As described by Wikipedia the “Total Cost of Ownership is a financial estimate intended to help buyers and owners determine the direct and indirect costs of a product or system.”
But how do you determine the true costs associated with your office equipment, including MFP’s, Copiers, and desk- top Printers? Turns out that there are some significant points to consider when purchasing larger equipment for your office versus the small desktop printers and MFP’s you can order online or at a retail store.
Integral points to consider are the initial cost or investment (acquisition), estimated yield of cartridges by manufacturing, Service, PM (preventative maintenance) Kits and Fusers (heat rollers within the printer). So let’s begin with looking at the acquisition:
Buying an MFP or stand-alone printer for your desk, or on that side table you have beside your desk can at first, look like a good cost-effective choice. For example, many of the desk-top printers are in the range of $150-$500. However, when you understand the true cost of ownership and operation, you may find that the investment is more costly than a managed service MFP. The biggest cost for running a desk-top printer is the toner cartridges.
Manufacturers offer an estimated yield or a number of pages expected to get out of a cartridge. This can be a bit misleading to consumers as the yields are based on expected toner coverage of 5%. However, the actual average coverage for a regular everyday office document has been proven to be in the 12% range.
So what does this actually look like?
Let’s say that a black toner cartridge has a retail cost of $200 and the manufacturers listed yield is 10,000 pages on the 5% coverage. Based on that information the cost per page would be around 2 cents. But hold on. With an average coverage of 12% that changes things quite dramatically. That same page costing 2 cents is actually costing you around 4.4 cents per page. Over double what we are led to believe.
Not only does that cost per page go up, but so does the amount of toner you actually use, then requiring replacement more often. Certainly not a win win.
And what about colour?
On consumer colour printers it takes on a different look as you calculate all the different toner cartridges and cost; we have seen people experience cost per colour page at over 75 cents per page. Yikes!
Next, you absolutely MUST consider is the cost of service when the printer isn’t working correctly, the costs of preventative maintenance kits and fusers. Stay tuned in part 2 for more details on those!
And remember, our team here at Com Pro can show you how your company can save money and ease the frustrations of printer issues with our services. Call us at 604-574-8623!