Here are some facts you want to consider if you plan on buying an A3 tabloid copier:

1. Less than 3% of pages that get printed are A3 tabloid sheets, but 24% of unit placements are tabloid print capable.
2. If you buy an A3 tabloid copier, you will spend, on average, more than $7,000 more over three years.
3. An A3 copier needs more space, uses more power, and typically produces fewer prints per minute than a standard A4 letter copier.

Copier companies are always selling A3 copiers when A4 copiers will work better for most companies. The main functional difference is A4 copiers will print letter-size sheets at 8.5” x 11’, where an A3 copier will print pages that are twice the size at 11’ x 17”.

Tabloid copiers are great for higher volume applications. If you print 30,000 pages a month, a tabloid copier would be a great fit for your business. Tabloid copiers have more robust internal components and can print more pages without breaking down. However, unless you print at this high capacity every month, you will not print enough sheets to justify the high hardware costs.

The Breakdown of Costs Between an A3 Tabloid Copier and an A4 Letter Copier

For this example, let’s say your business prints 10,000 pages a month, and you do a lot of scanning. You never use any tabloid paper, but you still have a tabloid copier. Let’s compare the prices associated with using an A3 tabloid copier versus a regular A4 letter copier.

A3 Tabloid Copier with Print/ScanFax and Finisher

Average Monochrome Costs (40 prints per minute) – $7,500

Average Maintenance Costs – $0.006 per print

Average Toner and Other Costs – $0.006 per print

For an A3 tabloid copier, a 48-month contract would look like this:

$180 per month for equipment

$120 per month for equipment and supplies

$300 TOTAL per month (which works to $0.03 per print)

A4 Letter Copier with Print/Scan/Fax and Finisher

Average Monochrome Costs (50 prints per minute) – $4,500

Average Maintenance Costs – $0.006 per print

Average Toner and Other Costs – $0.007 per print

For an A4 letter copier, a 48-month contract would look like this:

$108 per month for equipment

$132 per month for equipment and supplies

$240 TOTAL per month (which works to $0.03 per print)

Over 48 months, the difference in price comes out to $2,880. To add insult to injury, you also print slower with an A3 copier.

Is a Tabloid Copier Right For You?

Tabloid copiers would be great for your business under two incredibly narrow circumstances:

1. Your job requires tabloid prints daily.
2. You need a robust copier that can handle producing more than 20,000 copies a month without breaking down.

An A4 copier will handle every copier-related need you have outside of these two specific scenarios. If your needs don’t fit these two categories, then do your business a favor: purchase an A4 copier and save your business hundreds of dollars per month.