There is one common area that many people overpay when it comes to their office copier costs, and that area is print costs. Far too many people end up buying way more prints than they need. Prints can go for fractions of a cent at a time, but you may be surprised at how much money you are actually losing. Getting the right amount of prints is crucial to make sure you aren’t spending more than you should.
Getting the right amount of prints can be hard because almost every salesperson will try and convince you to get more than you should. They do this so that they can make more money, and they know the customer doesn’t know what the right choice is.
It’s common for a salesperson to suggest that you get a few thousand more prints than you think you need, “just in case.” This is a silly thing to do. They will tell you that getting fewer is alright, but the price per print will be higher if you need more down the road. However, buying more than you need is wasted money every month.
For example:
- You calculate your monthly output and decide that you need 25,000 prints.
- The salesperson might suggest that you buy 30,000 prints, just in case. They offer to knock the price down from $.o15 per print to $.014 per print.
- It may sound like a good deal because you are paying less per print but you are still paying more.
25,000 prints x $.015 per print = $375 per year
30,000 prints x $.014 per print = $420 per year
The best advice we can give is to actually get about 80% of what you think you will need on your busiest months. This gives you some room to work with on your slow months, and you can get exactly what you need if you need more. The small extra cost for things you actually need will always be more worth it than throwing money away every month.
