The overall cost of owning a printer whether that be inkjet
cartridges printers, laser printers or dot matrix printers,
should influence your purchase decision. For the purposes
of the following discussion, the initial and operating costs
are combined into one number called the life-cycle costs.Justifying
the purchase of a printer is difficult. Internal company
politics can make disposable products easy to purchase and
capital purchases difficult. Or, capital purchases decisions
can be easy, but necessities like paper and toner and ink
cartridges, are hard to come by. Issues like these can determine
which printer is purchased. In the ideal world, the life
cycle cost should influence a purchase decision. But, different
people are going to value different features, so a true
cost analysis is hopelessly complex. This web section starts
the comparison process by comparing the selling price, and
the cost of paper, ribbons, ink cartridges, toner, and so
on. The prices that follow are average mail-order prices.
Add 10 to 30 per-cent for dealer pricing. The following
factors are examined:
Consumable costs including toner, ribbons, ink cartridges
and Paper and consumable costs combined
Purchase price of printer
Per-ream purchase price
Overall operating cost
Paper costs are surprising. Laser paper is the cheapest.
Bundles of copy machine paper must be cheaper to make than
either tractor-feed dot-matrix paper or inkjet paper. Different
types of paper are available in each category. For example,
the smooth-edge tractor-feed paper is compared with the
coarser perforations. Because you can use regular paper
in an inkjet printer, the special inkjet paper is compared
to regular tractor feed paper. Special laser-printer paper
is compared to the cheapest copier paper. The high and low
prices in each category were developed by reading advertisements
in mail-order catalogs from various companies.
Paper Costs Per Ream
Laser (cut sheets) $2.50 to $ 5.50
Dot-matrix (fanfold) $3.08 to $ 6.48
Inkjet (special) $3.08 to $10.00
If you compare costs of toner cartridges, ribbons, and
inkjet cartridges, bladders, dot-matrix printers win because
their ribbons are cheap. Inkjet printers lose again. The
ink bladders all cost about the same once the cost is normalized
to each ream. Representative dot-matrix ribbons that cost
$1.50 to $2.50 are chosen, and the ribbons are replaced
after printing 1,500 characters. You can leave ribbons in
a dot matrix forever, but the output fades past acceptability.
Ribbon, Toner, and Ink Costs per Ream
Dot-matrix $00.50 to $00.88
Laser $10.00 to $12.50
Inkjet $22.10
If paper, toner, ink, and ribbon costs are combined, a
pattern starts to emerge. Dot-matrix printers are the most
cost-effective way of putting letters on paper. Lasers are
the next most efficient, and Inkjet printers are least efficient.
If you have finally received a grant or permission to spend
money on a printer, but you are positive that you will have
little money for paper and supplies, dot-matrix printers
are the way to go. If the purse strings are looser, these
costs aren't critical.
Paper and Toner/Ink/Ribbon Costs per Ream:
Dot-matrix $3.58 to $7.36
Laser $12.50 to $18.00
Inkjet $25.08 to $32.10
Because magazines advertise the initial cost of printers,
the initial costs are obvious. Lasers are the most expensive,
and 9-pin dot-matrix printers are the cheapest. The following
prices are representative of the most popular models in
each category.
Typical Printer Price
9-pin $175.00
24-pin $225.00
Inkjet $675.00
Laser S1650.00
Each printer is rated according to how many pages it can
print before the motors, gears, and so on, start to wear
out. If the original printer cost is divided by the total
number of pages printed before death, an accurate comparison
of printers is possible. Here, laser printers are clearly
more efficient because they are designed to print many more
pages than a dot matrix.
Purchase Price per Ream
Laser $2.75
9-pin $2.92
Inkjet $3.38
24-pin $4.16
Remember though, the hardware costs are not on the same
order as the expendables. The overall cost of an inkjet
is still higher than a 24-pin dot matrix. Dot-matrix printers
easily win the overall operation cost of printing.
Overall Cost per Ream
9-pin $ 6.37 to S 9.90
24-pin S 7.74 to $11.52
Laser $15.25 to $20.75
Inkjet $28.55 to $35.48
The cost of owning an inkjet cartridges printer is a surprise;
most people expect the laser printer to be the most expensive.
In fact, laser printers are just over double the cost of
a 9-pin dot-matrix printers. Inkjet cartridges printers
are three to four times the cost 9-pin dot-matrix printers.
The bladders and special paper required make the price of
operating an inkjet printer so expensive that the initial
savings are quickly eroded.
Of all the factors that influence printer costs, your time
probably is the most expensive. If the printer prints faster,
you're not going to stand around as long and therefore be
more efficient. Because the laser printer is the fastest,
it wins this category easily. But, remember that even the
speed of a printer is a subjective issue. Because the idea
that people may be standing around waiting for a printer
is not always a valid assumption, the whole analysis quickly
becomes unquantifiable. And other factors can affect these
calculations. For example, laser printers usually require
more management than other types of printers, but laser
printers don't have bothersome fanfold paper to tear apart.
Nevertheless, the following chart may give you a rough
idea of the "standing around" cost. The assumptions
are as follows: While a printer is printing, you don't do
other work; the speed is the page per minute (or character
per second) rating of the printer; no buffer is used, and
your salary is between $20,000 and $40,000.
Expense for Waiting per Ream
Laser 510.42 to $20.83
Inkjet $20.83 to $41.67
Dot-matrix $27.78 to $55.56
What is interesting is not the exact value of these numbers,
but the fact that the cost of standing around and waiting
for a ream of paper to print is roughly the same as the
hardware costs of printing the page. How effectively and
efficiently the printers are used is just as important as
which printer is purchased.
Prev
| Next
In the links below you will find pages that lists other
sites offering office computers, printers and scanners |
Ink
& Toner, Shredders | Ink
& Toner, Shredders ( ink toners additional 1) | Ink
& Toner, Shredders (additional 2) | Computers
| Computers-1
| Computers-2
| Printers,
Scanners | Printers,
Scanners (additionals) | Printers,
Scanners (additionals 2) | More in the Learning
Center
