Even in the digital age, there’s a bright and colorful future for commercial printing.

There are some office processes that are done every day, and printing has to rank near the top.

When you have a lot of correspondence to get out, batch printing can be a lifesaver. Batch printing is the ability for a user to print many documents at the same time, based on a pre-defined data set. This feature can greatly simplify the task of printing multiple document items and does not require constant oversight by the user, so they can attend to more mission-critical tasks.

2020 was a challenging year for businesses and individuals alike. However, as the economy begins to open up completely across the nation in 2021, things are looking up. In fact, the global growth for 2021 is projected to be 5.6% which is a massive rebound from a difficult year. This presents a number of opportunities for businesses across all industries and there will be unprecedented need for printed materials.

You are thinking of purchasing a new copier or printer or maybe you just recently purchased one, and have been wondering what kind of problems might you encounter.  Here are the 5 most common problems that occur with copiers and printer.

Let’s first address the factors which determine a cost per copied or printed page and in order to do this let’s assume an average monthly volume of 5,000 pages.

In a true cost per page, the equipment would be included. If the cost of the equipment is the industry average, $6,500, and is leased for five years this should be approximately $130 per month. At 5,000 pages per month, you will need $.026 per page just to cover the equipment cost.

Toner is a huge factor in determining cost per page. Our example above is a color device. This means it will require four toners at a time: Black, Cyan, Magenta and Yellow. Let’s assume the price for a black toner is $79 and yields approximately 16,500 pages based on 5% coverage. This would make just the black toner $.0048 per page.
The Cyan, Magenta and Yellow toners each cost $120 and yield approximately 5,500 pages based on 5% coverage. Each color toner costs $.022
A Full Color Page is calculated at 20% coverage of the page and based on these numbers, would equate to approximately $.07 just in toner costs.

Now, I am going to throw a wrench out, not to get us sidetracked, but it is something that definitely needs to be addressed. What happens when you want to have an extra set of toners on the shelf but you are only paying a cost per page price?
Toners on the shelf are not actually generating any cost per page revenue for your vendor. In the scenario above, this would equate to $439 in additional costs not factored into the cost per page. In essence, the cost per page for black just doubled to $.0096 per page and $.14 for a full color page just for toner. While there is the argument of having extra toner so you never run out and experience downtime, the fact is the number one cause of running out of toner is human error. The technology today is so advanced, if you sign up for our AutoTech program, you will never need those additional toners on the shelf nor need to worry about human error. You can read more about AutoTech,

Other consumable items would include the following:
Photoconductor or Development Units are often referred to as drums. In a color device, there will also be four of these units: Black, Cyan, Magenta and Yellow. They often range from $100 - $200 each.
Transfer Belts are also in the $100 - $200 range, as are Fusing Units or Fusers and Exhaust Filters.

Doing Better Business began creating custom Printer Fleet Management programs in 2004 to help our clients measure, right-size, optimize, manage and constantly work towards improving business processes with the main emphasis on continual evolution towards a more paperless office.

Replacing or adding a Multifunction Copier/Printer should be seamless if the proper steps are taken before scheduling the delivery.     

Your printer and copier are vital members of your team, silently supporting your entire team’s productivity. After your office printer is purchased and set up, you likely don’t think much about it until it stops working, at which point it disrupts your entire office and can have a negative impact your business’s bottom line. Printer and copier machines do need to be replaced and upgraded over time to sustain high-performance functionality and to keep up with new technology. Here are four key signs that your office is ready to upgrade your printer and copier.