Good Ezines

Buying many things online has advantages; most of them stem from reduced cost. This applies to a wide range of items, not just shampoo, books and computers. It also applies to the printer’s consumables.

Over the lifetime of your printer, the bulk of the expense will be the cost of the toner, ink and paper you run through it. Indeed, more than any other part of the printing equation, reducing consumables cost is critical to making your printer economical for your business to use. Consider that for a typical laser printed page, the usual ratio of costs is that the toner is about 0.01 pounds per page, and the paper costs about 0.005 pounds per sheet. Most laser printer cartridges online come at a discount of 15 to 20 percent, meaning that your cost per page for toner comes down to 0.008 pounds per page. Multiply this by roughly 30,000 pages per cartridge, and the cost differential adds up.

It gets even more impressive with ink jet solutions, where the cost for an ink jet cartridge is about 25 pounds in a shop and about 17 pounds online; given the cost per page of most ink jets (about 0.25 pounds per page) that adds up rapidly into real savings. (We strongly recommend that every business shift to a laser based solution for internal printing, largely because of the 50-fold decrease in cost of printing consumables per page.)

Other advantages of buying your printing consumables online is that it may be the only place to buy consumables for esoteric or out of warranty printers. A number of businesses still use things like dot matrix printers, because they get used for computer filled in forms or legacy punch card and ticket printing. Institutions such as banks and railways and air carriers do this, and many of them remain the only source of demand for things like dot matrix printer ribbons….which means that the only way you’re going to find the supplier for them is to go online and look there.

Another reason to buy these items online is that they’re usually more environmentally friendly than buying directly from the manufacturer. Many of the printer components you find are remanufactured, which means that a third party has taken an already used cartridge and refilled it with toner, or ink – and for ink jets, the quality of ink they use may well be better than the original manufacturer’s specification. Of course official branded items are also available, these will cost more but are ideal for anybody who is concerned about buying second party equivalents.

Many online printer consumable companies compete on convenience and service, with free or discounted courier options to get the consumables to your door. They also run specials, and bundle deals that are worth watching for. For people who are printing on a budget, you may not be able to find anything that compares to buying these consumables online. While price isn’t the only consideration, it tends to be the dominant one when making business cases on things, and printer consumables are often one of the greatest ‘hidden expenses’ in an office, and should be considered appropriately.

Derek Rogers is a freelance writer who writes for a number of UK businesses. For a wide range of printers and products by brand, he recommends Printware Ltd, a leading provider of Printer Consumables.