Remember that inexpensive inkjet printer your business colleague was raving so much about that you ran right out and bought a few for your office? After all, the low price of entry and decent print quality of inkjet printers make them seem like a natural fit for most offices. You probably thought they were a great investment….until you ran out of ink!

Benefits of Inkjet Technology

Inkjet printers are easy to set up and have a small footprint making them good for personal use. Although their print quality is not quite as high as laser devices, inkjet printers are good enough for many office applications. And because inkjet printers are often not connected to the network, they offer a high level of privacy and security, both important in today’s business environment.

The Downside

The issue with inkjet technology lies with consumables. A recent study uncovered the shocking truth about that “inexpensive” inkjet printer on your desk. It compared the cost-per-ounce of various liquids and found:

  • Crude 0il costs $.015 per ounce
  • Milk costs $.02 per ounce
  • Dom Perignon costs $4.54 per ounce
  • Human blood costs $10.83 per ounce
  • Chanel No.5 costs $22.00 per ounce
  • Liquid ink for a common inkjet printer costs $32.99 or more per ounce!

Let’s put that into perspective; at $32.99 for an inkjet cartridge that produces 500 prints at the manufacturer’s rated yield of 5% page coverage (that’s about a paragraph) your cost per page is around 65 cents. Increase the coverage, add graphics or colour and that can skyrocket the cost per page to over one dollar! If you print that same page in full colour, increase the cost by four times as colour prints require four or more ink cartridges!

So how can you address this major hidden cost issue? A Managed Print Services provider can help. They’ll come to your office, inventory your equipment, monitor your printing usage and prepare a report outlining the cost per page for each device in your office. It’s a great starting point that will help you make educated fact-based decisions about how to get your print environment under control and cut costs!

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