MFP Printers, Copiers "Whats The Total Cost of Operation"

In 31 years of selling copiers to commerical accounts, well...I've pretty much seen it all. Over those years I've had many cleints who did not purchase a copier or a multifunctional unit from me.

Now, what peeves me the most is when I'm trying to communicate (help) the cost per page of a device or the total cost of ownership of the device. Many accounts will opt for the small MFP's where the manufacturer states "the up to 8,000-page-per-month duty cycle" (Duty cycle: the maximum possible number of pages that can be printed per month) I ask you, what the heck does Duty Cycle really mean? Does it mean, crap I can due up to 8,000 pages per month on this device that only cost me $199?

Let me show you what happens if you would print 8,000 pages per month on that device. The first device I looked at was an HP LaserJet Pro M1212nf (oh boy, it has Pro in the model name, it's just got have excellent reliabilty and I can print like a PRO).

I have this neat software package that can actually give the cost per page of most printers and multifunctional products and why shouldn't I. I'm the darn expert. Some software programs may vary in the price per page.

So, this neat HP Pro M1212nf sells for $199. While it has a nifty 35 page document feeder and a 150 sheet paper tray, the toner cartridge cost for this device is $67.99 with a yeild of 1,600 pages. Mind you that the 1,600 pages is based on probably 5% coverage of the page.

Now, you may ask what is 5% coverage of the page, pretty much if you condensed all of the black print area to one area, it means it can't cover more than 5% of the page. Pretty much a letter document with no pictures or logos. I ask you who the heck prints at 5% coverage?

Back to the cost per page, divide the cost of the cartridge by the yield and you have a cost per page of .0425. Ok, well, I wanna print my 8,000 pages per month, how much is that gonna cost me? It's gonna cost you $340 each and every month, and if you maintain that volume for 36 months, you'll be out a whopping $12,240!! Whoa, almost the price of a car!

How about if you print all your docs with 10% coverage or print legal size documents. Get a load of this number, simple math it's twice the cost. $24,480 for the total cost of operation and .0850 per page. That's the price of a decent car!

Wanna see more? At 15% coverge which has a bunch of text and a few pictures the Total Cost of Operation runs up to $36,720 and a cost per page over 12 cents. Now, that's a really nice number for a really nice car!

Hey, I understand that most users don't print all thier pages at 15%, and I understand (because I'm in the business) that this machine will probably blow a gasket before it prints 8,000 pages in one month, however how does the end user know this? There's no disclaimers, well maybe it can do 8,000 pages per month, but at 19 pages per minute that would take 421 minutes. Point is there needs to be some type of real measuring stick for these types of devices.

In closing, if you're thinking about doing on 8,000 pages per month, with 15% coverage on the page, opt for the really nice car, and call a Print4Pay Hotel member to save you some real cash. Here's a neat link (P4P Cafe) to get a quote on a Really Nice MFP so you can get that Really Nice Car!

-=Good Selling=-