While I love my all-in-one printer, it is a definite ink-sucker. It seems like I’m always buying new ink cartridges for it.
So I read with great interest an article from Office Watch.
“The price you pay for an inkjet printer is only the start of your costs, in fact it can be as little as 10% of the overall cost of printing. Printer manufacturers rely on the sales of consumables like ink, toner and paper to make their money. The printer itself is almost a ‘loss leader’ to drive sales of consumables.
This financial reality is the real reason why printer makers go to such lengths to encourage (if not force) people to use their own branded consumables instead of cheaper, third-party, alternatives.”
I’ve never given much thought about my printer from the cost-to-operate view before. I spent some time playing with the printer calculator created by the American Consumer Institute at Consumer Calculator, and was a bit surprised by exactly how much I was spending to print things, particularly photos.
This calculator is a good reminder for us to look for ways to save on printing and print greener. I like the convenience of a home printer and copier, but at what expense?
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