Remember when buying a home printer was a significant purchase? Today you can walk into any Staples or online store and purchase a retail home printer for next to nothing. So why buy a more expensive business printer from a copier dealer?
The Real Cost of Retail Printers
It might not be easy to understand why there’s such a price jump between retail home printers and their costlier business counterparts. But the reason retail printers can be sold so inexpensively is because they are made with cheap components that are not built to last. Think about it, the machines are cheap, but their supplies, like ink cartridges and toner, are not. This is not a mistake. It’s done by design.
Retail printer manufacturers purposely sell machines at a loss. They know they’re going to lose money on them. But they also know the real money is to be found by selling highly profitable and expensive toner cartridges. In fact, that’s why retail machines are not manufactured to efficiently utilize toner and are not compatible with higher quality commercial toner.
So what does this mean? The cost of that cheap home printer suddenly skyrockets once you add up all those cartridge refills. That means the total cost of owning a retail printer is far greater, yet the result is a far inferior machine.
Business printers, on the other hand, are built to handle regular use. The components are repairable, and the printers are designed to utilize higher quality and more efficient toner.
Depending on how much toner is printed on a page, the cost of printing a single colour page on a retail printer averages 20 to 30 cents and 8 cents for black and white.
A business printer with a service contract, has an average cost of just 7 cents per colour page, and 1 cent for black and white.
Retail or Business Machine – What Actually Adds Up to a Better Investment?
We probably got your attention with this quick comparison of printing costs. But here’s a more detailed breakdown of exactly why it makes more sense to invest in a quality business printer.
When it comes to retail machines, the consumable cost is the bait and switch. The retail printer cost is a third of the price of a business printer from a copier dealer. However, the cost of ink and toner can run into the thousands of dollars if you have a high printing volume. If you’re producing over 1000 copies/month, a retail printer isn’t going to save you money. It will cost you more in the long run.
The business machine model is different. These machines are usually two to three times the cost of retail printers. Yet, the operating costs are three to four times cheaper and include more for the end users, such as full-service contracts, with repair and replacement guarantees, free toner monitoring etc.
Let’s use a real-world example, just to compare costs…
So in this scenario, our company is opening a new office and we need new printers. Our office will be handling roughly 2000 copies/month, which breaks down to 1,500 black and white pages and 500 colour pages per month.
We’re looking at two kinds of printers, a retail machine versus a business one from a copier dealer.
The retail machine is a Xerox C405DN. It has a $999 purchase price, and leasing is not available.
The business machine is a Lexmark XC4140 colour multi-function printer. It cost $2,800 or can be leased at $60/month.
You’re probably edging toward the cheaper machine. Why pay more than you need to, right? But look at the breakdown of what it costs to run each machine.
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The Retail Printer Breakdown
On the retail machine, it costs $75.60 (5.04 cents per page) to print 1,500 black and white pages printed at 10% coverage.
It costs $324.00 (64.8 cents per page) to print 500 color pages, printed at 20% coverage.
The total cost to print 2000 pages comes to $399.60.
So total cost of running this machine per month settles somewhere around $416.
The Business Printer Breakdown
The business machine, in comparison, costs $15 (1 cent per page) to print 1,500 black and white pages printed at any coverage.
It costs $35 (7 cents per page) to print 500 color pages, printed at any coverage.
The total cost to print 2000 pages comes to $50.
So total cost of running this machine per month settles somewhere around $115. Saving you just over $300/month.
Also, as a plus, if you have a problem with a business machine, a technician can come to your location and will fix it for no additional costs. If a retail machine has a problem, all a customer can do is return the machine to a retail outlet for repair, which can take up to two weeks before it is returned – causing a loss time and productivity.
The End Cost
You’ll also end up purchasing much more toner for a retail machine, since most retail manufacturers base their toner “yield” rates on 5% coverage, when business requirements usually sit around 10%. And that’s just black and white printing!
Colour printing can require up to 50% coverage, but 20% is the standard that manufacturer’s often base their consumable prices on. Which again, means you’ll be replacing your retail toner cartridges much more frequently, to keep up with regular business needs.
When you do the math, business printers win out. Especially if you’re printing in large volumes.
The Benefits of Having a Business Service Contract with a Copier Dealer
Ok, you might be sold on the advantages of a business-quality printer. But the next question you’re probably asking is, “why don’t I just go out and buy it from an online manufacturer?” Why bother buying from a local copier dealer?
We could give you arguments about “buying local”. It’s kind of like the decision to buy from a mom and pop shop around the corner, versus a faceless, big-box chain store. The more personalized service, the more thrill you get from supporting local business… But it’s more than that.
When you buy your printer from a local, authorized dealer, you also gain the benefit of a business printer service contract. This often includes machine service, repair, and automated toner delivery. That means anytime your machine isn’t working properly, you can call us, and we’ll come and fix the machine.
When your toner levels are running low, we send you the toner that is included in your cost per page service contract. No more running out to the store when your printer cartridges run out, or googling “how to fix my printer.” We take care of that.
The Benefits of a More Secure Machine
Cost per page is one big reason to consider investing in a business printer from a local copier dealer. But with cyber attacks on the rise, corporate print networks are increasingly being targeted by hackers. As printers become more connected to business systems and with many multi-function printers now Wi-Fi enabled, your network security depends on locking down all gaps – and your printer’s unsecured access ports make it a tempting entry point for cyberthieves.
A secure print infrastructure is a must and retail printers just aren’t sophisticated enough to give you the security settings that will ensure the privacy and safety of your data.
Business printers come with many in-built security features, such as:
- Firmware attack prevention & self-recovery, that can detect a malicious intrusion in your print network and restore a machine’s firmware to its original state.
- Application whitelisting, that detects attempts to access a machine’s file system and denies access if it doesn’t match the whitelist.
- Active directory group policies, that manage specific security and driver settings centrally, so once they’re established, you cannot change the settings at the machine level.
Finding the Right Business Printer
Each business is unique, and your print needs will depend on the size and complexity of your organization. Sometimes you need a simple machine. Other times, you may want one with multiple functions, security features and connectivity tools.
Many of our Com Pro business printers cost as little to run as 7 cents a page (versus 30 cents for most retail versions). They all come with a full-service contract that includes all parts, labour, maintenance, and toner for these machines. And we also include a 5-year replacement guarantee.
Plus, with our Managed IT Services, we can take charge of the end to end management of your print infrastructure, including equipment maintenance, consumable replacement, and proactive monitoring of your equipment, so we get automatic alerts when your machine needs servicing or repairs.
Not sure which machine to choose? There are so many options that can suit your needs, but if you’re unsure whether a business printer makes sense for your environment, contact us. We can complete a free print analysis and can help you select the right office equipment.