True Costs of Printing The lifetime cost of IT equipment has become a hot issue. Even PC manufacturers have adopted total cost of ownership (TCO) as a way of differentiating products remarkable only for their similarity. Printers, however, are different. Whether laser or inkjet, the principal operating expense, the cost of consumables, can be expected to represent several times the purchase price of the printer. Most printer manufacturers depend on sales of consumables for the majority of their profit and we know that the average networked printer consumes 11,000 pages worth of toner each month. Over a typical printer’s life, the difference in toner costs between Kyocera’s printers and any of their competitors can amount to thousands of pounds.

Figure 1: Cartridge consumables; Over 60 parts, numerous materials

Figure 2: Kyocera toner cassette; 4 Parts, 2 types of harmless plastic

Kyocera printers are built around long life components so you don’t replace the guts of the machine every time the toner runs out. Most laser printers use a cartridge that contains a whole developing system, a Kyocera cassette only contains toner. When you throw away or even recycle a competitor’s cartridge the environmental impact is huge. When you throw away a Kyocera toner cassette the impact is minimal.

•	Printers, the supplies associated with them and the support required to keep them operating represent 5% of the typical IT budget - Gartner Group
•	Poorly managed printer, copier and fax fleets represent one of the biggest
•	Opportunities for cost cutting in the enterprise - Gartner Group
•	41% of business ignore the rising budgets of printing which equates to 1-3% of a company’s turnover - Gartner Group

Figure 3: Cost per Page & Lifetime Costs for Monochrome Printers (click image to enlarge)

Figure 4: Cost per Page & Lifetime Costs for Colour Printers (click image to enlarge)