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Printers 202 - What is Print Coverage, and Why You Should Care
Print coverage in its simplest state is the amount of toner that covers a letter size sheet of paper. When you buy toner or any other components i.e. drums, imaging units, etc. that go into a printer they all have a stated yield published. The industry standard is measured at 5%. Unfortunately for the consumer, 5% is not going to get you very far. The industry standard is equivalent to a standard business letter or fax cover sheet.
If your office functions like most, you're not going to be printing the same thing over and over. Therefore, there is a good chance that your coverage is going to be all over the map. Point being your costs are going to fluctuate when you print.
Why should you care? It really comes down to the dollars and cents. As mundane as it may seem, you need to think about what your typical printed documents will be like before you buy a specific printer. If your documents look like the 5% example you will probably be a satisfied customer, however if you are doing more coverage like the 15% example, you may be better off purchasing a multifunction device or asking for a cost per print plan from your local print vendor because of the lower operation cost.
To illustrate, click these links from Xerox and HP to show how your costs will be impacted at specific areas of coverage with their printers.
Final thoughts
You should consider a multifunction device if you think your print costs could get out of hand or if you are unsure of your output. Multifunction devices (copy, print, fax, scan, etc.) are usually higher in initial acquisition cost but have a lower operating cost per page. For example, you may spend twice as much up front on a multi-function device, but your cost per page may be three times less. Most vendors have a fixed cost per page plans that allow the end user to pay for what they produce in regards to black and white/color prints. In-turn, the vendor supplies all the toner and maintenance for the product.
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