The shocking truth about laser printers
This article was originally written in the period 1995-2000
Running a laser printer has become an essential part of the life of many businesses, including design and drawing offices, of course. The choice of printer is often made largely on the basis of specification, brand or purchase price, but the costs associated with owning and running a printer can be no less significant, particularly when most companies are looking to minimise their overheads.
Just like cars, buying office equipment is only the beginning. The expenses go on from there and frequently overtake the original capital outlay.
It is well accepted that each time a photocopier is used, there is a cost-per-copy incurred, in a similar way to the cost per mile of running a car. And in many cases, photocopiers are sold or leased on a price-per-copy basis, because buyers and manufacturers recognise that the capital cost of the photocopier is only part of the story.
Like photocopiers, faxes and other office equipment, page printers cost money to run, too. In most cases, in fact, they cost more per page to run than photocopiers do. So when it is considered that the average 10 ppm (pages per minute) printer prints around 8,000 pages per month, the sums start to add up dramatically.
Normal usage of a printer will run not into hundreds, but thousands of pounds each year, The shocking truth is that running costs are such that even for average users, the costs of using the printer considerably outweigh the original price. Yet the debate seems to be only about speed of printing, quality of graphics and network compatibility.
It is worth bearing in mind that over the first years, the costs will not be evenly spread, unless the printer is leased. The first year’s costs are bound to be higher, because they will include the initial purchase price and warranty, as well as consumables and power. The second and subsequent years are likely to be less, though they are still significant, which is why it can be worth taking a long term view in analysing true cost of ownership. Kyocera has produced an interactive program on floppy disc which helps you to calculate the cost per copy of a laser printer. The program also lists the claimed cost per copy of a list of well-known printers, though if you use one of these brands, you may wish to confirm these figures for yourselves by doing a recalculation.
According to market research agency Context, the average price of consumables works out at around 1.9p/page. When this is multiplied by the typical monthly print volume of 8,000 pages, it shows that companies are spending on average (UK pounds)150 per month on consumables alone.
Consumables need to be replaced for two reasons. Firstly, because the toner runs out after a certain number of printed pages; and secondly, because the print drum begins to wear. The typical OPC (organic photo conductive) drum is manufactured from soft composite material which gradually deteriorates. With most page printers, when the toner runs out, the whole process cartridge is replaced. This contains precision components, such as the drum, fuser and developer and, as well as being expensive, is also difficult to dispose of. Typically the cost of a process cartridge ranges from (UK pounds)65 to (UK pounds)150 and has a life of around 5,000 pages.
Another design approach is to design the drum to last much longer – even as long as the lifetime of the printer in the case of Kyocera – so only the toner need be replaced. Kyocera reportedly has a market share of 4-5% in the UK and is a developer of ceramic products. It has developed a hard-wearing drum made out of amorphous silicon – a man-made substance which is similar in hardness to sapphire. Designing the drum as a permanent component of course has a dramatic effect on the cost per page, since much of this cost is the replacement cartridge cost, amortised over the appropriate number of pages.
For the Kyocera FS-1500, it works out to 0.51p/page, compared to a range of 1.72-3.77 for other market-leading brands. Although this is not the whole story, at this price, most users can recover the original capital cost of the printer twice over in the first two years through savings in consumables. Over a longer period of five years, the average cost savings would amount to over (UK pounds)6,500.
It is difficult for potential buyers to obtain objective consumable prices to make this type of comparison, but even if they can, it can be tough to make realistic comparisons, because different manufacturers use different methods to calculate their figures. Toner coverage is sometimes quoted at 5%, 4% or even 2.8%, which clearly affects the number of pages a single cartridge will be capable of printing.
5% is the figure most commonly used by research companies, as it is considered to be a fair reflection of the amount of toner used for a standard letter, according to the relevant ISO standard 10561.
Additionally, it is worth being aware that some printers have a single print cartridge that houses all of the consumables, whereas others have three-part consumables which are replaced one by one as each comes to the end of its life. Where consumables are sold separately, adding the developer and drum costs into the cost of ownership equation is straightforward. It is simply a matter of dividing the cost in pence by the consumable life in pages. Once all these figures (toner, developer and drum unit cost) are added together, a true cost of consumables is achieved.
What about other associated costs? Printers require varying levels of power during operation, depending on whether they are printing, idle or sleeping (though not all printers have a sleep facility, power-save techniques and stand-by mode are now adopted by the majority of vendors in response to environmental awareness amongst users and as a selling feature). To calculate the amount of power required, we need to know the daily throughput of paper, how many pages per minute can be printed and the cost in pence of each kilowatt-hour.
The ability to upgrade a printer over time can add substantially to potential cost savings. If you do not need to replace the printer if you require a new printer, but simply add the appropriate option, the initial investment is “future-proofed”.
Warranty is a more significant factor that may be realised. In most cases, on-site warranty will be optional. However, for the sake of true cost comparison, it is important to make certain that each printer’s warranty covers the same number of years and an equivalent level of service.
At some point in their lives, most printers need refurbishing, usually at around the 250,000 page mark. The process of refurbishment varies between manufacturers, but all require the services of an engineer. Some manufacturers simply replace the fuser, though at this point Kyocera replaces the drum, developer and fuser. Although this is more expensive, again the cost are recouped during the printer’s further lifetime.
Having said that, of course the actual purchase price of the printer is also critical to the relative cost of ownership – and discounts vary considerably. This means that a product that looks expensive at recommended retail price (RRP) may prove to be one of the most economical to own.
- Kyocera
- Tel: 01734 311500
- Fax: 01734 311108