Even though an average of 2% of annual revenues are consumed with office printing, most companies have no idea how much they are spending to operate their fleet of laser printers. Most costs associated with printing go unaudited and most organizations spend far more in print reproduction than they realize.
Print reproduction is expensive. In fact, it might be more expensive than you realize. There are three key areas of cost in print reproduction. They are toner and supplies, maintenance and inefficiencies in printer usage.
The most understood cost associated with print reproduction is that of toner and supplies. We all understand that it takes toner, paper and perhaps drums to print a document. Interestingly enough, even though most people understand this cost, most people don’t know the true cost. For example, an inkjet cartridge may only cost $30, but if it only yields a total of 500 prints (regardless what the package may say) that cost is $.06 per print… just for ink. You might be surprised how much you are actually spending in just toner and supplies. The device you thought was not costing your organization very much may in fact be very expensive.
Many of the costs associate with office equipment and printers in general isn't the upfront purchase cost. While this is less obvious when you are buying equipment, it quickly becomes apparent down the road. Stay tuned for part two of this article for more hidden printing costs.
