If you have watched the movie Office Space, you probably remember how it dramatizes printer frustrations for a good laugh.
However, if you have experienced a broken copier machine in the office when you need it the most, you know there is no humor in the real breakdown. Sometimes, continuity costs can be directly related to failing to maintain your office copier.
Copier machines play a crucial role in organizational processes, but their failure can result in increased printing overheads. The most common cases of a copier breakdown include paper jams, cartridge and toner inconsistencies, wrinkled pages, and spots or lines on the sheets.
These problems increase your organization's cost per print and other printing-related costs. Uncontrolled printing expenses can add up to 1-3% of the organization's revenue.
If your organization fails to track printing costs, you might miss out on significant savings associated with print costs and environmental management.
Four Easy Steps to Calculate your Printing Costs
Calculating your current cost per print determines the total printing costs in your organization per quarter. The easiest way to track the printing costs is to work with a print provider or install software on your network to track the number of prints per day.
With all relevant information gathered, it is time to calculate the print costs your organization incurs daily. Below are four easy ways to do the calculations:
- Determine Manufacturer and Model Numbers: Cost per print calculations will vary based on the specific copy machine and manufacturer. The information is readily available on your copier, within your computer's manual, or control panel.
- Determine the Yield per Cartridge: If you purchased your copier from a reliable manufacturer, the page yield figures will be available on their website or the side of their cartridge pack. Different page yield figures are provided for black and white printing and color printing.
- Determine the Price of Each Toner Cartridge: To get the exact costs per print, you will need to identify the cost of each cartridge you are using. This information is available from the manufacturer or your office supplier. Determine the price of each toner separately for accuracy purposes.
- Calculate the Cost per Print: Once you have gathered all the information above, you can calculate the cost per print. For black and white costs, the formula below will apply:
Factors That Impact Printing Costs
On the face value, you may think that printing expense is evident for your organization since the only actual expenses are the copier, supplies, and service costs. Although these costs are relevant to printing costs, they represent a part of them.
True printing costs also include soft costs such as the life-cycle of the copiers and employee burden rate.
Equipment and Supplies
The base price of your office copy machines is the essential cost that constitutes actual printing costs in your organization. This expense includes costs such as the initial purchase price or lease payment for the copier.
Soft costs, including power, paper, and cartridges, add to the equipment cost, thus increasing the print expenses. The depletion of print suppliers may result from a faulty copier that produces stained or wrinkled papers.
Service and Maintenance
One of the major causes of increased print expenses in your organization is outdated copiers with decreased functionality. A single breakdown can create a bottleneck in your company, delaying projects and stalling processes that generate income for the company.
Old copiers increase your repairs and maintenance costs, prompting you to acquire new multi-function printers. Regardless, some repairs and maintenance are inevitable, and your printer costs should be all inclusive.
The technicality of the problem determines the level of expertise needed to perform the repair. You must remember that each situation has a cost implication, ranging from employee time while fixing, rescheduling maintenance, or hiring a service contractor.
Implementing Cost-Saving Print Strategies
Schedule Routine Maintenance
The lifespan of your office copier machines determines the efficiency of your machine in reducing printer problems. You can choose its lifespan and reschedule for maintenance or replacement by knowing how many pages you print monthly.
With routine maintenance, you can determine which parts of the machine impact its inefficiency and when to replace the parts or the entire machine. With scheduled maintenance, you will know when evolution technology needs to be replaced.
Identify the Print Needs in Your Organization
Saving on printing costs requires an in-depth analysis of your copier use. This will require you to have a list of the most important documents that need to be printed, such as invoices, payment vouchers, and reports.
Identifying your needs will help you purchase an office copier since you will find multi-function printers more cost-effective.
Eliminate the Number of Personal Copiers
Personal copiers encourage employees to print documents without evaluating their importance. Having a multi-function printer to serve different departments will help reduce printing costs, as employees will always question the need to print documents unnecessarily.
Initiate a Managed Printer Service Program
Managed Printer Service Programs are print services companies that offer to manage all aspects of your business printing devices and needs. The optimization of the printing devices enables businesses to reduce their printing costs, thus increasing the efficiency of the devices.
Services that have proved helpful include optimizing green messages on emails, demanding recipients to print only if necessary, and installing software that prompts the user to input a user code while retrieving their prints.
What's Next? Office Copier Continuity & Costs
Printing costs will have a significant impact on your income statement when proliferated on an annual basis. Containing these costs will require you to take charge of the actual costs and conduct routine maintenance on your copiers to increase their lifespan and efficiency.
At AIS, we’re dedicated to informing and educating you on the best ways to grow your business through your everyday technology. Knowledge is power; the more you know about the best technology business practices, the better off your business and your employees will be. If you’re interested in learning more about copiers, printers, or any other technology services we provide, speak with one of our business technology consultants here.
