What is Print Coverage, and Why You Should Care
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Print coverage can be described as the amount of toner that covers a letter size sheet of paper. When you buy toner cartridges or any of the other components that go into putting marks on a document i.e. drums, imaging units, etc., all have a stated yield published. The industry standard is measured at 5%. Unfortunately, 5% is not a whole lot of print coverage. This "industry standard" is only 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 printer costs per page are going to fluctuate when you print.
Why should you care? It really comes down to overall printing cost per page and getting the best printer or multifunction device for your business. As mundane as it may seem, you need to think about what your typical printed documents will be like before you buy a new 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 office supply vendor because of the lower operation cost.
To illustrate further, browse the links below from Xerox and HP to show how your costs will be impacted at specific areas of coverage with their printers.
You should consider a multifunction copier 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 multifunction 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.
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 printer costs per page are going to fluctuate when you print.
Why should you care? It really comes down to overall printing cost per page and getting the best printer or multifunction device for your business. As mundane as it may seem, you need to think about what your typical printed documents will be like before you buy a new 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 office supply vendor because of the lower operation cost.
To illustrate further, browse the links below from Xerox and HP to show how your costs will be impacted at specific areas of coverage with their printers.
You should consider a multifunction copier 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 multifunction 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.
Labels: cost per page, Hewlett Packard (HP), multifunction copier, xerox
posted by HBSX at
8:25 AM
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