spend building your business and increasing your bottom line.
To find out how much your business is currently spending on print, click here for your free print assessment:
Leave a Reply